How much does a hard inquiry lower my credit score?

A hard inquiry is placed on your credit report when a lender pulls your full credit file to evaluate a loan application. FICO's research shows the average impact is less than 5 points, and many borrowers see no measurable change because the inquiry carries little weight against a thick, positive history.

Borrowers most affected are those with thin credit files (fewer than 5-6 accounts) or short histories (under 2 years). In those cases a single hard inquiry can temporarily cost 10-15 points because the inquiry is a larger proportion of the available credit history signal.

FICO's rate-shopping window: FICO 8 (the most widely used score) groups all mortgage, auto, and student-loan inquiries within a 45-day window as a single inquiry. Personal loans are NOT explicitly included in this window in all scoring models. FICO 9 and VantageScore 3.0/4.0 are more generous and typically include personal-loan inquiries in the shopping window. To be safe with personal loans, try to complete all pre-approvals and final applications within a 2-3 week period.

Also note: soft inquiries (pre-qualification checks, employer background checks, account reviews by existing creditors) do not appear to other lenders and do not affect your FICO score. Only hard inquiries triggered by a new-credit application appear to future lenders and carry scoring impact.