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Mortgage Soft Pull Solutions

Improving the mortgage lending experience with early insight into borrowers' foundational credit.
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Gain A Competitive Edge With Mortgage Soft Pull Credit Reports

Early in the home-buying experience can be a time of anxious uncertainty for borrowers and lenders. But it doesn't have to be. 

Soft pull credit solutions help all parties better understand a borrower's foundational creditworthiness on the front-end, prior to underwriting, promoting more confident, seamless, efficient experiences for everyone. 

By using mortgage soft pulls that can also deliver income data, trended credit data, and alternative credit data, lenders can better understand more borrowers and the mortgage products that best fit their needs, without impacting borrowers' credit score.

Lend Smarter with Unique Data Assets
Equifax goes beyond the standard credit file. We now provide additional data points alongside the credit report to give you a holistic borrower picture at no additional cost.
Income Qualify (IQ)
Gain confidence in Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratios from the start. Delivered alongside the credit report, IQ provides key insights including First/Last Name and SSN, Employer Name, Tenure, and Prior Year Total Income. This allows you to validate stated income early, match employer names to your LOS to reduce errors, and ensure the applicant meets underwriting requirements before a full application is even submitted.
The Work Number® Report Indicator
Streamline your workflow by knowing instantly if an employment record exists. This "Yes/No" indicator tells you if a standard verification of income and employment (VOE/I) record is available on The Work Number, helping you predict costs and decide when to pull a full verification report.
Protect Borrowers' Credit Score

Unlike standard "hard pulls," our soft pull solutions allow borrowers to shop for homes and investigate their buying power without a potential impact on their credit scores.

Mitigate Pipeline Risk
By verifying applicant provided information, employment status, and income estimation upfront, you may be able to reduce fallout that typically occurs during the application stage.

Optimize Mortgage Lending From the Start

A strong mortgage pre-approval process powered by Equifax soft pulls enhances every step of the lending lifecycle:

 

  • Reduced Fallout: Currently, nearly 50% of applicants fall out at the application stage. By moving verification data to the pre-qualification phase, you can filter out unqualified applicants immediately and focus resources on those who will close.

  • Frictionless Experience: Borrowers are not required to link bank accounts or provide heavy documentation early in the process. You get the data you need—like tenure and employer name—without adding burden to the applicant.

  • Strategic Cost Planning: The Work Number Report Indicator allows lenders to strategically plan for loan origination data needs against cost considerations, avoiding unnecessary report pulls for borrowers who don't have available records.
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Build Smarter, Cost-Effective Pre-Approvals

Save time and costs by pulling full credit files only for borrowers already pre-approved based on soft pulls.

Improve Borrower Experiences
Integrate credit soft pulls early in the lending process so borrowers can confidently shop for homes within their budget sooner, without affecting their credit score.

Meet Borrowers Where They Are with Soft Credit Inquiries

Our soft pull solutions include three distinct options:

Pre-Qualification:

Quickly and efficiently analyze foundational credit information to determine borrower eligibility, pre-application.

  • Get a quick preliminary view of mortgage prospects. 
  • Assist borrowers early without impacting their credit scores.

Pre-Qualification PLUS:

Get all the benefits of Pre-Qualification, plus trended credit data that includes 24 months of payment and balance history.

  • Better understand borrower behavior over time. 
  • Improve access to credit for more borrowers.
  • Support GSE early assessment programs.

Pre-Approval:

Unlock the full Equifax credit file including trended data, alternative data for utility and cell phone payments, and the ability to consider verified data in the pre-approval stage. 

  • Confidently determine borrower eligibility.
  • Consult on best-fit mortgage loan products. 
  • Support GSE early assessment programs. 
NOTE: 
All three Equifax soft-pull solutions will still require a hard pull with a tri-merge credit report for full mortgage application, loan pricing, final underwriting, and loan closing.
Integrate credit soft pulls early in the lending process so borrowers can confidently shop for homes within their budget sooner, without affecting their credit score.

Open the Door to Smarter Lending

See how having more mortgage lending choices can unlock better experiences for lenders 
and borrowers, while maximizing consumer engagement and conversions.

More Support, Less Friction

More Support, Less Friction
Confidently guide and support borrowers through early loan shopping without causing downstream friction due to credit score impacts.
Edge Out Competitors
Quickly engage interested borrowers with fast pre-approvals and tailored mortgage products, without alerting other lenders.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Equifax Mortgage Soft Pull solutions use a soft credit inquiry, which does not impact the borrower's credit score. Furthermore, because it is a soft pull, it typically does not trigger "competitor alerts" (prescreen triggers), ensuring your borrower doesn't receive competing offers from other lenders immediately after you access their file.

Yes. Mortgage Pre-Approval Credit Report can be delivered alongside a feature known as Income Qualify to deliver insights from The Work Number® employment database early in the process. Lenders get the applicant’s employer name, job tenure, and prior-year total income (when available) allowing them to better calculate Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratios during the pre-approval phase rather than waiting until underwriting.

Related Resources

Product Sheet

Mortgage Pre-Approval Credit Report

Discover how a complete, soft-inquiry credit file that does not prompt mortgage prescreen triggers can enhance the lending process and borrower experience. 
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Related Products

Further streamline mortgage pre-approvals and borrower experiences by layering in additional "early insights" from our powerful suite of mortgage solutions. 
Income Qualify
Confidently validate income and employment early in the mortgage lending process.
Learn More
The Work Number® Report Indicator
Providing unique income and employment insights earlier in the mortgage loan process.
Learn More
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Unlock More Opportunities For Millions of First-Generation Home Buyers

Explore how expanded borrower insights—alternative data such as payment information for cell phones, utilities, and other everyday bills— can be delivered alongside Equifax credit reports.

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