The terms “hard inquiry” and “soft inquiry” come up constantly in BNPL discussions, but the distinction is simple once it’s explained clearly.
Soft inquiry
A soft inquiry (or “soft pull”) is a credit check that doesn’t affect your score and isn’t visible to other lenders. Most pay-in-4 BNPL approvals — including typical Klarna, Afterpay, Zip Pay and PayPal Pay in 4 purchases — use a soft inquiry.
Hard inquiry
A hard inquiry (or “hard pull”) is a formal credit check that appears on your credit report and can cause a small, temporary score dip — usually a few points, recovering within months. Hard inquiries are more common with larger, longer-term BNPL financing, such as bigger Affirm or Zip Money loans.
- One hard inquiry rarely causes serious damage on its own
- Several hard inquiries in a short window can be a bigger flag to lenders, since it can look like you’re seeking credit from multiple sources at once
- Soft inquiries can happen as often as needed without any credit score consequence
See how this applies to specific providers: Affirm, Zip, and the full BNPL credit score guide.