Soft Inquiries

Submitted by goodnatured on Sat, 03/15/2008 - 11:42
Forums

I read on here somewhere that soft inquires and hard inquires drop your score, is there anyway to get them removed from your report. I don't think this should be part of the reporting system, you have no control over it at all sometimes.

Soft inquiries do not affect your score.

All inquiries drop off after two years, but after one year, there is minimal to zero affect on your FICO.

Sun, 03/16/2008 - 00:32 Permalink

Do the soft inquiries that you don't have any control over affect your score at all?

Sun, 03/16/2008 - 02:10 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

What are soft and hard inquires goodnatured? I have honestly never heard of neither.

Sun, 03/16/2008 - 13:34 Permalink

I myself have never heard of soft or hard inquires. I would like to know what they are myself.

Sun, 03/16/2008 - 13:36 Permalink

Soft: inquiries performed by you, or a creditor (for advertising/solicitation)

Hard: inquiries related to a credit transaction

Sun, 03/16/2008 - 15:26 Permalink

Soft inquiries are not seen by anyone who pulls your credit. These are pulled when creditors are looking to extend to you preapproved offers. You can opt out from having these pulled. Hard inquiries can only be pulled with your permission when applying for credit.

Sun, 03/16/2008 - 23:46 Permalink

Good info Morningstar as I didn't know that after 2 years the inquires drop. I did know the difference but it's interesting to know that the 2 year status is in affect. cool!

Mon, 03/17/2008 - 23:04 Permalink

Well thst clears that up..Amazing to be this old and still learning.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 00:03 Permalink

Amazing to be this old and still learning.

Take a minute and think about the number of different companies in whose interest it is that consumers remain uninformed.

Anyways...learning is, or should be, a lifelong process.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 01:03 Permalink

'Pre-approval offers' are ( I believe) are 'soft' inquiries. If you apply for credit somewhere ( loan, credit card, etc) are 'hard' inquiries. 'Hard' inquiries are on your credit.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 01:12 Permalink

How can preapprovals be able to do anything to your credit? Are you talking about all those offers that come in the mail stating "you are preapproved for x amount of dollars)? If so you don't ask them for a card they are the one trying to get you to take one. I always file 13 these offers.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 10:45 Permalink

I have seen soft inquire getting knocked off as well. This happens with time and the increasing number of soft inquiries. As the list increases the earlier inquiries drop off and do not get a proper place in the report.

Anyone has faced this situation?This is true however.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 11:36 Permalink

How can preapprovals be able to do anything to your credit? Are you talking about all those offers that come in the mail stating "you are preapproved for x amount of dollars)?

These are soft inquiries and do not affect your score.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 17:35 Permalink

Your existing creditors that you have open accounts with will pull soft inquiries periodically , in hopes of extending you more credit. Collection agencies will also pull soft inquiries on your credit to aid them in aquiring new information on you that may have been added to your report such as new address , phone numbers ,etc. This help in their collection process. I was told the first thing you should do , when you are trying to repair your credit, is shut down all credit from being able to pull soft inquiries on you. The way to do this is go to optoutprescreen.com.It cuts down on junk mail.

Wed, 03/19/2008 - 13:40 Permalink

Cool Fasfeed. I never knew that website exsisted. I am going to go and register. Mainly because they continue to send junk mail like preapprovals to my old address and I am afraid someone will send it in for fun and games. I talked to the post office about this several times and every once in a while I get a call from my neighbor saying there was some junk mail in my old rr box. Finally decided not to let it there for anyone elses future use and took down. Apparently taking off my name and address from the box was not enough. Again thanks for the useful info.

Wed, 03/19/2008 - 15:09 Permalink

I will go there also, I don't think these inquiries should affect your score, you have NO control over who does this.

Thu, 03/20/2008 - 14:09 Permalink

I went and visited this site. There is a small fee that has to be paid monthly. I don't think there should be one since your not asking for those soft injuries so it kind of upset me. It is a small price to pay for the protection but I guess I get all bent out of shape when people have a hard time amking it as it is and then has to pay for something else. I mean shouldn't it be like the DO NOT CALL list. They offer sign ups there for no cost. You don't ask telemarketers to call you just like you don't ask these places to prescreen you. To me it is the same thing...all advertising. What does anyone else feel about this?

Thu, 03/20/2008 - 15:21 Permalink

Maybe I click on a site like it. I will go back and try again through your link. Thanks

Thu, 03/20/2008 - 23:04 Permalink

I went there and did it for both me and the hubby, hopefully it will stop some of the crap coming in the mail.

Sun, 03/23/2008 - 00:36 Permalink

I am anxiosly awaiting to see what kind of results this gets. Hopefully it will save me mailbox space..I'll just ahve to find something else to start my fires with.

Mon, 03/24/2008 - 02:13 Permalink

It should. My spelling really needs some help on that last post.oops.

Wed, 03/26/2008 - 00:16 Permalink