A hard inquiry is a credit check pulled by a lender when you formally apply for credit — it appears on your credit report, costs 5-10 FICO points typically, and stays on the report for 24 months.
Hard inquiries occur when you formally apply for a loan, credit card, or mortgage. The lender pulls your credit report from one or more bureaus, and the inquiry is recorded on your report. Impact: 5-10 FICO points typically, recovering over 12 months. The inquiry stays visible on your report for 24 months but stops affecting your score after 12. Mortgage and auto-loan rate-shopping: FICO treats multiple mortgage or auto-loan inquiries within a 14-day window as a SINGLE inquiry for scoring purposes (newer FICO models extend to 45 days). This means you can shop 3-4 mortgage lenders or 3-4 auto-loan lenders in the same week without compounding score impact. This grace doesn't apply to credit-card applications. Hard inquiries vs soft inquiries: soft inquiries (you checking your own credit, pre-approved offers, employer background checks) don't affect your FICO and aren't visible to other lenders. Soft pulls power pre-qualification at most personal-loan and auto-loan lenders.
Generally, 1-2 hard inquiries in 12 months has minimal cumulative effect. 3-5 starts to drag on score. 6+ in 12 months signals 'credit-seeking behavior' to FICO and can drop a thin-credit FICO by 20-40 points compound. Space applications 90+ days apart for credit cards.
No. Soft inquiries don't affect FICO and don't appear on your credit report visible to other lenders. Pre-qualification at most personal-loan and auto-loan lenders uses soft pulls. Checking your own score is a soft pull. Pre-approved credit card offers are soft pulls.