Almost every money decision in Canada eventually runs into the same worry: is this going to ding my credit score? Applying for a card, asking about a car loan, signing up for a new bank account, letting a landlord run a check. The good news is that most of what you are afraid of is a soft check, and soft checks do nothing to your score at all. The category that actually matters is narrower than most people think.
The difference in one table
| Soft check (soft pull) | Hard check (hard pull) | |
|---|---|---|
| Affects your score | No, never | Yes, usually a small and temporary amount |
| Who can see it | Only you, on your own report | You and lenders reviewing your file |
| Typically triggered by | Checking your own score, pre-approved offers, some identity verification, account reviews by a bank you already deal with | Actively applying for a credit card, loan, mortgage, line of credit, or car financing |
| Needs your consent | Not always | Yes in most provinces, via the application you sign |
| How long it shows | Not shown to lenders at all | Up to 36 months on Equifax, up to six years on TransUnion |
Soft checks: harmless, and more common than you think
A soft inquiry is any look at your credit file that is not part of you applying for new credit. Equifax Canada is explicit that soft inquiries, which include checking your own reports and promotional offers, do not impact your credit scores. They are also invisible to anyone else. When a lender pulls your file to assess an application, the soft inquiries sitting on your report are not part of what they see.
Things that are normally a soft check:
- Checking your own credit score or report. This is the big one, and the myth that it hurts your score keeps people from looking at their own file. It does not hurt it. Check it monthly if you want to.
- Pre-approved or pre-screened offers. When a bank tells you that you are pre-approved for something, it generally screened you with a soft pull. Note the word pre-approved is doing a lot of work: if you go on to actually apply, that step is usually a hard check.
- Account reviews. A lender you already have an account with periodically reviewing your file. TransUnion Canada reports these separately and keeps them for one year, or two years in Quebec.
- Identity verification for a deposit account. Many institutions check your file simply to confirm you are who you say you are, not to judge your creditworthiness.
Because soft checks are free of consequence, the practical takeaway is that you should be monitoring your own credit regularly. You cannot fix an error you have never looked at, and errors on Canadian credit files are common enough to be worth a monthly glance.
Hard checks: the only ones that touch your score
A hard inquiry happens when a lender or company requests your credit report as part of an application for credit. Equifax Canada describes it as a request to review your credit reports as part of the loan application process, and says hard inquiries usually will impact your credit scores.
The size of that impact is where a lot of internet advice starts inventing numbers. Here is the honest position: Equifax and TransUnion use proprietary scoring models and do not publish a precise points figure for what one hard inquiry costs you, and the effect depends on the rest of your file. A person with a thin file and few accounts feels an inquiry more than someone with a decade of history. What both bureaus and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada consistently indicate is that the effect of a single inquiry is small and fades with time, while the record of it remains visible for years. Anyone quoting you an exact points drop is guessing.
Things that are normally a hard check:
- Applying for a credit card
- Applying for a personal loan, a line of credit, or a mortgage
- Car financing or leasing
- Requesting overdraft protection on a chequing account
- Some rental applications and some utility or phone accounts, depending on the provider
The pattern is simple. If a company is deciding whether to lend you money or extend you credit, expect a hard check. If they are confirming your identity or marketing to you, expect a soft one. When you are not sure, ask before you apply. That single question is free and the answer is binding on nothing, but it tells you what you are about to trigger.
How long a hard inquiry stays on your report
This is where Canadians get contradictory answers, because both answers are right. The two bureaus keep different records.
| Bureau | How long an inquiry stays | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Equifax Canada | Hard inquiries may stay on your credit reports for up to 36 months (three years) | Equifax Canada, understanding hard inquiries |
| TransUnion Canada | An inquiry by a business purchasing a service is automatically removed after six years. Account review inquiries report for one year, or two years in Quebec | TransUnion Canada, credit reports and scoring |
So the same credit card application can be visible on your TransUnion file long after it has dropped off your Equifax file. This matters more than it sounds, because Canadian lenders do not all use the same bureau. Some pull Equifax, some pull TransUnion, some pull both. It is why your score from one bureau can differ from the other, and why an old application can still be visible to one lender and invisible to another.
Note the important distinction: how long an inquiry is visible is not the same as how long it affects your score. The visibility windows above are the documented, verifiable part. The scoring effect of an inquiry diminishes well before the record disappears, but neither bureau publishes an exact schedule for that, so we are not going to make one up.
