 TITLE: What Are Inquiries On Your Credit Report? CONTENT: What Is a Soft Inquiry?\n-----------------------\nSoft inquiries appear on your credit report when someone runs a credit check for reasons unrelated to lending you money. These events are not associated with greater repayment risk, so they have no effect on your credit scores. Here are a few examples:\n*   Utility companies may use credit checks to decide if they require security deposits on leased equipment such as Wi-Fi routers or satellite dishes.\n*   Auto insurers may use credit checks to help set premiums, since safe driving habits and high credit scores show strong correlation.\n*   Credit card issuers with whom you already have accounts may check your credit scores for purposes of marketing new cards or other products to you.\nIf you obtain your own credit report or check your credit score using a credit monitoring service such as Experian's, that will generate a soft inquiry on your credit report. But, as with other soft inquiries, monitoring your own credit scores cannot hurt your credit. END