soft credit inquiry

[sawft kred-it in-kwuh-ree, soft]

noun

Finance.

1. an informal review of creditworthiness, which does not affect a person's credit score, carried out by a potential lender or credit issuer, or by a potential borrower who requests a copy of their credit report.

   A preapproved credit card offering received in the mail normally entails a soft credit inquiry.

Word History and Origins

Origin of soft credit inquiry¹

First recorded in 2005–10

Example Sentences

It’s smoothly embedded in the shopping experience, offering almost immediate approval — sometimes not even requiring a so-called soft credit inquiry, which doesn’t affect your credit score in any case.

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Moreover, the soft credit inquiry upfront is different from the black mark caused by late payment.

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In addition to a hard credit inquiry, credit bureaus also offer banks and financial institutions the opportunity to complete a soft credit inquiry.

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The bank will then complete a soft credit inquiry, which does not hurt your score.

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Since credit card issuers typically perform a soft credit inquiry when evaluating a customer’s account for automatic credit limit increases, there is no negative effect to credit scores.

Read more on US News