Soft vs hard hit on credit

[nomoneynomore]

Is there any way to find out if an inquiry will be a hard or soft hit before doing a pre approval etc?

Thanks

[Amy26]

there is a credit board forum that keeps a database of pulls and they also have a thread on what banks do soft pulls vs. hard pulls. If you want the site I'll pm it to you.

[HHM]

If you apply for credit, that will ALWAYS be a hard pull. Soft Pulls are marketing pulls done behind the scenes.

Soft pulls HAVE NO affect on credit

Hard pulls, barely affect your credit. (even in the worst case scenario, we are only talking about single digit point moves).

[Amy26]

The OP was asking about Pre-approvals. There are lots of places that do soft pulls for preapprovals. However, if you do end up submitting the application they will do a hard pull afterward.

[Flamingo]

The OP was asking about Pre-approvals. There are lots of places that do soft pulls for preapprovals. However, if you do end up submitting the application they will do a hard pull afterward.

Correct. Also note that pre-approvals are usually sent to everyone on a mailing list obtained by the creditor...they just send them out to everyone ("Wow, we got pre-approved!") and to those that apply even after reading all the fine print that they are really not guaranteed approval ("pre-approval" does not mean a thing), a hard pull on one's credit is done but there is no guarantee one will be approved.