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Saturday, November 21st 2009
Credit Card Glossary

Credit Card Glossary: Terms and Definitions

Confused by credit card terms? CreditCards.com's glossary of credit card definitions will help. From account holder to Regulation Z, we have defined the most-common and most-confusing credit card terms.
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Inquiry

In credit terms, an inquiry is created when a lender looks at your credit report to see whether to loan you money. An inquiry can be "soft," as when a credit card issuer prospecting for new customers looks at your report to see whether to mail you an offer. Or an inquiry can be "hard" -- that is, initiated because you yourself have applied for a loan. Hard inquiries have a slight, negative impact on your credit scores. Soft inquiries have no effect on credit scores.

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