For many an individual and business, access to credit depends on FICO scores, recent credit checks and the contents of credit history reports maintained at the three major credit bureaus \u2013 Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. A \u201cpull\u201d is a credit inquiry from a legitimate entity, made in order to check your credit.
\nA hard pull is one that can affect your FICO score, whereas a SOFT PULL HAS NO EFFECT. This is important to remember, because too many hard pulls can lower your credit score. The Fair Credit Reporting Acts sets limits on why and when your credit report can be pulled.<\/p>\n
Soft Pulls – Credit Checks<\/strong><\/p>\n All credit inquiries that are not credit checks by a prospective lender are soft pulls. First, any inquiries you make upon your own credit reports or FICO scores are automatically a soft pull credit check, so feel free to make as many as you like. You may be subject to a soft pull and not even know it. Often, soft pulls help businesses save money when canvassing for new customers, because these inquiries can rule out some potential prospects, saving the business paper and postage costs.<\/p>\n Hard pulls result when a potential lender wants to review your credit application. Common credit applications that trigger hard pull credit checks are ones for credit cards, mortgages and car loans. Each credit check is counted as one inquiry. However, you get a break if you are \u201crate shopping,\u201d in that all inquiries for the same purpose, such as a mortgage, business loan, rental property, student loan, etc., within a 45-day period are counted as only a single hard pull. This has implications \u2013 if you are apartment hunting, its best to do it within a short period if you want to maintain your FICO score.<\/p>\n Common Soft Inquires:<\/strong> Common Hard Inquiries:<\/strong> Although a hard pull can affect your FICO score, the impact upon your score can vary. The score is sensitive to several factors: The good news is that a single hard pull or credit check might not affect your credit score at all, and even if it does, the cost is usually less than five points. The bad news is that if you have a short credit history or just a handful of credit accounts, a hard pull can have a greater impact on your credit score. So can multiple hard pulls that are not categorized as rate shopping. Wonder why? Here\u2019s the dirty little secret \u2013 consumers with at least six credit inquiries are 8X more likely than those with no inquiries to file for bankruptcy. Soft Is Better for a Credit Check<\/strong> For many an individual and business, access to credit depends on FICO scores, recent credit checks and the contents of credit history reports maintained at the three major credit bureaus \u2013 Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. A \u201cpull\u201d is a credit inquiry from a legitimate entity, made in order to check your credit. A hard pull […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,835,12],"yst_prominent_words":[282,295,283,298,286,284,303,301,294,287,285,115,292,288,289,290,302,297,291,293],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5480,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions\/5480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1874"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expresscashflow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOther soft-pull examples include:
\n\u2022 Credit inquiries from businesses that want to offer you goods or services (for example, a promotional offer from a credit card issuer or mortgage lender)
\n\u2022 Inquiries from businesses where you already have established a credit account.
\n\u2022 Pre-approved loan and credit card offers
\n\u2022 Employers and others performing a background check on you. For some reason, employers tend to gravitate towards job candidates with good credit ratings.<\/p>\nHard Pulls – Credit Checks<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 Verification of identity
\n\u2022 Unsecured debt
\n\u2022 \u201cPre-qualified\u201d credit card offers
\n\u2022 \u201cPre-qualified\u201d insurance quotes
\n\u2022 Car rentals
\n\u2022 Obtaining an Internet or cable account
\n\u2022 Opening a bank account
\n\u2022 Requesting a higher credit limit
\n\u2022 Contracting for a cell phone account<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Mortgage applications
\n\u2022 Auto loan applications
\n\u2022 Credit card applications
\n\u2022 Student loan applications
\n\u2022 Personal loan applications
\n\u2022 Apartment rental applications<\/p>\nPulls and Scores<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 The inquiry must be a voluntary application for credit
\n\u2022 The number of new accounts you have recently opened
\n\u2022 The percentage of your accounts that have recently been opened, by account type
\n\u2022 The number of recent credit inquiries you have had
\n\u2022 The amount of time that has elapsed since you opened an account, by account type
\n\u2022 The amount of time since the last credit inquiry<\/p>\n
\nBy the way, you can dispute a hard inquiry performed without your permission. Authorized hard pulls usually hang around on your credit history for a couple of years.<\/p>\n
\nNow, if you are looking for a commercial business loan, keep in mind that Express Cash Flow uses soft credit pulls that won\u2019t affect your credit score. When you combine this with our fast, no-hassle process and quick turn round, it\u2019s easy to see why Express Cash Flow is growing into one of the commission advance companies in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"