Hard inquiry
A check of your credit report tied to a new credit application — visible to lenders and typically producing a small, temporary dip in credit scores.
A hard inquiry is a credit report pull tied to a new credit application — a credit card, an auto loan, a mortgage, an apartment lease. Unlike a soft inquiry, it is visible to lenders who later look at your report, and it is factored into credit scoring models. The typical impact is small and temporary, generally fading within a year, and the inquiry drops off the report entirely after two.
Scoring models understand rate shopping. Multiple hard inquiries for the same kind of loan — mortgage, auto, student loan — within a short window (commonly 14 to 45 days, depending on the model) are typically treated as a single inquiry for scoring purposes. Credit cards do not enjoy this shopping window; each card application counts on its own.
A hard inquiry is not authorized by clicking around a lender's website; it requires your explicit permission during a formal application. The confusable step — checking a rate without applying — is a soft inquiry, and does not appear to other lenders at all.
Plumb is financial education, not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.