Soft vs hard inquiries in Canada: does checking your credit hurt your score?

Checking your own credit score in Canada never lowers it. Looking at your own report or score is a soft inquiry, and soft inquiries do not affect your score. The kind of check that can nudge your score is a hard inquiry, which happens when you apply for new credit such as a credit card or loan. This guide explains the difference, what triggers each, how long the effect lasts, and the rate-shopping window that does not cover credit cards.

Nothing here is financial advice. Confirm the details with Equifax, TransUnion, or the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) before acting.

Soft inquiries vs hard inquiries at a glance

The two types of credit checks differ in who can see them and whether they touch your score. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada calls them soft hits and hard hits.

	Soft inquiry (soft hit)	Hard inquiry (hard hit)
Affects your score	No	Yes, usually a small amount
Who can see it	Only you	You and lenders
Typical trigger	Checking your own score, pre-approval offers, some background checks	Applying for a credit card, loan, or mortgage
Stays on report	Recorded for your eyes only	Up to 36 months

A soft hit is recorded on your credit report but only you can see it, and it does not affect your credit score. A hard hit appears on your report, can be seen by lenders who pull your file, and counts toward your credit score.

What triggers a soft inquiry

Soft inquiries happen all the time and cost you nothing. Common ones include:

• Checking your own credit score or report. This is the big one. You can look as often as you want with zero impact, so there is no reason to avoid monitoring your own credit.
• Pre-approved or pre-qualified offers. When an issuer pre-screens you for a card offer, it is typically a soft pull, not a hard one. A pre-approval is not the same as a real application, which is why it does not ding your score.
• Existing lenders reviewing your account. A card issuer may periodically review your file, for example before offering you a limit increase you did not request.
• Some employer or rental background checks. Depending on how they are run, many of these are soft.

Because soft inquiries are invisible to lenders and harmless to your score, you should check your own credit regularly. See our guide on understanding your credit report for how to read what you find.

What triggers a hard inquiry

A hard inquiry happens when you actively apply for new credit and a lender pulls your full file to make a decision. Common triggers:

• A new credit card application. Every card you apply for generates its own hard inquiry.
• A loan or mortgage application. Auto loans, personal loans, and mortgages all create hard inquiries.
• A credit limit increase that you request. When you ask for a higher limit and the issuer pulls your credit to decide, that is usually a hard inquiry. A limit increase the issuer offers you proactively is often a soft pull instead. Our guide on how to increase your credit limit covers the difference.
• Some rental, utility, or telecom applications. A landlord or provider that pulls your full credit file to approve you may trigger a hard inquiry.

The key pattern: a hard inquiry is tied to you seeking new credit, while a soft inquiry is informational or initiated by someone else without a lending decision attached.

How much a hard inquiry affects your score, and for how long

A single hard inquiry usually has a small effect on your credit score. Inquiries are only one of several factors that make up your score, alongside payment history, credit utilization, length of credit history, and credit mix. Of these, payment history and utilization carry far more weight than inquiries.

Hard inquiries may stay on your credit reports for up to 36 months, according to Equifax Canada. The effect on your score, however, is largest right after the inquiry and fades well before the inquiry itself drops off. A few inquiries spread over a year or two are rarely a problem.

What can hurt is a cluster of applications in a short window. If you apply for several credit cards in a few weeks, the lender sees multiple hard hits and may read it as a sign of financial stress, which can lower your score more than any single inquiry would. This matters if you are chasing sign-up bonuses; our credit card churning guide explains how to space applications sensibly.

The rate-shopping window (and why credit cards are not covered)

There is one big exception that softens the impact of multiple hard inquiries: the rate-shopping window. When you shop around for a single loan, multiple inquiries for the same purpose within a certain period are generally counted as one inquiry. According to Equifax Canada, the timeframes may vary but range from 14 to 45 days, depending on the credit scoring model being used. The FCAC notes that rate-shopping checks within roughly a two-week window are commonly combined.

The catch for credit card seekers: this exception is built for loans such as mortgages and auto loans, where you are comparing rates for one borrowing decision. Equifax Canada states plainly that this exception does not apply to credit cards. Each card application stands on its own as a separate hard inquiry, so applying for three cards in a month means three distinct hits, not one combined inquiry.

Practical takeaway: feel free to rate-shop a mortgage or car loan within a two-week sprint, but space out credit card applications. There is no combining benefit for cards.

Practical tips

• Check your own credit freely. It is always a soft inquiry and never lowers your score. Monitor it before you apply for anything big.
• Apply for credit only when you need it. Each card or loan application is a hard inquiry that lingers up to 36 months on your report.
• Space out card applications. The rate-shopping window does not cover credit cards, so several applications close together can stack up.
• Use pre-approval tools first. A pre-approval is usually a soft pull, so you can gauge your odds before submitting a real application.
• Know your starting point. See what credit score you need in Canada before you apply, and browse our card list to find one that fits your profile so you apply once, not repeatedly.

A few hard inquiries will not derail good credit. Steady on-time payments and low utilization matter far more. The simplest rule: check your own credit as often as you like, and apply for new credit only when you have a real plan to use it.