A credit inquiry is a request from a legitimate business to look at your credit history. There are two types of inquiries:

Hard Inquiry: In most cases, a hard inquiry occurs after you apply for credit from a lender. These inquiries may have a slight, temporary impact on your credit score since many credit scoring models look at how frequently and recently you have applied for credit.

Soft Inquiry: These types of inquiries tend to be: a general monitoring of your credit history, prescreening inquiries by prospective lenders, or your personal requests for your annual credit report. Unlike hard inquiries, these will not change your credit score.

You can visit Transunion’s website to learn more about how multiple inquiries affect credit scores.