I was in the local bank recently and they casually asked me:

Them: "What's your current credit score?" while trying to get help with something unrelated.

Me: "Over +820" (according to Credit Karma, but we know that isn't the only source)

Them: "Well, we want you to know we're offering this credit card bonus ..."

Me: "Sounds interesting, but I want to minimize my credit hits by applying to these kind of requests".

Them: "Oh, because your credit is so high, 800+, it will be a soft pull instead of a hard pull ..."

I've never heard this before but maybe the guy was just lying to me to attempt to get me to apply, but not sure.

Comments

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Cruian t1_iujv6a4 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 9:46 PM

I've never heard of that. The only "might be a soft pull" for applications (from big names) I am aware of at all is "AmEx after your first one" which is fairly common knowledge.

Casterial t1_iujuznp wrote on October 31, 2022 at 9:45 PM

It's most likely a hard pull, and even if it is....Its such a small loss in credit that is usually built back up right away.

Grevious47 t1_iuk35jx wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:49 PM

That is not a thing. But also not sure why you care at all about a hard pull if your credit is 820+

barrycarter t1_iujyq39 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:13 PM

This sounds suspicious. The idea behind hard pulls is that other potential lenders can see how much credit you're requesting at one time even if you haven't received the credit yet. For example, if you're requesting credit from 10 different banks at once, a bank would have no way of knowing how much credit they could extend you because they would have no way of knowing how much credit you already had (or would soon have) and thus your available credit to income ratio.

If it works, great, do it, and find other banks that do it and get as much credit as you can :) But, I'm guessing they'll say at some point "oh, I'm sorry but my boss says we have to do a hard pull-- is that ok?". It's also possible they want to pre-qualify you for an amount of credit with a soft pull and then do the hard pull once you formally apply

greatBTWSP t1_iujx79z wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:02 PM

So their saying they would do a 'soft' pull and because your credit is 800+, they would stop there... if your credit is lower than 800, a "hard" pull is done..sounds fishy...I mean, they can't just take your word that your credit is 800+...