The Barrington Financial Group, Inc.

Question 8. Do all inquiries affect your credit score?

Answer:

There are three categories of inquiries, "hard", "soft" and "promotional". The only one that lowers your credit score is a hard inquiry.

"Hard" inquiries occur when you give permission to pull your credit. For a full discussion of the impact of hard inquiries on your credit score, see Question 7 above. These inquiries stay on your credit report for two (2) years, so caution and control of hard inquiries should become your habit.

"Soft" inquiries occur when any creditor with which you currently have an account looks at your credit report. This is called an "account review," and does not hurt your credit score because soft inquiries do not show up on your report when pulled by lenders, only on the report pulled by you personally. Creditors do this to monitor your overall credit to see if you are managing your credit wisely. If you are carrying a lot of high balances on other accounts, they may lower your credit limit. This often happens to consumers with credit cards. If they see you are managing your credit wisely, they may raise your credit limit on their account.

"Promotional" inquiries are generated when a potential creditor purchases your personal information from a creditor with which you are already doing business. These inquiries are treated in the same manner as soft inquiries above, i.e., they do not appear on the report pulled by a lender only on the report pulled by your personally and are designated as "PRM" inquiries. The credit bureau must put the PRM inquiry on your report to let you know that someone sold your information. The creditor that purchased the data may or may not mail you an offer for credit. They do not see your credit report until you sign the application and mail it back to them giving your permission. Once you give your permission, a hard inquiry is put on your credit report, lowering your score.

To stop promotional inquiries, you can go to http://www.optoutprescreen.com . See link section of this website. By opting out, you stop getting offers from these creditors after about 6 months. Doing this also helps control identity theft.