Does Galt Credit check my credit?

Soft inquiry, hard inquiry, and the difference that matters

A hard inquiry is recorded when you formally apply for credit. It can take a few points off your score and stays visible to other lenders for about two years. A mortgage application, a car loan or a new credit card all trigger one.

A soft inquiry is a look at your file that does not affect your score and is not shown to other lenders as an application. Employment screening, your own credit check, and pre-qualification offers are all soft. Galt Credit runs a soft credit check.

The practical consequence is that checking what you qualify for costs you nothing in score terms. You can look, read the numbers, decide it is too expensive, and walk away with your file exactly as it was. Use that. There is no reason to accept a first offer when looking is free.

What is actually examined

Identity

Name, address, date of birth and Social Security number are verified against the standard databases. This is required by law and is not optional anywhere.

Income

How much you earn, how often, and how long you have been with your employer. Three months is the stated minimum. Regularity carries as much weight as amount: a predictable $1,800 a month verifies more easily than an irregular $2,400.

Bank account activity

Instant bank verification looks at the account you already use. It is checking whether deposits arrive on the rhythm you described, whether the balance holds between them, how often the account goes negative, and how much of each deposit is already committed to other debits. This is the heaviest single input.

Your credit file

Looked at, but as context rather than as a pass mark. It is the reason a score of 520 does not end the application on its own, and also the reason a score of 750 does not raise the state cap.

State eligibility

Whether you live in Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri or Utah. Nothing else about the application matters if you do not.

What is not examined

• Collateral. The loan is unsecured. No car title, no property, nothing pledged.
• A cosigner. Not part of the product.
• What you are borrowing for. You are not asked to justify the purpose.
• Documents, in the normal case. Bank verification replaces faxed pay stubs. Occasionally additional documentation is requested if something cannot be verified electronically.

The phrases that should make you close the tab

What happens to your credit after the loan opens

Account activity may be furnished to consumer reporting agencies once the loan is live. Payments made on time can help a thin or damaged file; missed payments can make it worse and a defaulted account can be placed with collections. If building credit is a significant part of why you are borrowing, a secured card or a credit-builder loan from a credit union does that job at a small fraction of this cost, and it is worth a call before you apply here.

Your rights around the check

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you can obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the three nationwide agencies through annualcreditreport.com, and you can dispute anything inaccurate on it without paying anyone to help you. If an application is declined based on information in a consumer report, you are entitled to an adverse action notice telling you which agency supplied it and how to get a free copy. Ask for the principal reasons and use them — they are usually specific and usually fixable over a few months.