A credit inquiry is basically a notice on your credit report, that shows the attempts you made to apply for some type of new credit. This new credit can be a mortgage, auto loan, or credit card. Whether they are approved or not, credit inquiries show up on your credit report, so that other creditors know if you’ve been trying to secure new lines of credit recently.
If you take the Fico score into consideration, about 10 percent of the score comes from new credit, which includes credit inquiries. Thus, it is important to think before you apply for a credit in order to make sure that you don’t cause unnecessary harm to your credit score.
