What does a lender get from a soft pull?

[Anonymous]

I was just wondering what information a lender obtains when they do a soft inquiry.  I know how to find who soft pulled my reports, and I understand it doesn't hurt my credit.  I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I didn't see it anywhere.  I would like to know for Amex 3x purposes. Thanks

[RobertEG]

There is only one type of so-called soft pull that is regulated under the FCRA.

All other types of soft pulls receive the same information as a hard pull.... i.e., your full credit report.

The excpetion are the so-called promotional inquires made by a creditor under the provisions of FCRA 604(c).

A creditor can make an inquiry wth a CRA that einttles them to a listing of consumers who meet certain criteria, and the creditor must then make a firm offer for credit to all on that listing.

Such inquiries are prevented by statue (section 604(c)) from providing any account specific information.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

There is only one type of so-called soft pull that is regulated under the FCRA.

All other types of soft pulls receive the same information as a hard pull.... i.e., your full credit report.

The excpetion are the so-called promotional inquires made by a creditor under the provisions of FCRA 604(c).

A creditor can make an inquiry wth a CRA that einttles them to a listing of consumers who meet certain criteria, and the creditor must then make a firm offer for credit to all on that listing.

Such inquiries are prevented by statue (section 604(c)) from providing any account specific information.

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Ok, thanks. 

[takeshi74]

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@nsaf2010 wrote:

I would like to know for Amex 3x purposes.

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They see your full report and that's why they can use an SP to determine CLI eligiblity.  The difference is just in how the pull is coded.

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@nsaf2010 wrote:

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I didn't see it anywhere.

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If any site's search feature isn't getting the results you're after then don't overlook a site restricted Google search.  Here's an example:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=lender+see+soft+pull+site:ficoforums.myfico.com

All you have to to site restrict to this site is add site:ficoforums.myfico.com to your keywords.

[Anonymous]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@nsaf2010 wrote:

I would like to know for Amex 3x purposes.

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They see your full report and that's why they can use an SP to determine CLI eligiblity.  The difference is just in how the pull is coded.

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@nsaf2010 wrote:

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I didn't see it anywhere.

---

If any site's search feature isn't getting the results you're after then don't overlook a site restricted Google search.  Here's an example:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=lender+see+soft+pull+site:ficoforums.myfico.com

All you have to to site restrict to this site is add site:ficoforums.myfico.com to your keywords.

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Why can't all pulls be soft pulls?

[RobertEG]

Because credit inquiries are considered to be an item of interest in evalating a consumer's risk of repayment, as demonstrated by the fact that it they are a part of credit scoring.

A soft pull cannot be seen by others, and thus would not be able to be viewed by creditors as part of their evaluation, or included in FICO scoring.

A better question might be why any inquiry that qualifies as hard is permitted to subjectively be codd as soft.....