Table Of Contents
60+ Bank & Store Credit Card Soft Pull Pre-qualification Links
One of the most common questions I get asked is if there is a way to figure out what your odds of getting approved for a new credit are before you even attempt to apply and well I have the best thing we have available to us as consumers and that is called a pre-qualified offer.
A pre-qualified offer allows you to insert in a basic amount of personal information (sometimes even full SSN) and then they do a “soft pull” on your report and give you a decision on if they think you will be approved for their cards and list out which ones. Keep in mind that ALL pre-qualified offers do NOT pull a hard inquiry, just a soft pull.
Lastly getting a yes or offer of one or more cards on a pre-qualified offer does NOT guarantee you will in fact get the card (I would argue that most of them do mean you get the card, but have to say it). I personally have a process I use which does increase the odds considerably but use this more as a gauge vs a definitive decision.
How To Find Pre-Qualified Offers
The easiest way to find pre-qualified offers is to go to a bank website and look at the menu options under credit cards and see if they have an easy link to spot right there for checking your pre-qualified offers. You can also check if you are using Credit Karma or even Experian paid, has offers/recommendations which are usually pre-qual offers.
What Information Do They Ask For?
They usually ask for full name, address, phone, DOB and either last 4 of your SSN or full SSN, along with a few questions on what type of care you are looking for. To find out which credit card bureaus these institutions pull your credit profile from, read over our Master Credit Card Lender List.
Pre-qualified Credit Card Offers
Here is the most complete list I have on soft inquiry pre-qualified offers…
*BBVA recently merged with PNC bank which happened in July 2021 so give it some time before they get things setup and rolling again.
** NFCU- We have removed all information on this institution from our website, due to a Trademark Takedown request we received July 2022
***Patelco Credit Union PCU- Must be an active member, check out full list of over 1100 employers and associations that they allow here.
***BB&T- Merged with Suntrust to create Truist, no impact soft pull qualification is back on.
Fintech Card Soft Inquiries
| Institution | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Card (Goldman Sachs) | http://walletmonkey.io/apppre | Soft pull application |
| Deserve | http://walletmonkey.io/despre | * Top of page |
| Krowdfit Mastercard | http://walletmonkey.io/krowdfitpre | Fitness geared rewards, More Data Deserve co-brand |
| Bank Mobile Credit | http://walletmonkey.io/bmpre | Deserve co-brand Video |
| Petal | http://walletmonkey.io/petalpre | *Web bank |
| Upgrade Credit Card | http://walletmonkey.io/upcard | |
| Payoff | http://walletmonkey.io/paypre | debt consolidation |
| Blockfi Crypto Credit Card | http://walletmonkey.io/bficc | Full post here |
| Gemini Crypto Credit Card | http://walletmonkey.io/go/gemcrypt | Full post here |
| Tomo Credit | http://walletmonkey.io/tomoprequal | *No Hard pull |
| Klarna Credit Card | http://walletmonkey.io/go/klarnacard | No Hard pull |
| M1 Finance | http://walletmonkey.io/m1pre | SP up till offer is accepted, then HP Experian |
*TOMO Credit Card- Tomo is a fintech that does no hard pull/credit check, instead they ask you to link up your bank account to qualify you through a 3rd party service. If they don’t support your bank you don’t get approved, they look at your bank history in order to approve you for essentially a charge card where you have to pay weekly payments for 3 months and then bi-weekly from there. Good for building credit
*Deserve: This is backed by Evolve Bank and Trust, they pull Experian. Deserve also backs the Blockfi credit card mentioned above.
*Petal: Webbank has been known to ask for bank statements. They pull Experian.
Credit Building Soft Inquiries
These are somewhat in order now, the top 4 are in our eyes the best 4 then the rest fall in from there with the 3 bottom being tied for worst/we have no data on them.
| Institution | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prosper Credit Card | http://walletmonkey.io/prosperccpre | $500-$3k CLs |
| Mission Lane | http://walletmonkey.io/missionpre | $300-$5k |
| Merrick Bank | http://walletmonkey.io/merrpre | |
| Oppfi Credit Card | http://walletmonkey.io/oppfipre | similar to krowdfit, all done in app |
| Avant | http://walletmonkey.io/avapre | Webbank Max limit $1k |
| Credit One | http://walletmonkey.io/cobpre | Amex co-brand is the best option they offer |
| Surge | http://walletmonkey.io/surgepre | Junk |
| Reflex | http://walletmonkey.io/refpre | Junk |
| Oportun | http://walletmonkey.io/oportunprequal | No data |
Store Credit Card Pre-Qualifications
Store cards are run by the following banks; Synchrony (116 store cards) Comenity (91 store cards), Barclays and a few by Capital One (Kohls, Walmart). Synchrony cards tend to not have a pre-qualification offer (As of May 2021 many of these cards do in fact have a pre-qualification option), Comenity cards do, depending on the store and many of them allow for a last 4 SSN only and don’t hard pull (Victoria’s Secret for example asks for last 4 SSN and still hard pulls) Best suggestion here is to look around the site completely, if you can’t find the credit card offer in the footer then try to add a few things to the shopping cart and go through part of the checkout process and see if they offer a credit card, if not then cancel cart as they don’t offer a pre-qualified offer.
There is also the shopping card trick which is where you add products to your cart in an incognito browser in an attempt to trigger their finance your purchase options to get pre-approved for a store card, I will cover this indepth in another post.
Last thing to note here is that Citibank pulls Equifax mostly and sometimes Experian, Capital One pulls all 3 bureaus if you do more forward with the application, Comenity usually pulls Experian if they hard pull (sometimes even the soft pull still triggers a hard pull, no idea why but be careful) and Synchrony Bank will usually pull Transunion if they do pull or to complete your application.
*Kohls: Users reporting it pulls Transunion not all 3, this could be based on your location when applying.
*Synchrony: As of 2021, many users are reporting they are pulling multiple bureaus and they are now pulling Sagestream as well for new credit accounts.
Credit Unions/Small Banks
A lot of banks are relationship based so they will require you to first get a bank account setup with them and let a certain amount of time pass before they will start showing you personalized offers. You will usually see this once you login, it will be called something like special offers, offers for you, etc. Security Services Federal Credit Union, NFCU, DCLU and even Chase bank all work this way. Now, not saying you couldn’t just got apply for a card with 0 account right now, but if your score is below 720, it helps to create a relationship first. Understanding fico score ranges will help you see where you fall and what APRs you can expect to pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a pre-qualification?
In general, to pre-qualify is about passing or meeting an initial criteria or requirements before getting other opportunities opened up. Pre-qualifications are conditional and involve the lender reviewing a borrower’s creditworthiness before granting a pre-approval. Usually this involves basic personal information, basic income information and either last 4 SSN or full SSN.
What is a pre-approval?
This is an approach the banks and institutions take to allow you to get an idea if you will get approved for one of their credit products without having them pull your full credit report. So this puts what’s called a soft-pull on your credit file which doesn’t affect your credit score. Pre-approval and pre-qualification can mean different things to different banks.
What is a soft pull?
A soft pull or soft inquiry refers to the banks taking a quick look at your credit report without pulling the full report. They will tell you if the pre-qualification will affect your credit or not, 99% of the time if they say it wont then that is true. They may need just the last 4 of your SSN or they may ask for your full SSN even though they won’t pull your credit.
Does a pre-qualification guarantee approval?
No. I would say this never means you will 100% get approved, its merely a tool to gauge your odds. With some banks it means more than others, for example if you get a pre-qualification come back on American Express that means your odds are really good, where as a pre-qualification from a Comenity store card doesn’t really mean much.
