Soft credit pull

A soft credit pull is a credit inquiry that does not affect your credit score, unlike a hard credit pull which can decrease your FICO score by up to five points. Insurers use soft pulls to review your credit-based insurance score during a quote without your explicit consent, as authorized by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Companies like GEICO and Progressive use soft pulls to update policy rates at renewal and check eligibility for discounts. Soft pulls appear on your personal credit report but are invisible to lenders, ensuring no impact on future loan applications.

According to Experian, soft inquiries include checks by employers, insurers, or you checking your own score. Drivers requesting insurance quotes from Allstate or State Farm typically trigger only a soft pull.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau confirms insurance scoring uses soft pulls to predict claims risk based on factors like payment history and debt ratio. A soft pull allows comparison shopping among multiple insurers–such as Liberty Mutual and Nationwide–without lowering credit scores.

Federal Trade Commission guidelines require clear consumer notification if an insurer uses credit data, even with a soft pull, according to a report from the Insurance Information Database. Only hard pulls, seen during mortgage or auto loan applications, lower scores; insurance quote requests do not trigger these unless you apply for premium financing.

State laws in California and Maryland restrict how insurers utilize information from any credit pull, soft or hard.