Soft Credit Check Examples: What a Soft Pull Is and When It Happens

Last updated October 7, 2026 · 1,501 words · Credit Checks

A soft credit check, or soft pull, is a review of a consumer's credit file that is not tied to an application for new credit. It appears in the consumer's own credit disclosure, is not usually shared with lenders, and is not a factor in the scoring models used for lending decisions.

This guide is general educational information for U.S. readers. It is not financial advice and does not describe your individual credit file. Figures such as score ranges and timeline estimates are typical examples, not promises.

Key takeaways

A soft credit check, also called a soft pull or soft credit inquiry, is a credit file review that is not triggered by an application for new credit.
Soft inquiries appear in the consumer's own credit disclosure and are typically not included in the reports that lenders receive.
Soft pulls are common in credit monitoring dashboards, prequalification screens, and periodic account reviews by creditors that already hold an account.
Hard inquiries follow credit applications, are visible to lenders, and typically remain on a credit report for two years.
FICO weights new credit at roughly 10% of a score, while VantageScore uses its own weighting and does not publish fixed percentages.

A soft credit check — also called a soft pull or a soft credit inquiry — is a review of a consumer's credit file that is not triggered by an application for new credit. It is recorded for the consumer's own reference and for certain permitted purposes, and it is not shown to lenders who later obtain the file for a credit decision. The soft credit check meaning is easiest to see in contrast: a hard inquiry follows a credit application, while a soft inquiry does not.

What a soft credit check is in a credit file

The three nationwide credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — each maintain a file that contains account history, public record information, and a record of inquiries. Inquiries are grouped by the type of request that generated them. A request tied to a credit application is coded as a hard inquiry; a request made for review, monitoring, or by the consumer is coded as a soft inquiry.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. section 1681, sets the framework for when a consumer reporting agency may furnish a report and to whom, which is why the purpose of the request — not the name of the product — determines how the inquiry is recorded. Consumers see both kinds of entries in the disclosure they receive from each agency. Reports supplied to lenders generally contain only the hard inquiries.

Why soft credit checks are run

Soft pulls serve several distinct purposes, and the same file can be reviewed by different parties for different reasons.

Reviews a consumer starts

When a consumer requests their own credit report or score, the resulting access is recorded as a soft inquiry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains that requesting a consumer's own credit report does not affect credit scores, which is why a person can look at their own file as often as a provider allows without changing what a lender sees later.

Account reviews by existing creditors

A creditor that already holds an account may periodically review the file to see how that account and others are being managed. Because the review is not tied to a new application, it is recorded as a soft inquiry. These entries often appear on a consumer disclosure under a heading such as account review or account monitoring.

Prequalification and prescreened offers

A lender that wants to estimate whether a consumer meets a set of criteria before any application is submitted typically uses a soft pull. The consumer receives a prequalified offer, and no hard inquiry appears unless a formal application follows. A related use is prescreened solicitations, where a creditor obtains limited file information in order to decide which consumers receive an offer.

Common examples of soft credit checks

Requests that are widely described as soft pulls include:

Ordering a free credit report through the centralized source that the nationwide agencies maintain jointly.
Viewing a credit score or report inside a bank, card issuer, or credit monitoring account.
Completing a prequalification form to see estimated offers before applying.
A periodic account review by a creditor with which a consumer already has a relationship.
Certain insurance, utility, or mobile service screening processes, depending on the provider and the state.
Some employment-related consumer reports, which are obtained for a different purpose and are not scored the way a credit application is.

Whether a specific provider records an inquiry as soft or hard depends on the purpose of the request. A prequalification screen and a formal application can look nearly identical on a website while producing different inquiry types.

Soft credit inquiry compared with a hard credit inquiry

Feature	Soft credit inquiry	Hard credit inquiry
What triggers it	A review, a monitoring request, or a consumer's own request for their file	An application for new credit, such as a loan, credit card, or credit limit request
Visibility to lenders	Typically not included in reports supplied to lenders	Included in reports supplied to lenders
Role in scoring	Not among the factors used by the scoring models lenders rely on	Considered within the new credit portion of a score
Typical examples	Credit monitoring dashboards, prequalification screens, account reviews	Mortgage, auto loan, student loan, or credit card applications
Duration on the file	Recorded in the consumer's own disclosure and treated separately from application inquiries	Typically two years on a credit report

Inquiry entries on a consumer disclosure are also subject to limits in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Soft inquiries are not part of the inquiry count that a lender evaluates when a file is pulled for a lending decision.

What a soft pull shows and what it does not

A soft pull reads the same underlying file that a hard pull reads. It returns account balances, payment history, collection accounts, public record items, and the record of prior inquiries. What changes is the audience and the use. A monitoring dashboard displaying a monthly score is the result of a soft pull, because the request was made for the consumer's own review rather than to decide an application.

