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hard credit inquiry

American  
[hahrd kred-it in-kwuh-ree] / ˈhɑrd ˈkrɛd ɪt ˌɪn kwə ri /

noun

Finance.

  1. a formal assessment of creditworthiness made by a lender or credit issuer with the permission of a potential borrower who has applied for a loan, line of credit, or credit card.

    Hard credit inquiries appear on a person’s credit report and can affect their credit score.

Etymology

Origin of hard credit inquiry

First recorded in 2000–05

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.