What Does a Soft Credit Check Show?

What is a Soft Credit Check?

A soft credit check is done in two cases:

• When you check your credit score and credit report by yourself
• When a lender checks for your credit score, in the case of pre-approved loan offers. It looks only into certain primary areas of your credit check for the lenders to determine whether your loan application is worth looking into, without conducting a complete credit check.

You can also do a soft credit check on your own credit report to just see where you stand with your credit score.

When a soft check is done by a third-party, it shows only the information they requested to see and not detailed info about your credit history. A company can see basic information like –

• Your current credit/debt
• Any loans
• Your payment history

Will soft credit checks lower my credit score?

No, they don’t. Soft credit checks usually look only into some basic information on your credit. Also, they are not tied to any one loan application and hence do not have any effect on your credit score.  A soft credit check does not have any in depth information on your payment history and other line items. So, it will not show any of your defaults or late payment records.

How can you get a soft credit check?

You can apply for a soft credit check with any one of the 4 credit bureaus in India. You are entitled to get one free credit check for free in a year. Better still, you can get your free credit health report from Creditmantri here.

Note: Soft credit checks help lenders to offer you pre-approved loans or credit cards. They are beneficial to get the best offers in the market. Since they don’t have a negative impact on your credit score, you can do a soft credit check on your credit report regularly to stay abreast with your credit health.