Soft credit check turned to be HaARD credit check

Mims01

Good afternoon,

I used the MSE yesterday to check my eligibility for a new credit card. I clicked on 'soft credit check,' and it turns out that this was a hard credit check, as I received credit alerts from my bank. I filled out one form to check my eligibility, but MSE used seven different banks to search my eligibility. I was not aware that this would show up on my credit report.

I am quite disappointed, given this was suggested to be a soft credit report check and would not affect my credit report!

I am really disappointed. I didn't think the MSE system would do that! As I have always used your site for all my financial needs, and nothing like this has happened to me before, especially as I haven't even applied for a new credit card yet.

Woodstok2000

You will often receive alerts after a soft credit search. The search is invisible to other lenders though, and has no impact on your credit file.

flaneurs_lobster

What do you mean by "credit alerts from my bank"? What did the notification actually say?

You may receive alerts for a soft search from a credit reference agency you are registered with.

Have you actually had notification of a "hard search" or seen such a search on your credit report?

Maybe someone from MSE will confirm but I don't think the credit card eligibility checker instigates a hard search anywhere, pretty sure it doesn't have enough information to do so in any case.

The_Groat_Counter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6673051/soft-credit-check-turned-to-be-haard-credit-check

I used the MSE yesterday to check my eligibility for a new credit card. I clicked on 'soft credit check,' and it turns out that this was a hard credit check, as I received credit alerts from my bank. […]

Except it was not a hard credit check, it was a soft one. The alerts that get sent out happen for both soft and hard credit checks.