Originally Posted by Auracon
I understand that hard inquiries result from my request/applications for new credit and such, and soft inquiries come from the rest.
I also have learned that when my existing lenders check my credit files it also goes under the soft inquiry category under "account review." or something like that.
My question is,
1. From the personal credit reports from the major agencies, how do I count the number of HARD inquiries (and soft inquiries?) Experian report only shows "requests viewed by others" and "requests viewed by you".
2. Say I requested my bank for a credit limit increase. Do they pull a new Hard inquiry or a soft one? (does this come under the "account review" soft pull?)
Thanks!
1. Requests viewed by others are hard pulls, and requests viewed by you are soft ones.
2. It depends. If you press a button and get an instant CLI, it's usually free of any pull. If you have to fill a form and provide some personal information, it's probabally gonna be a hard one, with the exception of MBNA, with which you always have to fill a form for CLI requests and get only a soft pull since recently.
Also keep in mind that opening certain type of banking products other than credit lines also generate hard pulls. Citibank is notorious for pulling one hard inquiry for opening every single transactional account however many accounts you have with them already. You have to rely on other people's experience and there is no sure way to know if you'll get a hard pull by opening an account until afterwards, not even by asking CSRs because sometimes they either lie or don't know.