The rate shopping rule, and the credit card exception
If you had to take a hard check every time you compared a mortgage rate, nobody would ever shop around, and that is why scoring models build in protection. Equifax Canada states that for certain loans, multiple inquiries for the same purpose within a certain period of time are generally counted as one inquiry, and that the timeframe varies but ranges from 14 to 45 days depending on the credit scoring model being used.
Because the window depends on the scoring model and can be as short as 14 days, the safe practical rule when shopping for a loan is to keep your applications inside a two week stretch rather than spreading them over two months. Do your research first, then apply in a tight cluster.
Does a company need your permission?
In most of Canada, yes. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada states that in most provinces you must give consent before a business or individual can check your credit, and that when you sign a credit application you are giving that consent. That consent usually lasts as long as you keep the account open, which is what allows a lender you already deal with to run periodic account reviews.
There are three exceptions worth knowing. In Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan, lenders only have to inform you that a check is taking place rather than get your permission for it. Separately, certain government representatives such as judges or police can access a credit report without consent.
The people who can generally request your report, with consent where required, include lenders, landlords, employers, and insurance underwriters. Credit scores in Canada run from 300 to 900, with 900 being the best possible.
Some accounts do not check your credit at all
If your file is thin or bruised and you want to avoid inquiries while you rebuild, a no credit check account is the honest way in. KOHO is a spending and savings app that opens with identity verification and no credit check, and its optional credit building feature reports your on time payments to Equifax without a credit check either. It is not a bank and it is not a credit card, so read what it does and does not do before you decide.
See a no credit check accountFive rules that follow from all of this
- Check your own credit as often as you like. It is a soft pull. It cannot hurt you, and it is the only way to catch errors.
- Ask before you apply. If you are unsure whether a product triggers a hard check, ask the institution first. Overdraft protection is the classic hidden trigger on an otherwise harmless chequing account.
- Cluster loan shopping into two weeks. The rate shopping window can be as short as 14 days, so tight beats leisurely.
- Do not cluster credit card applications. The rate shopping allowance does not cover them. Each one counts on its own.
- Remember there are two bureaus. An inquiry gone from Equifax after three years can still be on TransUnion for six. Check both.
Get the free Credit Building Playbook
A plain English plan for building a Canadian credit file from zero or rebuilding a bruised one, including which products report to which bureau and what order to do things in. One file, no fluff.
Frequently asked questions
No. Equifax Canada states that soft inquiries, such as checking your own credit report or a promotional pre-screen, do not impact your credit scores. Only you can see soft inquiries on your report. Lenders reviewing your file do not see them.
It depends on the bureau. Equifax Canada says a hard inquiry may stay on your credit reports for up to 36 months, which is three years. TransUnion Canada says an inquiry from a business purchasing a service is automatically removed after six years. The two bureaus keep different records, so the same application can show for different lengths of time on each.
No. Checking your own credit report or score is a soft inquiry and does not affect your score. You can check it as often as you like, whether you pull it directly from Equifax or TransUnion or through a free credit score app.
Partly. Equifax Canada says multiple inquiries for the same purpose within a certain period are generally counted as one inquiry, and the window ranges from 14 to 45 days depending on the credit scoring model used. Equifax notes this exception does not apply to credit cards, so several credit card applications count separately. Because the window can be as short as 14 days, keep loan shopping inside a two week stretch.
In most provinces, yes. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says you must give consent before a business or individual can check your credit, and signing a credit application is how you give it. In Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan, lenders only have to inform you that a check is taking place rather than obtain your permission.
Nobody outside the bureaus can tell you precisely, and we are not going to invent a number. Equifax and TransUnion use proprietary scoring models and do not publish a points figure for a single inquiry. The impact depends on the rest of your file and is generally small and temporary, but it is larger for a thin file with little history than for a long established one.
Related guides
- Does opening a bank account affect your credit score in Canada?
- No credit check banking in Canada
- How to build credit without a credit card
- How long does it take to build credit in Canada?
- The credit builder starter kit
Disclosure: Some links on this page are referral links, and Bremo may earn a commission if you open an account, at no cost to you. This does not change what we recommend. The figures and rules on this page were verified on 16 July 2026 against Equifax Canada's guidance on hard inquiries, TransUnion Canada's credit reports and scoring documentation, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's credit report and score basics. Inquiry retention periods and scoring practices are set by the credit bureaus and can change. This page is educational general information, not financial advice. For your own file, contact Equifax Canada or TransUnion Canada directly.