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What is a Hard Inquiry?

4 min read

Published September 11, 2025

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

A hard credit inquiry occurs when a financial institution reviews your credit report as they evaluate your credit application.
Multiple credit inquiries within a short period may hurt your score.
If you’re shopping for a mortgage, student loan, or auto loan, multiple applications within a short timeframe may count as one inquiry.

When you apply for a loan or credit card, lenders generally want to make sure you’ll re-pay your debt before offering you credit. While lenders can’t predict the future, they may look at your credit history to understand how you’ve managed credit in the past. To do this, creditors typically conduct what’s called a hard inquiry. A hard credit inquiry allows potential lenders to access your credit report and review your credit history to determine whether to approve your credit application.

Definition of a hard inquiry

You might hear hard inquiries referred to as “hard credit checks” or “hard pulls”, but they all share the same meaning.

A hard credit inquiry occurs when a creditor—a bank, credit card issuer, private lender, or another financial institution—requests access to your credit report as part of a credit application. For a request to count as a hard inquiry, it has to be connected to a credit application.

When a lender or anyone else views your credit report for any reason other than an application for credit, that’s a “soft credit inquiry”, which doesn’t affect your credit.

How do hard inquiries affect your credit?

When a creditor conducts a hard credit inquiry, a major credit bureau usually receives the request and records it on your credit report.

The effect a hard inquiry has on your credit score depends on your credit history. If you have a strong credit history, a single hard inquiry—like one credit card application—may only bring your score down a few points. But if you’re new to credit, you may notice a bigger impact. A few months of responsible credit habits often help your score recover from a hard inquiry. Plus, new credit may help your score by increasing your available credit and improving your credit utilization ratio.

Multiple hard inquiries within a short timeframe could do more significant damage to your score. That’s because applying for multiple credit accounts at once might some-times point to cashflow issues that might indicate you’re a risky borrower. But there are some exceptions to the rule.

When inquiries are treated separately

Credit scoring agencies typically count multiple credit card applications in a short period as separate hard pulls. That means each application individually affects your credit. So, even if you’re trying to track down the ideal rewards credit card with the lowest interest rate, applying for several cards at once is generally not a good idea.

Did you know?

Credit card pre-approval and pre-qualification give you an idea of the credit card offers you may qualify for—without affecting your credit score. Credit card issuers use soft credit checks to screen your credit file for basic eligibility requirements for pre-approved and pre-qualified offers.

See If You’re Pre-Approved

When multiple inquiries are treated as a single inquiry

When you’re searching for a mortgage, student loan, or auto loan, it may take some time to find the best interest rate possible. Fortunately, scoring models treat multiple applications for these loans that occur within a set “rate-shopping” period as a single hard inquiry, the New York State Department of Financial Services explains. This practice lets borrowers shop around for financing without putting their credit score at risk.

On older versions of the FICO^® Score, the rate-shopping window is two weeks, according to myFICO^®. Newer versions have expanded the window to 45 days, giving you more time to find the right fit.

So, if you’re just beginning the home-buying process, for example, you may apply for multiple mortgages over the span of a week. While each hard credit check might appear separately on your credit report, they’ll likely affect your credit score as one inquiry.

How long does a hard inquiry affect your credit score?

According to the Texas State Law Library, hard credit inquiries typically affect your credit score for 12 months. However, they may appear on your credit report for up to two years.

The bottom line

When you apply for a new credit card or loan, a hard credit inquiry typically appears on your credit report. But hard credit inquiries usually have only a small impact on your score.

By practicing good credit habits, like paying your bill on time each month and keeping your credit utilization ratio to a minimum, you may reduce the impact of a hard credit inquiry—and qualify for a wider range of credit cards when you’re ready to apply.

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