How to choose
What to weigh before you pick
It usually comes down to 3 things. Compare your options on each before deciding.
The all-in price, including fees that are easy to miss.
What each option actually does for your situation.
Which one matches how you will really use it.
Bottom line: A hard inquiry lowers your FICO score by about 5–10 points and stays on your report for two years (though it only affects your score for one year). Soft inquiries, such as checking your own score, preapproval checks, and employer background checks, never affect your score at all. Rate shopping for a mortgage or auto loan is protected: multiple hard inquiries in a 14–45 day window count as a single inquiry.
Quick answer
A soft inquiry never affects your credit score; a hard inquiry temporarily lowers it by about 5 to 10 points. Checking your own score, receiving preapproval offers, and background checks are all soft. Applying for a credit card, mortgage, auto loan, or personal loan triggers a hard inquiry, which influences your score for 12 months and stays visible for 24. FICO protects rate shopping: multiple mortgage, auto, or student loan applications inside a 14 to 45 day window count as one inquiry. The stakes are usually small, but they compound near thresholds; whether a card issuer prices you above or below the average card APR of 24.00% can hinge on a few points.
"Will checking my credit score hurt it?" is one of the most common credit questions people ask. The answer depends entirely on what kind of inquiry it is.
The Two Types of Inquiry
Soft inquiry (soft pull): Does not affect your credit score. Period.
Examples of soft inquiries:
- Checking your own credit score or report
- A lender checking your score to prequalify you for an offer (without you applying)
- A credit card company sending you a preapproved offer
- An employer running a background check
- A utility company or landlord checking credit
You may not even know soft inquiries are happening. They appear on your credit report when you view it, but lenders pulling your report for an application cannot see soft inquiries from other companies.
Hard inquiry (hard pull): Temporarily lowers your credit score.
Examples of hard inquiries:
- Applying for a credit card
- Applying for a mortgage
- Applying for an auto loan
- Applying for a personal loan
- Applying for a student loan
- Applying for a new utility account in some states
- Requesting a credit limit increase (varies by issuer)
How Much Does a Hard Inquiry Lower Your Score?
Typically 5–10 points per inquiry. The exact impact depends on your overall credit profile:
- If you have a short credit history, a hard inquiry may lower your score more (closer to 10 points).
- If you have a long history with many accounts, the impact is usually smaller (closer to 5 points or less).
- If you have very few accounts, a single hard inquiry can be more damaging proportionally.
- Hard inquiries affect your score for 12 months but stay visible on your report for 24 months. After one year, the score impact drops to zero.
- New credit (inquiries + recently opened accounts) accounts for only 10% of your FICO score, making it the least influential of the five factors.
- Multiple mortgage, auto loan, or student loan inquiries within a 14–45 day window count as a single inquiry under FICO's rate-shopping protection.
The Rate-Shopping Exception
FICO built a deliberate exception for major loan shopping. When you are comparing mortgage rates from multiple lenders, every hard inquiry from a mortgage lender within a specific window is treated as a single inquiry by the scoring model. The same applies to auto loans and student loans.
The window is:
- FICO Score 8 and newer: 45-day window
- Older FICO versions: 14-day window
For credit card applications, there is no rate-shopping exception. Each application generates a separate hard inquiry with its own score impact.
What this means practically: When you are mortgage shopping, do all your applications within a 45-day window. You can apply with five lenders and it counts the same as applying with one. Do not spread applications out over several months.
When to Be Strategic About Applications
A few scenarios where inquiry timing matters:
Before a mortgage application: Avoid applying for any new credit (cards, auto loans, personal loans) in the 3–6 months before you plan to apply for a mortgage. Each hard inquiry can affect what rate tier you land in, and some lenders ask about recent inquiries in underwriting. The credit score vs. APR cost calculator shows what slipping a tier would cost on your loan size.
If your score is near a threshold: At 739, one hard inquiry that drops you to 730 does not change much. At 672, a 10-point drop to 662 could move you from the "good" tier into "fair," a more expensive tier. Check where you sit before applying; checking your own score is free and always soft.
Credit card churning: Applying for multiple cards in a short period generates multiple hard inquiries. Most credit card issuers also look at total recent inquiries when evaluating applications. Four hard inquiries in six months signals credit-seeking behavior and can result in denials even if your score is otherwise strong.
How to Remove a Hard Inquiry
You can dispute a hard inquiry you did not authorize. If you never applied to that lender, the inquiry may be an error or a sign of identity theft. File a dispute with the bureau following the same process as disputing any other credit report error.
You cannot remove legitimate hard inquiries that you authorized. They fall off your report automatically after two years.
The Big Picture
Inquiries account for roughly 10% of your FICO score. Utilization (30%) and payment history (35%) matter far more. A single hard inquiry is not worth losing sleep over. Where it matters is context: if you are already near a scoring threshold, or if you have applied for credit many times recently, each additional inquiry has more weight than it would in isolation.
What to Do Before You Apply
- Best next move
- Check it yourself, any source
- Why
- Self-checks are soft and free; there is nothing to protect against.
- Best next move
- Freeze all new credit applications
- Why
- Each inquiry can nudge you into a worse rate tier at underwriting.
- Best next move
- Apply to all lenders within 45 days
- Why
- Rate-shopping protection collapses the inquiries into one.
- Best next move
- Delay optional applications
- Why
- A 5 to 10 point dip near a threshold changes your pricing tier.
- Best next move
- Wait 6+ months before the next one
- Why
- Issuers deny on inquiry velocity even with a strong score.
- Best next move
- Dispute it with the bureau
- Why
- Unauthorized pulls are errors or fraud, and removal is your right.
Before spending points on a new application at all, check Money Map to see whether the product you are applying for is actually your highest-value move.
Spend hard inquiries like cash: freely when your score is well inside a tier, never when you are within 10 points of a threshold, and always bundled inside one 45-day window when shopping a major loan.
Quick answers
Does a soft inquiry ever hurt your credit score? No. Soft inquiries are invisible to scoring models and to other lenders, no matter how many you accumulate.
How many points does a hard inquiry cost? Usually 5 to 10 points, less for thick established files, more for thin ones, and zero after 12 months.
Do multiple mortgage inquiries count separately? Not within the rate-shopping window: all mortgage inquiries inside 14 to 45 days (45 for FICO 8 and newer) count as one.
How do I remove a hard inquiry I did not make? Dispute it with the credit bureau in writing; unauthorized inquiries are removable and can signal identity theft.
Sources
- CFPB: Fair Credit Reporting Act rules on inquiries for who may pull your credit and when.
- CFPB: What is a credit inquiry? for the hard vs. soft distinction.
- FICO inquiry scoring methodology and rate-shopping window documentation (myFICO/FICO, 2025).
Rates referenced on this page were verified on July 9, 2026. Inquiry impacts vary by credit profile and scoring model. This article is educational information, not individualized financial advice.
Related Reading
- What is a good credit score: where the tiers fall and why they matter
- Credit utilization guide: the factor that outweighs inquiries by 3 to 1
- How to dispute credit report errors: the process for unauthorized inquiries
Frequently Asked Questions
Does checking my own credit score hurt it?
How many points does a hard inquiry lower your credit score?
How long does a hard inquiry affect my score?
Can I shop for a mortgage without multiple hard inquiries hurting my score?
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