Credit Pulls

What a credit pull is, soft vs. hard credit pulls & more

Sep 15, 2025

Fact checked

Written by Adam McCann

WalletHub Financial Writer

Fact Checked by Alina Comoreanu

WalletHub Senior Researcher

What Is a Credit Pull?

A “credit pull” refers to the act of checking a credit report, and it’s also known as a “credit inquiry” or “credit check.” You can pull your own credit report, and lenders, employers, landlords and insurance companies can pull your report too, under the right circumstances.

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Not all credit pulls are created equal, however. There’s a difference between so-called soft credit pulls and hard credit pulls, for one thing. And for your credit score’s sake, it’s important that you understand the difference. You can find everything you need to know about credit pulls below.

Table of Contents

Soft Credit Pull vs. Hard Credit Pull

The biggest difference between a soft credit pull and a hard credit pull is that a soft pull will never impact your credit score, while a hard pull usually leads to a small, temporary drop in your score. In addition, creditors can perform a soft credit pull without your explicit permission, whereas hard pulls always require your authorization.

Category	Hard Credit Pulls	Soft Credit Pulls
Credit Impact:	Can temporarily lower your score Many inquiries in a short timeframe increase the damage	None
Happens When:	You apply for a credit card or loan You request an increase to your credit limit	You check your own credit report or score Employer runs a background check Credit companies pre-screen you for offers Creditors perform basic account maintenance
Permission Required?	Yes	Not usually
Legitimate Reason Needed?	Yes	Yes

Because hard pulls have the ability to affect your credit standing, you need to give explicit permission for anyone to make a hard credit pull. Actions sometimes count, though. By applying for a credit card, for instance, you’re giving the issuer permission to confirm you meet the card’s approval requirements. And that requires a hard credit pull. But no one can just do a hard pull without your knowledge. If you see an unauthorized inquiry bringing down your score, you can dispute it.

Soft pulls don’t require permission, but the puller needs to have a legitimate reason. For example, lenders generally use soft pulls to pre-approve people for credit card offers. So no need to worry about random strangers snooping around your private info.

For more information, we suggest reading WalletHub’s article on soft vs. hard credit inquiries.

Examples of Hard & Soft Credit Pulls

Only certain types of people and companies can do hard credit pulls, and only with your express permission. On the other hand, lots of groups can do a soft pull of your credit in order to advertise products to you or get a limited peek at your report for non-lending purposes, such as job applications or insurance sales. Below are lists of common situations that lead to soft and hard credit pulls.

Examples of Hard Credit Pulls

Applying for a credit card
Applying for a personal loan
Applying for a mortgage
Applying for an auto loan
Applying for a student loan
Applying to rent an apartment (in some but not all cases)
Asking for a credit limit increase (in some but not all cases)
Leasing a car (in some but not all cases)

Examples of Soft Credit Pulls

Checking your own credit
An employer doing a background check
Pre-approved offers from credit card companies
Pre-screened offers from insurance companies
Current creditors doing a routine evaluation of your credit (such as for an automatic credit limit increase)
Utility companies checking your credit before starting service (usually a soft pull but can be hard in rare cases)

How Much Does a Credit Pull Affect Your Score?

A hard credit pull will likely cause a small, temporary drop in your credit score. You can expect the decrease to be around 5 points, which you can bounce back from with a few months of responsible credit use. However, triggering multiple hard pulls at once, such as applying for multiple credit cards simultaneously, can compound that damage, causing a much larger drop.

When a Credit Pull Doesn’t Affect Your Score

Pulling your own credit report, which counts as a soft credit pull, will not hurt your credit standing in any way. In fact, self-credit pulls could help improve your score if you notice opportunities for improvement or errors that you can dispute. And you can check your latest TransUnion credit report for free on WalletHub, the first site with free daily updates.

There is also no impact to your credit score when anyone else does a soft pull of your credit, such as an employer doing a background check or a credit card company pre-screening you for offers.

Who Can Pull Your Credit Report?

Lenders

When you apply for a loan, credit card, or other line of credit, the financial institution issuing it will almost always do a hard credit pull. They need to review your credit history to determine whether you’re a good candidate to borrow. Most credit card companies will also do a hard pull if you request a higher credit limit.

There are a handful of no credit check credit cards and no credit check loans available, but they usually don’t have great terms.

Landlords

Renting an apartment counts as borrowing in the sense that you’re receiving a service – a place to live – in advance of paying your monthly rent. And given that it’s often very difficult to evict tenants once they’re in, landlords typically want to make sure applicants are responsible borrowers. This might be a hard or soft credit pull.

Auto Financing & Insurance Companies

Better credit means higher approval odds and lower interest rates. According to WalletHub research, people with fair credit can expect to pay over $6,000 more in interest on a 5-year car loan than folks with excellent credit. And people with no credit pay about 71% more in car insurance premiums than drivers with excellent credit.

These companies will send out pre-screened offers using soft credit pulls. Applying for an auto loan requires a hard pull, though purchasing insurance doesn’t.

Utility companies

We generally pay for household utilities – electricity, water, gas, etc. – after we use them. So it makes sense that the companies providing these services are interested in our experience borrowing. They will typically perform a soft credit pull but it could be a hard pull in rare cases.

If you don’t display responsible credit behavior, utility companies might require an upfront deposit or someone else to guarantee payment.

