Soft Inquiry
A soft inquiry (or 'soft pull') is a credit check that doesn't affect your credit score. Soft inquiries happen during pre-qualification offers, employer background checks, your own credit monitoring, and account reviews by lenders you already do business with. They're visible only to you on your credit report — other lenders can't see them.
Soft inquiries are essentially free: no score impact, no visibility to other lenders, no impact on future credit decisions. They’re how lenders preview your credit profile before formal underwriting, and how you check your own credit without consequences.
Common sources of soft inquiries
- Pre-qualification offers from credit card companies and personal lenders
- Promotional offers (“you’ve been pre-selected for…”)
- Employer background checks (with your permission)
- Insurance underwriting (with your permission)
- Account reviews by your existing creditors
- Your own credit checks through Credit Karma, your bank, or AnnualCreditReport.com
Pulling your own credit report is always a soft inquiry. You can check it as many times as you want without any impact.
Why pre-qualification matters
For personal loans, the standard application flow uses a soft pull at the pre-qualification step. You enter basic info, the lender checks your credit and decides whether to make an offer, and the offer is shown to you: all without affecting your score. The hard pull only happens if you accept the offer and submit a formal application.
This is what makes pre-qualification valuable: you can compare offers from 3-5 lenders without paying for it in score points. See our guide on soft pulls vs hard pulls for the full strategy.