A credit inquiry is a review of your credit report by a person or lender, typically to evaluate your buying power, by a lender or financial institution to evaluate your creditworthiness for a financial product or service. Credit inquiries can be either hard inquiries or soft inquiries, and each type can have a different impact on your credit score. Checking Your Own Credit Does Not Hurt Your Score Soft-Inquiries Soft inquiries or a "Soft Pull" occur when you, or someone else, checks your credit for non-lending reasons, such as checking your own credit or when a potential employer checks your credit as part of a background check. Soft inquiries occur when you, or someone else, checks your credit for non-lending reasons. They do not affect your credit score and are not visible to others on your credit report. Hard Inquiries A hard inquiry, also known as a hard pull, is a review of your credit report by a lender or financial institution to evaluate your creditworthiness for a financial product or service, such as a credit card or loan. Hard inquiries are initiated by lenders and result in a temporary decrease in your credit score. Hard inquiries are reported on your credit for two (2) years.