Soft pulls versus hard pulls: How do I tell the difference?

[Solannis]

Hi all,

With my recent CLI successes, I got an update from myFICO that indicated that my credit score went down (by one point) due to a credit inquiry from one of the credit card companies. With all the reading I have done from these forums, I think I am still a bit confused about how to tell the difference between a hard pull and a soft pull when looking at my credit report. I am hoping someone here can clarify this for me.

Please understand that I am not asking for what the difference is between the two; I understand that soft pulls should not impact my credit score but hard pulls normally will (and appear to have done so in this case). My confusion comes in where I have read that when you are looking at your credit report, you may see different inquiries when your credit card companies do their own automated scans of your credit score for the purpose of automatic CLI adjustments and whatnot. I think I saw this specifically somewhere in one of the AMEX 3X CLI posts, but it could have been somewhere else. I've done a LOT of reading here. My confusion is: if you can see those AND they are soft pulls, how do you then tell the difference between a soft and a hard?

For example: I got two CLIs, but only one "inquiry" on my credit report, so I would take that to mean that the one inquiry I can see was a hard pull, and the other one that I cannot see must have resulted in a soft pull. But if that is true, then how could you check on whether or not credit card companies do their automated scans (presumably soft pulls)? Is there some way to identify the difference between hard and soft on your credit report, or is it that anything that appears on your credit report is hard and soft never shows up there?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[mountainmom]

Only hard pulls show up on a myfico report. You must have the actual credit bureau report to see softs. It will usually have a section "seen by others" for hards, and "only seen by you"for softs.

[RobertEG]

A so-called "hard pull" is one that appears in credit reports obtained by others.

A xo-called "soft pull" is one that only appears to the consumer when they pull their own credit report.

The FCRA never uses the terms "hard" or "soft" pull.

The only type of inquiry that is specifically prohibited from inclusion in credit reports availabtle to persons other than the consumer are the so-called "promotional" inquiries that are permitted under FCRA 604(c), where parties can obtain a listing of consumer names and addresses for making firm offers for credit or insurance.

The procedure by which some inquires that are otherwise entitlted to be included in credit reports available to others can be excluded is purely an administrative conconction of the CRAs.  Some criteria, such as internal account reviews not brought about by consumer-initiated request for credit, are routinely coded as soft.

How other types os inquires that are otherwise intended to be routinely coded as hard, such as any consumer-initiated request for new credit, can, through some unpublixhed process, be coded as soft.  How that is procedurally done remains, at least to me, an unpublished mystery.  Credit inquires are not the reporting of information to a CRA and thus the process is not addressed in teh CRA reporting manual.

Do the creditors decide how the CRA will code, or does the CRA decide on the appropriate code based on the stated permissible purpose of any inquiry?

If the creditor can determine the coding, that would imply that CRAs have a code that essentially says "permiisible purpose is for a consumer-initiated request for credit, but hide that from others."  Extremely subjective.

[takeshi74]

It may be unclear to us and variable depending on situation/coding but that doesn't make it subjective.  In other words, an individual's perception does not change the coding of a pull.

[RobertEG]

Take the common situation where the consumer has initiated a request for new credit.

That is the very type of inquiry that is intended to be shown to others.

It is, in my opinion, totally subjective to code such an inquiry in a manner that prevents others from viewing it based on the discretion of the inquiree.