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What Is a Soft Pull Credit Check?
A soft pull credit check, also called a soft inquiry, is a type of credit report that lets you access a consumer’s credit profile without triggering a hard inquiry. It may contain some or all of a consumer’s credit file from one or more of the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.
The key distinction is that a hard pull happens when a consumer actively applies for credit. A soft pull is not an application for credit. It is an application to apply for credit. That single difference is why soft pulls do not affect a consumer’s credit score and do not appear to other lenders as a credit inquiry.
That distinction changes everything about how you qualify buyers.
All it takes is a name and address. No Social Security Number. No date of birth. No commitment from the customer. You get a full FICO score and credit profile. They get a frictionless experience. The deal moves forward.
This is especially beneficial for auto dealerships where the speed of a transaction can be the difference between a car or a buyer leaving the lot.
A soft pull requires only:
- Name
- Address
No Social Security number or date of birth is required.
When a soft pull is initiated, an authorized business accesses the consumer’s credit file, a record of financial activity collected over time and stored by Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. That file contains account balances, credit limits, debt amounts, payment history, and flags for significant events like defaults, bankruptcies, or collection items. Together, those elements generate a credit score: a summary of creditworthiness that lenders use to evaluate risk.
The more a credit file is accessed through hard inquiries, the greater the potential impact on the score. Soft pull inquiries bypass that dynamic entirely. They access the same underlying data without creating an inquiry record that affects the score. Hard inquiries from credit applications can remain on a credit report for at least two years; soft pull inquiries leave no such mark.
Prescreen vs. Prequalify: Two Types of Soft Pulls
Not all soft pulls work the same way. There are two standard types — prescreen and prequalification — and knowing the difference helps you use the right tool at the right stage of the sales process.
Prescreen (Business-Initiated)
A prescreen soft pull is initiated by the auto dealership, lender or other business, not the consumer. It happens behind the scenes. The consumer does not initiate it and may not even know it occurred. Many dealerships and other businesses use prescreening to run soft pulls against a list of existing customers or marketing contacts to identify which ones qualify for a specific offer before reaching out.
How dealers and other businesses can use prescreen:
- Run soft pulls against your service drive database to find upgrade-ready customers
- Prescreen conquest marketing lists before spending on outreach
- Identify which existing customers qualify for current lender programs
- Generate pre-approved offer campaigns via mail, email, or phone
Prequalification (Consumer-Initiated)
A prequalification soft pull is initiated by the consumer, typically at a point of contact with their consent. When a shopper clicks “Check My Rate” or “Get Pre-Qualified” on your website without affecting their credit score, that is a prequalification soft pull. The consumer is asking whether they qualify before committing to a full credit application.
Prequalification requires a written consent application from the consumer, accesses a full credit file and score in real time, and enables a meaningful conversation about real payment options, all without obligating either party to proceed before a contract is signed.
How dealers and other businesses use prequalification:
- Embed a “Get Pre-Qualified” form on your website for inbound leads
- Qualify walk-in customers the moment they sit down, before you work a deal
- Replace the pencil (for dealers) or first offer with a prequal: know the buyer’s credit range before showing payments
- Capture hesitant buyers who will not give an SSN but will give a name and address
The bottom line:
Prescreen is your outbound qualification tool. Prequalification is your inbound qualification tool. Both use soft pulls. Neither affects the consumer’s credit score. And together, they let you qualify every buyer at every stage.
Auto Dealers: Stop Wasting Floor Time on the Wrong Buyers
Every dealer knows the feeling: you have spent two hours working a deal, and the credit pull comes back as a no-go. The customer walks. The time is gone.
Soft pull credit flips the script. Instead of qualifying buyers after they have committed to a vehicle, you qualify them before, right when they walk in, or even before they arrive. The result: more time on buyers who can close, less time on deals that were never going to work.
- Know before you show. See a buyer’s credit range before you pull a key or pencil a payment.
- Work the right deal from the start. Match buyers to vehicles and monthly payments they can actually get approved for.
- Protect your consumers. Multiple hard pulls during rate-shopping can lower a shopper’s score. Soft pulls never do, and today’s buyers know the difference.
- Make your dead deals go to zero. Customers who hesitate to give a Social Security Number upfront will give you a name and address. That is enough to get started, and often enough to save the deal.
- Supercharge your marketing ROI. Prescreen your outreach lists before spending. Know which contacts qualify before you make the call.
- Find sales in your service drive. Soft pulls on existing service customers reveal who is equity-positive and upgrade-ready.
Soft Pull vs. Hard Pull: What's the Difference?
