Soft inquiries are run by a few parties. You on yourself: pulling „Twój Raport BIK" at bik.pl triggers a soft inquiry logged in your own name. No bank sees it. Your bank on periodic risk review: if you have an active loan, the bank checks now and then (usually quarterly) how you handle other loans. Bank marketing: the bank may check your BIK parameters to offer a pre-approved loan „specially for you" — a soft pull, because there is no application yet.
The key difference from a hard pull: it does not lower the score, does not sit in bank-visible reports, and has no quantity limit. You can pull your report monthly (soft inquiry), monitor the score and nothing bad happens. It is an educational tool, not a risky move.
One grey area: creditworthiness simulators on bank sites. Some banks (mBank Symulator, PKO Ferrata) use tech that runs a soft inquiry on a PESEL to show pre-check creditworthiness. It is usually called „preliminary analysis" or „no-commitment simulation". Read the notice above the PESEL field — if it says „soft inquiry" or „no BIK impact", you are safe. If it says „for the loan application", the inquiry may be hard.
Frequently asked questions
No. Kreditano does not query BIK at all — it shows offers based on parameters you enter (amount, term, type) without checking your history.
No. They do not affect the score and are not visible to banks. Even 20 soft inquiries a month is safe.
In the BIK report inquiries sit in two sections. Hard ones carry the „credit" label and an application date, soft ones „informational" — without an application entry.