{"id":7359,"date":"2019-05-29T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T10:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.openbusinesscouncil.org\/?p=7359"},"modified":"2022-01-05T19:09:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T19:09:52","slug":"credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7360\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7360\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openbusinesscouncil.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/credit-score.jpg\" alt=\"Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/credit-score.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/credit-score-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/credit-score-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/credit-score-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7360\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It is the time of year when individuals may be looking to apply for extra credit to pay for things like some home improvements or paying for a summer holiday. Consumers need to know about how credit searches work and the potential impact of \u2018hard searches\u2019 on their credit report and score. Here are a quick explanation and some tips.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Before starting any application, consumers must be aware that there are two forms of search, soft and hard and it\u2019s important for consumers to understand the difference between the two and when each of them applies,&#8221;<\/em> recently warned Equifax in a press release,\u00a0the credit information provider.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>soft credit<\/strong> search usually appears on an individual\u2019s credit report when they have requested a quotation from a lender; so they have been trying to find out what credit and at what rate might be available to them before making a full application. Typically this will happen when they perform a search on a comparison website for a better deal on mortgages, credit card offers, etc. Crucially, soft searches are not visible to all companies looking at an individual\u2019s credit file \u2013 they can only be seen by the applicant themselves and the company that conducted the initial search. And the number of soft searches doesn\u2019t have any impact on an individual\u2019s credit score. You can get a free <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clearscore.com\/au\" rel=\"\">soft credit check with ClearScore<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7361\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7361\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openbusinesscouncil.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hard-searches-vs-soft-searches-what-difference-do-they-make-to-your-credit-score.png\" alt=\"Hard credit searches, however, are visible to other companies looking at an individual\u2019s credit report\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hard-searches-vs-soft-searches-what-difference-do-they-make-to-your-credit-score.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hard-searches-vs-soft-searches-what-difference-do-they-make-to-your-credit-score-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hard-searches-vs-soft-searches-what-difference-do-they-make-to-your-credit-score-768x480.png 768w, https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hard-searches-vs-soft-searches-what-difference-do-they-make-to-your-credit-score-1024x640.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7361\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hard credit searches, however, are visible to other companies looking at an individual\u2019s credit report<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Hard credit searches<\/strong>, however, are visible to other companies looking at an individual\u2019s credit report. These are appear on an individual\u2019s credit report when a formal application for credit has been made. Too many hard credit searches in a short space of time could affect an individual\u2019s credit score, potentially having an impact on their ability to access new credit. Utility providers and mobile phone providers may also conduct hard searches when setting up new accounts, because they are also extending a form of credit to the individual.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cConsumers are used to shopping around and that\u2019s no different, when it comes to credit deals,\u201d<\/em> explains Lisa Hardstaff, credit information expert at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.equifax.co.uk\/about-equifax\/en_gb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Equifax<\/a>. <em>\u201cHowever every time you apply for credit, such as a loan or credit card, it leaves a trace that other lenders can see on that person\u2019s credit report. Applying for several different credit cards in a short space of time might make lenders suspect fraud or that someone is applying for credit they can\u2019t afford.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cConsumers who are just window shopping need to make sure lenders conduct \u2018soft searches\u2019 to protect their creditworthiness once they do apply for credit. Shopping around for credit shouldn\u2019t impact a person\u2019s credit score unless they actually make a formal application, which is why consumers need to understand how soft and hard credit searches work. A good way to ensure you protect your credit score when searching for credit is to ask the lender for a quotation first so that you can see the deal they would offer before going ahead and making a formal application.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is the time of year when individuals may be looking to apply for extra credit to pay for things like some home improvements or paying for a summer holiday. Consumers need to know about how credit searches work and the potential impact of \u2018hard searches\u2019 on their credit report and score. Here are a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":""},"categories":[3822],"tags":[3529],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.1 (Yoast SEO v19.7.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained - OpenBusinessCouncil Directory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Consumers need to know about how credit searches work and the potential impact of \u2018hard searches\u2019 on their credit report and score\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Consumers need to know about how credit searches work and the potential impact of \u2018hard searches\u2019 on their credit report and score\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpenBusinessCouncil Directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-29T10:57:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-05T19:09:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/credit-score.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1199\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hernaldo Turrillo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hernaldo Turrillo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hernaldo Turrillo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b9610afd0759dc701187a7f622375c23\"},\"headline\":\"Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-29T10:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-05T19:09:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"consumer resources\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Resources\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/credit-score-soft-vs-hard-searches-explained\/\",\"name\":\"Credit Score: Soft Vs Hard Searches Explained - 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