Is a Credit Score Affected If Someone Conducts a Credit Check?

A person's credit score ranges from 300 to 850 and provides lenders with an estimation of how much of a credit risk that individual is. Whether conducting a credit check affects the individual's credit score depends mostly on who initiates the credit check.

Types

Credit checks fall into two major categories. A hard pull is a credit check in response to an individual's application for credit. A soft pull is a credit check for a pre-approval, background check or one in which the individual checks his own credit report or score.

Effects

Soft pulls do not affect the individual's credit score at all. Hard pulls do affect the credit score, typically reducing it by less than 5 points. People with a short credit history or fewer accounts may see a slightly larger impact of each credit check.

Time Frame

Credit checks from the 30 days immediately before generating a credit score do not affect the score at all. In addition, multiple credit checks due to rate shopping for a mortgage, student loan or auto loan count as just one credit check. The old scoring model requires that rate shopping be done in 14 days to count as just one check and the newer model extends this period to 45 days.