Hard pull
Also known as: Hard inquiry, Hard credit check
A lender-initiated credit inquiry triggered by an application for new credit. Appears on your credit report, typically lowers FICO by 2–5 points for 12 months, and ages off entirely after 24 months.
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Hard pulls are credit inquiries that occur when a consumer actively applies for credit and the lender pulls their credit report and score from one or more bureaus to make an underwriting decision. The inquiry is recorded on the consumer's credit report, attributed to the specific lender, and remains visible for 24 months. Hard pulls have a modest negative effect on FICO — typically 2–5 points per pull — that decays over the 12-month period after the pull and disappears entirely after 24 months when the pull falls off the report.
The FICO model treats hard pulls in the "new credit" category, which accounts for 10% of the overall score. The effect is small per pull but compounds: a consumer who applies for five credit cards in three months absorbs 10–25 points of FICO impact, all of which decays over the following 12 months. The empirical effect varies meaningfully by the consumer's profile — a consumer with a long, clean credit history is less affected per pull than a consumer with a thin file or recent score volatility. The same five-pull burst that drops a 800 FICO to 780 might drop a 660 FICO to 630 because the model interprets the same signal more negatively against a thinner profile.
Multiple hard pulls for the same type of credit within a tight window are treated more favorably by FICO than the same number of pulls spread out. The FICO model groups mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries within a 14- to 45-day window (the exact window depends on the FICO version) as a single inquiry for scoring purposes — the intent is to allow rate shopping without each individual lender pull penalizing the consumer. The grouping does not extend across product types: a mortgage pull and an auto loan pull within the same week count as two separate inquiries. The shopping window matters: if you are planning to rate-shop a mortgage, complete all the lender applications within 14 days to be safe across all FICO versions.
Some categories of credit checking do not trigger hard pulls. Soft pulls — initiated by you to check your own credit, by lenders for pre-approval offers, by employers for background checks, by landlords for tenant screening (in many states) — are visible only to you on your credit report and do not affect your score. Credit-monitoring services use soft pulls. Pre-qualification offers from issuers and lenders use soft pulls. The distinction between hard pull and soft pull is what the action triggers, not whether the consumer initiated it; an application for actual credit triggers a hard pull, while preliminary shopping that does not result in an application typically does not.
- Soft pull vs hard pull: which credit inquiries affect your score A soft pull never affects your FICO. A hard pull drops it 2–5 points for about 12 months. Which is which, when each happens, and the 45-day rate-shopping rule.
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- FICO Score The 300–850 credit score produced by the Fair Isaac Corporation's scoring models. The score model used by the majority of US lenders for consumer credit underwriting. Calculated from bureau data on payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, credit mix, and new credit.
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