Credit inquiry

When a lender or another party looks at a credit report, the credit-reporting system may record an inquiry. Some inquiries are made because the consumer applied for credit. Others are made for account review or the consumer’s own check. A credit report is the file. An inquiry is an event written onto that file. This page does not score the effect of any inquiry.

CFPB describes credit reports as records of credit activity that lenders use when deciding on a loan. Inquiries are part of that recorded activity. Hard and soft inquiries are narrower pages.

Mortgage shopping and unexpected score changes are often about inquiries, not about the whole report.

• Credit report