A soft credit check doesn’t affect your credit score and only you can see it. A hard credit check is recorded on your report where every lender can see it, and it does affect your score. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) defines the two this way (FCAC, improving your credit score):
- “Hard inquiries, also called hard hits, are credit checks that appear on your credit report. They affect your credit score. Anyone who views your credit report will see these inquiries.”
- “Soft inquiries, also called soft hits, only appear on the version of your credit report that you can see. They don’t affect your credit score.”
This page covers what triggers each and how they’re counted. It’s part of our guides to credit scores in Canada.
Soft vs hard credit check comparison
| Soft credit check | Hard credit check | |
|---|---|---|
| Affects your credit score | No | Yes |
| Who can see it | Only you, on your own copy of the report | Anyone who views your report |
| How long it stays | Not shown to lenders | 3 years at Equifax, 6 years at TransUnion |
| Typical triggers | Checking your own report or score; an existing lender updating its records | Applying for a credit card, loan, line of credit or mortgage |
What triggers a hard credit check
A hard check happens when a lender looks at your report to decide on an application. The FCAC’s examples are:
- credit card applications
- mortgage applications
- credit and loan applications, such as car loans, personal loans and lines of credit
- some rental applications
- some employment applications
Because rental and employment checks can go either way, the landlord or employer can tell you which kind of check it runs.
Consent
In most provinces, a business needs your consent before it checks your credit, and signing a credit application gives that consent. The FCAC adds that this consent “usually lasts for as long as you keep the account open.” In Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan, a business “only needs to tell you they’re checking your credit report” (FCAC, credit report and score basics).
What triggers a soft credit check
The FCAC’s examples of soft inquiries are:
- requesting your own credit report (or score), whether from Equifax, TransUnion or a free credit score service
- a company checking your report to update its records for an account you already have with it, such as an internet or telephone company
The FCAC states it plainly: “Checking your own credit report or score doesn’t affect your credit score.” Reviewing your own report as often as you like carries no cost to your score.
Rate shopping for a mortgage or car loan
Comparing offers from several lenders for the same mortgage or car loan doesn’t have to mean several separate hits. The FCAC’s guidance: “when shopping for a car loan or mortgage, get quotes from different lenders within a 2-week period. Credit bureaus treat these as 1 inquiry.”
The FCAC describes this for car loans and mortgages only. Credit card applications are each their own inquiry, so several card applications close together each show up on your report. How long to wait between credit card applications covers spacing them out, and the credit score needed for a mortgage covers what mortgage lenders look at beyond the inquiries.
How many hard checks is too many?
There is no published cut-off. The FCAC says “It’s normal to apply for credit occasionally,” but that too many inquiries made too close together may make lenders think you’re urgently seeking credit or spending beyond your means. How much a single inquiry moves your score depends on the scoring formula and the rest of your file, and the bureaus don’t publish those formulas; how credit scores are calculated explains the factors they share.
Context matters to a lender reading the report too: one mortgage inquiry and one car loan inquiry tell a different story from several card applications in a few months.
How long a hard inquiry stays
A hard inquiry stays on your report for 3 years at Equifax and 6 years at TransUnion (FCAC).
An inquiry you didn’t authorize
An authorized inquiry from an application you made stays for its full retention period. An inquiry you don’t recognize is different: it may mean someone applied for credit in your name. The usual steps are to note the lender and date, contact that lender, and dispute the inquiry with Equifax and TransUnion if it wasn’t yours. How to dispute a credit report error walks through filing with each bureau, and the FCAC’s page on errors and fraud covers fraud alerts.
Spacing credit card applications
Each credit card application usually adds a hard inquiry to your credit report, so how you space applications affects both your score and your approval odds. Canada has no rule on how long to wait, but the inquiry rules explain why spacing matters and what a reasonable gap looks like. This page is part of our credit card basics guides.
How inquiries add up
When you apply for a card, the issuer checks your credit report, and the bureau records the check as a hard inquiry. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) explains the concern: “too many credit inquiries made too close together may make lenders think that you’re: urgently seeking credit spending beyond your means.” Its own suggestions are to “only apply for credit when you need it” and to “avoid sending multiple applications at once or too close together.”
FCAC says inquiries by lenders stay on your report for 3 years at Equifax and 6 years at TransUnion. Their effect on a score is usually largest soon after the application and fades well before they drop off; how long a hard inquiry stays on your credit covers the detail.
Rate shopping doesn’t apply to cards
FCAC notes that when shopping for a car loan or mortgage, quotes from different lenders “within a 2-week period” are treated as one inquiry. Card applications don’t get that treatment: each one is its own inquiry. Checking your own score, or a pre-approval that uses a soft check, doesn’t count at all; soft vs hard credit checks explains which is which.
Common spacing patterns
| Situation | A commonly used gap | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Between ordinary applications | A few months | Lets each new account start reporting and the inquiry age |
| After a decline | Long enough to fix the reason | Reapplying without a change usually gets the same answer and adds another inquiry |
| Before a mortgage or car loan | Several months with no new cards | A recent inquiry and a new account show on the report the lender reads |
These are conventions, not rules, and an issuer’s decision rests on the whole file rather than the date of your last application.
What an issuer weighs besides inquiries
Approval also depends on your payment history (a missed payment weighs heavily), how much of your available credit you use (credit utilization), the length of your history, your income against the card’s requirement, and your existing debts. What your score band generally means to a lender is in credit score ranges; issuers rarely publish a minimum score per card. With little history, a secured credit card or a student credit card is easier to get, as covered in the easiest credit cards to get.
Planning several applications
Someone planning two or three new cards in a year typically applies for the one they want most first, uses it and pays it in full for a few months, and applies for the next once the first account is reporting. Applying for several on the same day adds several inquiries at once and gives no chance to see how the first application went.
Credit card churning, opening cards one after another for their welcome offers, is the extreme case: it piles up inquiries and new accounts, and issuers set their own limits on repeat offers.
If an application is declined
- Find out why. The issuer can tell you the main reason, and some have a reconsideration line.
- Check your report for errors at both bureaus; checking your credit score for free lists the free routes.
- Fix what you can: pay down balances, correct errors, or wait for a recent late payment to age.
- Apply for a card that fits your profile rather than the same card again.
If your score dropped after a run of applications, why did my credit score drop helps confirm whether inquiries are the cause.
The bottom line
Checking your own credit is a soft inquiry and doesn’t cost you points. Hard inquiries come with applications for credit, stay on your report for years, and are counted by lenders who see them; shopping for one mortgage or car loan within two weeks counts as one inquiry, while each credit card application counts on its own.
Related pages
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on September 25, 2026. How we check facts.
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: How long information stays on your credit report