How many points does a soft credit check drop your score? (2024)

How many points does a soft credit check drop your score?

Soft inquiries do not affect credit scores and are not visible to potential lenders that may review your credit reports. They are visible to you and will stay on your credit reports for 12 to 24 months, depending on the type.

Soft inquiries don't impact your credit score. On the other hand, hard inquiries can decrease your score by a few points—or more if there are many different types of inquiries in a short period of time. A hard inquiry will impact your score for less than a year.

How do hard inquiries impact your credit score? A hard credit inquiry could lower your credit score by as much as 10 points, though in many cases, the damage probably won't be that significant. As FICO explains, “For most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO Scores.”

According to FICO, a hard inquiry from a lender will decrease your credit score five points or less. If you have a strong credit history and no other credit issues, you may find that your scores drop even less than that.

A hard inquiry typically only causes credit scores to drop by about five points, according to FICO.

Soft inquiries have no effect on your credit score. Lenders can't even see how many soft inquiries have been made on your credit report.

Credit scores can drop due to a variety of reasons, including late or missed payments, changes to your credit utilization rate, a change in your credit mix, closing older accounts (which may shorten your length of credit history overall), or applying for new credit accounts.

As someone with a 650 credit score, you are firmly in the “fair” territory of credit. You can usually qualify for financial products like a mortgage or car loan, but you will likely pay higher interest rates than someone with a better credit score. The "good" credit range starts at 690.

Should you worry about a five-point credit score drop? In most situations, a five-point drop in your credit score won't impact you in any way. Say your credit score is an 815, and it takes a five-point hit. A score of 810 is still considered exceptional, so that's not something to lose sleep over.

Do soft checks affect credit?

There are two types of credit score inquiries lenders and others (like yourself or your landlord) can make on your credit score: a "hard inquiry" and a "soft inquiry." The difference between the two is that a soft inquiry won't affect your score, but a hard inquiry can shave off some points.

Here are some examples of soft credit checks: You pull your own credit. If you check your own credit through any type of app or via AnnualCreditReport.com, it's technically a soft credit check.

Highlights: While older models of credit scores used to go as high as 900, you can no longer achieve a 900 credit score. The highest score you can receive today is 850. Anything above 800 is considered an excellent credit score.

Hard vs soft pull: Key considerations

Soft inquiries, which only you can see, appear for a variety of reasons, including promotional offers, employment verification and even you pulling your own report. Only hard inquiries affect your credit score, but all inquiries will stay on your credit report for two years.

Soft inquiries do not affect credit scores and are not visible to potential lenders that may review your credit reports. They are visible to you and will stay on your credit reports for 12 to 24 months, depending on the type.

Each hard inquiry can cause your credit score to drop by a few points. There's no such thing as “too many” hard inquiries, but multiple credit inquiries within a short window of time can suggest that you might be a risky borrower.

In most cases, hard inquiries have very little if any impact on your credit scores—and they have no effect after one year from the date the inquiry was made. So when a hard inquiry is removed from your credit reports, your scores may not improve much—or see any movement at all.

Should I pay off my credit card in full or leave a small balance?

It's a good idea to pay off your credit card balance in full whenever you're able. Carrying a monthly credit card balance can cost you in interest and increase your credit utilization rate, which is one factor used to calculate your credit scores.

It's possible that you could see your credit scores drop after fulfilling your payment obligations on a loan or credit card debt. Paying off debt might lower your credit scores if removing the debt affects certain factors like your credit mix, the length of your credit history or your credit utilization ratio.

According to a report by FICO, only 23% of the scorable population has a credit score of 800 or above.

Generally, it takes around 4-12 months to reach the point where you can apply for a loan. It will take a few months to get to 750 if your score is currently somewhere between 650 and 700. However, if you have a credit score of less than 650, it will take more time to improve the score.

Generally speaking, you'll likely need a score of at least 620 — what's classified as a “fair” rating — to qualify with most lenders. With a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan, though, you might be able to get approved with a score as low as 500.