If I apply for the PayPal Business Debit MasterCard that earn 1% cash back on all eligible purchases, will they do a hard pull on my credit report or only a soft pull?
I originally got this question as a comment on our post on RadPad (site which lets you pay your rent using a debit or credit card). I applied for this card a long time ago, I stupidly replied that it would be a hard pull based off my memory alone. My colleague Chuck replied quickly that he was pretty sure it was a soft pull.
I did some more research and found lots of people reporting that it was only a soft pull and nobody reporting that they were hit with a hard credit pull. When you go to apply you should also be given the option for seeing why they need your social security number and it states this (emphasis mine):
Federal law requires us to collect your name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number. We’ll use this to help confirm your identity and request your consumer credit report (it won’t impact your credit score).
A hard pull obviously would affect your credit score, so opening this card cannot be a hard pull. Apologies for getting this one wrong initially, I’ll trust my memory a little bit less in the future. Most debit cards won’t come with a hard pull. Some banks do, do a hard pull when you’re opening a checking account that offers overdraft protection but this is becoming less common.
You can view a full list of which banks do a hard or soft pull for opening an account here as well as another list of all the other debit cards that earn rewards.
