Have you applied for new credit recently?

Many scoring models consider whether you have applied for credit recently by looking at “inquiries” on your credit report when you apply for credit. If you have applied for too many new accounts recently that may negatively affect your score. However, not all inquiries are counted. Inquiries by creditors who are monitoring your account or looking at credit reports to make “prescreened” credit offers are not counted. They are considered soft inquiries and these do not affect your credit score. It is also a soft inquiry if you check your own credit report!