How much does a rental inquiry affect credit?

[Anonymous]

Just yesterday I cosigned for my niece to rent an apartment. Before doing so I specifically asked the realtor if it was a hard inquiry or a soft. He told me it would be soft but I got an alert today of a hard inquiry. Does it have any less affect then other hard inquiries since it specifically says tenant screening on it? As of right now I don't show a drop in my score. But I wouldn't think its calculated any different in Fico scoring. I honestly don't see the reason they had to do a hard inquiry. I am not applying for credit. I'm pretty irritated about it. Especially since he told me it would be soft.

[Barry]

Can't say I'm surprised. He was probably misinformed. Typically, most manually pulled, one at a time, inquiries are the hard kind and count to the same degree as other hard inquiries.. Soft inquiries tend to be pulled in batches, i.e. account review and prescreen. You may want to let the realtor know so he doesn't mislead future rental applicants.

Nice of you to cosign. Hope your niece gets the apartment!