Quick answer: You can expect a “hard” inquiry to temporarily decrease your credit score by five points or less, according to FICO. If you have good credit, your score may drop less than that. I personally applied for credit recently and the inquiry did not affect my score at all. Zero!

Most people feel a hard inquiry hurts their credit score more than it really does. If you have a strong credit history and no other credit issues, you may find that your scores drop far less than that. And the drop is temporary. Your scores will bounce back up again, usually within a few months, assuming everything else in your credit history remains positive.

What is the difference between a hard inquiry and soft inquiry?

There are two types of inquiries on a credit report, "hard" and "soft:"

Hard inquiries occur when a lender checks your credit report because of an application for goods or services, so they may affect your credit score.

Soft inquiries are usually initiated by others, like companies making promotional offers of credit or your lender conducting periodic reviews of your existing credit accounts. Soft inquiries also occur when you check your own credit report or when you use credit monitoring services from companies like Experian. These inquiries do not impact on your credit score at all.