The question dealers and other businesses ask most: when should I use a soft pull, and when do I need a hard pull? The answer comes down to where you are in the deal.
| Soft Pull | Hard Pull | ||
|---|---|---|---|
What’s required | Name + address | SSN + DOB + signed consent | |
Credit score impact | None | Can lower score | |
Visible to other lenders | No | Yes – stays on report 2+ years | |
Consumer friction | Very low | Higher – requires full application | |
Best used for | Early-stage qualification, prescreening | Yes – stays on report 2+ years |
Use soft pull credit early to qualify and guide the deal.
Understand the buyer’s credit tier, structure a realistic payment, and have a confident conversation before anyone has invested an hour.
Use a hard pull to close, when the buyer is ready to submit to a lender and you need the full credit report.
Most deals that close with a hard pull should start with a soft pull.
| Soft Pull |
|---|
What’s required Name + address |
Credit score impact None |
Visible to other lenders No |
Visible to other lenders No |
Best used for Early-stage qualification, prescreening Final credit decision, lender submission |
Use soft pull credit early to qualify and guide the deal.
Understand the buyer’s credit tier, structure a realistic payment, and have a confident conversation before anyone has invested an hour.
| Hard Pull |
|---|
What’s required SSN + DOB + signed consent |
Credit score impact Can lower score |
Visible to other lenders Yes – stays on report 2+ years |
Consumer friction Higher – requires full application |
Best used for Final credit decision, lender submission |
Use a hard pull to close, when the buyer is ready to submit to a lender and you need the full credit report. Most deals that close with a hard pull should start with a soft pull.
Who Can Use Soft Pull Credit?
Soft pulls are available to businesses that have a permissible purpose under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and are authorized subscribers to one or more of the three credit reporting agencies. Authorized users include banks, auto dealers, lenders, home improvement companies, lending platforms, and other industries that prescreen or prequalify applicants for credit.
For dealerships, permissible purposes include:
- Firm offer of credit (prescreen): Marketing to consumers with a bona fide pre-approval offer
- Account review: Reviewing existing customer accounts for upgrade or retention opportunities
- Prequalification: Assessing consumer eligibility prior to a full credit application
Informativ is authorized by Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, and FICO to provide soft and hard pull credit reports and scores.
Meet Customer Insights: Informativ's Enhanced Soft Pull Credit Solution
Informativ’s Customer Insights is a soft pull prequalification technology built for dealerships that want just that – insights into their customers’ buying ability. The tech uses QR codes linked to a mobile-friendly soft pull application to qualify buyers faster, verify their identities, protect consumers’ credit scores, and give dealers insights they need to build deals that will close.
How it works:
- Enter name and address. That’s it. No SSN, no date of birth, no hard pull.
- Receive a full soft pull credit report. FICO score, tradelines, credit profile. The complete picture, instantly.
- Work the deal with confidence. Know your buyer’s credit tier before you pencil a payment or pull a key.
Use Customer Insights at every stage of the deal:
Customer Insights is part of Informativ’s full auto dealer technology platform, the same place you manage FTC Safeguards compliance, run  soft and hard pull credit reports, verify identity, detect fraud, and structure payments with SmartPencil.
| Where | How |
|---|---|
Website / Digital Retailing | Embed a consumer-initiated prequalification form to qualify shoppers before they arrive |
Showroom | Run a soft pull the moment a customer sits down, before you invest floor time |
Service Drive | Identify upgrade-ready customers from your existing base using a prequalification |
Marketing Lists | Prescreen conquest lists and past customers before outreach |
Phone / Lot Ups | Qualify inbound leads before dedicating a salesperson |
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes, under FCRA rules — but only if you make a firm offer of credit to everyone on the resulting list and include a proper opt-out mechanism. Prescreening without following FCRA requirements creates compliance risk.
It requires written consent from the consumer at the point of contact. In digital retailing contexts, an electronic consent checkbox typically satisfies this requirement.
Yes. Running a prescreen against your existing service drive or customer file is one of the most effective uses of the tool. You identify upgrade-ready, credit-qualified customers before reaching out — with no hard pull and no credit score impact to your customers.
Prequalification is not a commitment from either party. It gives you a real-time snapshot of the buyer’s credit profile at the moment of the pull. A final hard pull credit report at the time of lender submission reflects the buyer’s current file. Most dealers run the soft pull to qualify and structure the deal, then run the hard pull to close.
For prescreen, you receive a list of consumers who meet your criteria — not individual full credit files. For prequalification, you receive a full soft pull credit report including FICO score, tradelines, account balances, and credit profile for the specific consumer.
Informativ offers prequalifications through soft pull credit reports from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Informativ’s Customer Insights solution is powered by soft pull credit reports and provides an additional layer of identity verification and lead source tracking for marketing purposes. Informativ doesn’t offer prescreens.
Ready to Qualify Smarter at Every Stage & Control Credit Usage?
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