Every time you turn around, someone wants to run your credit.
The landlords want to see your credit.
Applying for a job?
Theyll definitely run your credit first.
One thing youve probably heard is that credit pulls can hurt your credit score.
How can that be?
If youre going to get credit, there needs to be a credit inquiry first, right?
There are two types of credit inquiries: hard and soft inquiries.
How are they different?
Heres what you oughta know to keep yourcredit scorelooking shiny.
Heres the difference between a soft vs. hard credit check and what it means for you.
They may run your credit with one or more of the major credit bureaus.
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Will they give you that loan?
Will you get that credit card?
What they see on your credit report may make it happen…or not.
If a potential landlord oremployer does a credit check, that would also count as a soft inquiry.
Think of it as a glance at your credit rather than a deep dive.
How Do Credit Inquiries Affect Credit Score?
Heres where it gets interesting.
Each key in of credit pull affects your credit differently.
Heres how it breaks down for soft vs. hard credit checks.
Having multiple hard inquiries in a short amount of time could mean that youre attempting to open multiple accounts.
Why is that an issue?
Because it could mean that youre trying to use credit to stay afloat during financial troubles.
Here are a few things to keep in mind.
They want you to be a smart consumer, so why would they penalize shopping for the best loan?
Unless you have a bundle of inquiries happening at once, its not a big deal.
Other Factors Have a Bigger Impact on Your Score
There are fivefactors that determine your credit score.
Credit inquiries only make up 10% of that.
Yourpayment historyandcredit utilization ratioare much greater factors in the big picture.
Theres no need to worry that a potential landlord or employer doing a credit check will hurt your score.
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Tyler Omothis a freelance writer covering topics from personal finance to career advice and even lawn care.
His work has been featured on TopResume.com, Writersweekly.com and more.
He is also the author of over 70 educational books for children and a proud parent of twin toddlers.
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