Credit Health · हिन्दी

Hard inquiry vs soft inquiry

A hard inquiry happens when a lender checks your credit report as part of a formal application, for a credit card, loan, or similar product, and it can cause a small, temporary dip in your credit score. A soft inquiry, by contrast, happens when you check your own score, or when a company does a pre-approval check without a full application, and it has no effect on your score at all. Multiple hard inquiries in a short period can signal risk to lenders, so it is generally best to space out credit applications rather than applying to several cards at once.

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