Soft Pull Vs Hard Pull Does Anyone Really Know

[Iusedtolurk]

I still can't figure out what creditors Actually see when they Soft Pull your credit.

Some people say they see the exact same data as they see when they do a Hardpull and basically the Hardpull is to send out a signal to other creditors that you are seeking or getting more credit.

If this is true then Why do sometimes you get a Softpull pre-approval but then when you get the Hardpull you don't always get the approval or terms change.

Does anyone know what data is actually shown in a Softpull?

I can see if you get a pre-approval in the mail and when you apply you can get denied due to changes to your reports from the time the mailing was sent to the time when you apply.

But if you do a Softpull and get a pre-appoval/offer then a couple minutes later a Hardpull is made (which means no data has changed) then 

evidently something is not the same Softpull vs Hardpull.

Does anyone actually know what that Something is?

[Horseshoez]

@Iusedtolurk, there is no "something", what they see is the same.

With the above said, pre-approvals are never 100% as they are not generated by the underwriting department of any given financial institution; they are generated by the marketing department, and as such, different metrics are used by the two departments.  In my case, Discover sent me a beautiful color glossy (meaning expensive) pre-approval mailer back in 2020, and when I applied they denied my application and still hit me with a hard pull.  What changed?  Nothing except the group and/or algorithm used to determine creditworthiness.

[pizzadude]

I'm of the opinion that creditors see most ( if not all ) of the same information from a SP versus a HP.   They for sure see your other accounts, credit limits, balances, derogatory items like collections, from both SP and HPs.

The information on your credit reports is only part of what creditors use in their underwriting engines, so getting a pre-approval via a SP then a HP decline doesn't mean they didn't have all of your information, they just didn't run it through their underwriting until you requested it.