A soft pull does not, on its own, produce a lending decision, and it does not create an entry that a later lender will see. That separation is the reason a consumer can review a file repeatedly while the record a lender examines stays largely the same, aside from new accounts and hard inquiries that result from applications.

How credit scores treat inquiries

Most credit scores, including FICO and VantageScore, use a range of 300 to 850. FICO publishes approximate weights for the factors it considers:

FICO factor	Approximate weight
Payment history	35%
Amounts owed	30%
Length of credit history	15%
New credit	10%
Credit mix	10%

New credit carries roughly 10% of the weight in FICO scoring, and hard inquiries are one element inside that category. VantageScore uses its own weighting and does not publish fixed percentages. Because inquiries are a small part of the calculation, a soft pull is not a factor the models count. The guide to how credit scores are calculated walks through the full factor sets, and FICO versus VantageScore covers how the two models differ.

Where soft inquiries appear

Soft inquiries appear in the inquiry section of the disclosure a consumer receives from each credit reporting agency, and in the dashboards of many monitoring products. Entries labeled as promotional inquiries or account review inquiries describe the purpose of the request rather than a problem with the file. A consumer comparing a disclosure from one agency with a report generated by a monitoring service may notice different counts, because each product draws on a particular agency file and updates on its own schedule.

Soft credit checks and credit monitoring services

Credit monitoring products generally rely on soft pulls to refresh a file on a recurring basis, and the resulting alerts describe changes such as a new account, a balance shift, or a new inquiry. This is why monitoring activity does not add hard inquiries to a file. The credit monitoring overview explains what these services track, and the credit check hub covers the different types of file reviews in more detail.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers the right to a free credit report from each nationwide agency every 12 months, and the three agencies currently provide free reports weekly through AnnualCreditReport.com. If information in a file is inaccurate, a consumer may dispute it. Under the FCRA, an agency generally must investigate a dispute within 30 days, and the period can extend to 45 days if the consumer provides additional information during the initial 30-day window.

Freezes, fraud alerts, and file access

A security freeze restricts access to a credit file and is free to place, temporarily lift, or remove under federal law. An initial fraud alert lasts one year, and an extended fraud alert lasts seven years. FCRA section 605A covers fraud alerts (15 U.S.C. section 1681c-1), and section 605B covers blocking of information resulting from an identity theft report (15 U.S.C. section 1681c-2). Consumers who are dealing with identity theft can report it at IdentityTheft.gov and to the IRS using Form 14039. The credit freeze page and the identity theft hub describe how those processes work.

Why the distinction matters

Inquiries are a small part of a credit file relative to payment history and balances. Most negative information, including late payments, stays on a credit report for seven years; a Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays for 10 years and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy for seven years. The payment history guide explains how that record is weighed, and the credit reports hub covers what each section of a file contains.

Understanding the soft pull category helps a consumer read an inquiry list without confusion: a prequalification screen, a monitoring refresh, and an account review all belong to a category that lenders do not see, while an application generates an entry that lenders do see for a period of time.

This page is published for education only and is not financial advice.

Compare three-bureau credit scores and reports from a single place. Educational links, disclosed below.

Three Bureau Credit Scores and Reports

CreditMonitored.com may earn a commission from partner links at no additional cost to you.

Frequently asked questions

What is a soft credit check?

A soft credit check, also called a soft pull or soft credit inquiry, is a review of a credit file that is not triggered by an application for new credit. It is recorded for the consumer's own reference and for certain permitted purposes, and it is typically not included in the reports that lenders receive.

Does a soft credit check affect credit scores?

Soft inquiries are not among the factors that FICO or VantageScore count. FICO gives new credit — the category that contains hard inquiries — an approximate weight of 10%, and VantageScore uses its own weighting without publishing fixed percentages. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that requesting a consumer's own credit report does not affect credit scores.

What is the difference between a soft pull and a hard pull?

The difference is the purpose of the request. A hard inquiry follows an application for credit and appears in reports supplied to lenders. A soft inquiry follows a review, a monitoring request, or a consumer's own request for their file, and it is not shown to lenders. Hard inquiries typically remain on a credit report for two years.

Why do prequalified offers arrive without an application?

A lender that wants to estimate which consumers meet a set of criteria before an application is submitted typically uses a soft pull. The consumer receives a prequalified offer, and no hard inquiry is recorded unless a formal application follows.

Do soft inquiries stay on a credit report?

Soft inquiries appear in the inquiry section of the disclosure a consumer receives from a credit reporting agency and in many monitoring dashboards. They are treated separately from application inquiries, which typically remain on a credit report for two years, and they are generally not part of the inquiry record that a lender evaluates.

Can an employer or landlord request a credit file?

Landlords and property managers may screen applicants, and whether the request is recorded as soft or hard depends on the purpose and the provider. Employment screening is governed by a separate part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires an employer to obtain the applicant's written permission before obtaining a consumer report used for employment purposes.