Hard Inquiries: How Credit Checks Affect Your Score

When a lender runs a hard inquiry on your credit, it can lower your score, but the impact is smaller than most people think and depends heavily on how many hard inquiries you already have. In this episode, Ryan answers a listener question from Jeremiah and explains the difference between soft inquiries, which have no effect, and hard inquiries, which carry low but real impact.Ryan also walks through a nuance Jeremiah did not ask about but needed to hear: opening a new credit card does not just trigger a hard inquiry. It also changes your total credit limit and therefore your utilization ratio, which has a much larger effect on your score. Aaron and Ryan use the Credit Karma app to show exactly how these factors are weighted.Find "Your Fiscal Physical" the book on AmazonIf you have suggestions or feedback, please email us at: [email protected], as always, Stay the Course!