Phone service

Much like utilities, you consume phone service before being charged at the end of the month. Therefore, the company may check your credit to see whether you typically pay bills on time, and if you don’t, they might require a deposit or guarantor. This is typically a soft pull, but it could be a hard pull occasionally.

Employers

Your employer can’t see your full credit report, but if you give them permission they can get an abridged version from the credit bureaus with a soft credit pull. They use this as part of background checks, and it can serve as a sort of an additional character reference.

You

You can pull your own credit report at any time, with no impact to your score. You should do this on a regular basis to make sure that you catch any errors and dispute them promptly. You can also monitor your progress in paying off your debts.

You can check your latest TransUnion credit report for free here on WalletHub, with daily updates. You also have the right to get a free copy of your report from each major credit bureau (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) from AnnualCreditReport.com on a weekly basis.

What Do Credit Pulls Show?

The amount of information that a credit pull reveals depends on the situation. For example, lenders will see your full credit report when you apply for credit. You’ll also be able to see the full report when you check your own report using certain websites, like AnnualCreditReport.com and WalletHub.

Many other free credit report sites only provide summaries, unfortunately. Employers can also see a basic version of your credit report, if you apply for a job that requires financial responsibility or a security clearance.

Your credit report itself shows a lot of information, including:

Personal Information: Your name, address, SSN, and date of birth
Credit History: The credit accounts you’ve had in the last 10 years, their balances, and your payment history
Credit Inquiries: The times people have accessed your credit report in the past two years
Public Records: Things like past bankruptcies and collection accounts

Anyone who does a hard pull of your credit is able to see this complete information. However, a soft pull shows less info. It can only give your:

Name, address, and date of birth (NOT your SSN)
Current credit accounts you have
An overview of your financial history, including negatives like missed payments and bankruptcy
Your credit score (sometimes)

So rest assured that the only people getting access to your most sensitive information are people you expressly give permission to. Entities that can pull your credit without your permission get a much more limited look.

Credit Pulls Databases: Not an Effective Tool

So-called “credit pulls databases” compile anecdotes from consumers about which credit bureaus certain lenders pull from, what credit score you need to get approved for certain credit cards, and what credit limits those cards provide. They are not effective or reliable because the reports are not verified or vetted in any way. And there aren’t enough of them for an accurate sample. What may be the case for one person may be completely different for another similar applicant.

Although credit pulls databases are a bust, you can learn all you need to know from WalletHub’s free personalized credit analysis. We’ll tell you how to improve your credit, how long it will take and which credit cards offer the highest approval odds.

Credit Pulls FAQ(25 questions)

Editorial and user-generated content on this page is not reviewed or otherwise endorsed by any financial institution. Please keep in mind that it is not a financial institution’s responsibility to ensure all posts and questions are answered.In addition, WalletHub independently collected information for some of the cards on this page.

Upvotes

Do cell phone credit checks affect your credit score?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

Yes, cell phone credit checks do affect your credit since most phone carriers do a hard pull when you apply for a new phone plan to determine whether you are likely to make payments on time. A hard credit pull can make your credit score fall 5 to 10 points temporarily. Hard credit pulls, also known as credit inquiries, can stay on your credit report for two years but usually don't affect your score for that long.

Once you have your phone plan, your monthly payments probably won't be reported to the credit bureaus, which means they won't affect your credit score. If you are looking to build credit with your phone payments, you can use a bill reporting company such as WalletHub that can report your on-time payments to the credit bureaus.

How to Build Credit With Phone Payments

1. Sign up for a bill reporting service.

You can sign up for a service such as WalletHub that allows you to report your on-time phone payments to the credit bureaus every month. These services typically report your ongoing phone payments in exchange for a monthly or annual membership fee, though some services will report your payments to the credit bureaus for free.

2. Connect your bank account.

These bill reporting services generally require you to connect your bank account so they can verify your phone payments. Once your payments have been verified, the company can report the payments to at least one of the credit bureaus.

3. Pay your phone bill on time.

Payment history has the biggest influence on your credit score. By paying your phone bill on time and reporting your payments to at least one of the credit bureaus, you can add consistent, on-time payments to your credit report, which can increase your credit score and show lenders that you can pay your bills on time.

How Late Cell Phone Payments Can Affect Your Credit

If you pay your cell phone bill late or not at all, it can hurt your credit if your phone carrier reports that information to the credit bureaus. It can also hurt your credit score if your phone carrier sends your balance to collections, especially if the debt remains unpaid. Collection accounts can drop your credit score by up to 100 points.

To learn more, check out WalletHub's guide on how to build credit with a phone plan.

Upvotes

Do utility companies run credit checks?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

Yes, some utility companies run a credit check when you are setting up service with them. These checks are usually soft credit checks that allow the utility company to view your credit report to determine your eligibility without affecting your credit score.

When a utility company provides service before you actually pay the bill, it is extending you a form of credit. This is why a credit check is needed. It helps the company determine whether...

Upvotes

Are there any credit cards that don't do a hard inquiry?

Chip Lupo, Credit Card Writer

Yes, there are credit cards that don't do a hard inquiry on your credit report when you apply. These no-credit-check credit cards generally require a security deposit to open the account, usually in addition to an annual fee, and they are not common.

Many credit cards also let you check for pre-approval without doing a hard pull, but they will almost always require a hard pull if you decide to apply for the card after getting...

Upvotes