 TITLE: What Is a Hard Inquiry and How Does It Affect Credit? CONTENT: What Are Inquiries on Your Credit Report?\n-----------------------------------------\nAnytime you seek credit from a lender or credit card issuer, that organization will want to see your track record as a borrower. Your past and current financial behavior, such as payment history and balances on loans and credit cards, helps lenders decide whether to work with you.\nLenders could interpret several missed bill payments, for instance, as a sign that you're likely to miss a payment again in the future. That could lead to you getting denied for a loan or being charged higher interest rates. To get the information it needs, the lender must request your credit file from the credit bureaus, and that results in a hard inquiry. That inquiry, in turn, will appear on your credit report.\nIn contrast, a soft inquiry occurs when you check your own credit, for instance, or when a company wishes to prequalify you for a loan offer, but you haven't yet submitted a full application. Soft inquiries do not impact your credit score. END