When it comes to making an inquiry on the status of your report, there are two types of checks that can be applied, namely hard checks and soft checks.
When a lender needs access to your report to review it as part of their decision-making process, then this is a hard check. It’s important to note that hard checks will appear on your credit report and can influence your credit rating. This means that you want to limit any unnecessary hard checks.
Soft checks occur in cases where you make an enquiry into your own credit or when a lender or credit card company needs the information to pre-approve your request. Soft checks will not appear on your credit report and they have no effect on your credit rating.