What is a Soft Pull and Does it Affect My Credit
Transcript
Kelly : Define a soft poll, what are the elements involved in a soft poll to assess a customer’s worthiness? Some of these questions might seem a little bit naive, we all kind of know what they are for in the industry. But there’s some newbies who listen to this, and certainly some consumers as well. So what the heck is a sample? Does it affect my credit?n
nKen : Okay? So, the basic example that I use is that pre approved credit card you got in the mail. Right, you get that pre approved credit card from that financial institution, and they have done a soft poll on. And they have seen that, that you’ve met their minimum criteria, right, you have to meet the lenders or dealers minimum criteria. And they can, they’ll place a soft inquiry on your credit file that doesn’t impact your score, only the consumer can see them. They don’t even set off the monitoring tools, because there’s no impact to the consumer. n
nBut if you were to pull your credit report or Credit Karma, you’d see that pre approved credit card off, you just got in the mail. So that’s an example of a softball. That’s what we call it pre screen. The other example would be Eugene Levy’s, get pre-qualified cap one commercials, right, that’s the one that they’re being incorporated in digital retailing tools now, that are also being utilized in engagement tools to get consumers pre-qualified, where consumers consent to have their credit accessed. n
nBut it’s a softball, and what it allows and the benefits to the consumer are, they’re gonna get more accurate payment quotes, on top of a sales funnel. Same thing with pre-screening, you’re gonna get an accurate payment quote at the top of the sales funnel. So that you can get rid of that customer frustration of getting to the finance office, having your credit pulled and the deal that you were talking about in the front of the store is nothing compared to what the deal in the finance offices is telling you. So it gets rid of that consumer confusion and makes consumers aware of the offers that are available to them like their credit card, maybe you need another credit card, you weren’t aware of a lower interest credit card, right.n
nSo the benefit is you’re qualified for this lower interest credit card or this line of credit. So I would say that’s the definition of what a softball is. And I mentioned they’re being utilized now in digital retail products, because it’s important to have an accurate payment quote, when you’re walking through a digital retail workflow, especially now that you know that a lot of these digital retail solutions are being pushed into the front of the store as well as online. So you want to, you know, have that same workflow in the front of the store as you have in line. And so that you have that accurate payment and you’re getting that customer and the right deal makes the deal go smoother. It’s better customer experience, because there’s not that payment shock and finance office when I got to softball in the beginning. So that’s why they’re so popular right now. And it’s what’s keeping us the busiest or the softball implementations for dealers. And it’s, it’s keeping us happy.n
nKelly : Yeah, I can understand that. You know, I remember back in the day, you mentioned lower credit rates, but back in the day, the lower credit rates now were illegal. Yeah, in the 80s and 70s, where 15% was an absolute gap. Anything more than that was loan sharking. Now it’s 24, 25 28% it’s should be criminal my opinion. nn
nKen : Okay? So, the basic example that I use is that pre approved credit card you got in the mail. Right, you get that pre approved credit card from that financial institution, and they have done a soft poll on. And they have seen that, that you’ve met their minimum criteria, right, you have to meet the lenders or dealers minimum criteria. And they can, they’ll place a soft inquiry on your credit file that doesn’t impact your score, only the consumer can see them. They don’t even set off the monitoring tools, because there’s no impact to the consumer. n
nBut if you were to pull your credit report or Credit Karma, you’d see that pre approved credit card off, you just got in the mail. So that’s an example of a softball. That’s what we call it pre screen. The other example would be Eugene Levy’s, get pre-qualified cap one commercials, right, that’s the one that they’re being incorporated in digital retailing tools now, that are also being utilized in engagement tools to get consumers pre-qualified, where consumers consent to have their credit accessed. n
nBut it’s a softball, and what it allows and the benefits to the consumer are, they’re gonna get more accurate payment quotes, on top of a sales funnel. Same thing with pre-screening, you’re gonna get an accurate payment quote at the top of the sales funnel. So that you can get rid of that customer frustration of getting to the finance office, having your credit pulled and the deal that you were talking about in the front of the store is nothing compared to what the deal in the finance offices is telling you. So it gets rid of that consumer confusion and makes consumers aware of the offers that are available to them like their credit card, maybe you need another credit card, you weren’t aware of a lower interest credit card, right.n
nSo the benefit is you’re qualified for this lower interest credit card or this line of credit. So I would say that’s the definition of what a softball is. And I mentioned they’re being utilized now in digital retail products, because it’s important to have an accurate payment quote, when you’re walking through a digital retail workflow, especially now that you know that a lot of these digital retail solutions are being pushed into the front of the store as well as online. So you want to, you know, have that same workflow in the front of the store as you have in line. And so that you have that accurate payment and you’re getting that customer and the right deal makes the deal go smoother. It’s better customer experience, because there’s not that payment shock and finance office when I got to softball in the beginning. So that’s why they’re so popular right now. And it’s what’s keeping us the busiest or the softball implementations for dealers. And it’s, it’s keeping us happy.n
nKelly : Yeah, I can understand that. You know, I remember back in the day, you mentioned lower credit rates, but back in the day, the lower credit rates now were illegal. Yeah, in the 80s and 70s, where 15% was an absolute gap. Anything more than that was loan sharking. Now it’s 24, 25 28% it’s should be criminal my opinion. nn