When you apply for an Amazon store credit card, you may be wondering whether or not the company will do a hard credit check. The answer is yes, Amazon does do a hard credit check when you apply for their store card.
A hard credit check is when a lender or creditor pulls your full credit report and scores from one of the three main credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Depending on the information in your report, the lender may decide to approve or deny your application.
When Amazon does a hard inquiry into your credit history, it will show up on your report as an inquiry from Synchrony Bank. Synchrony Bank is the issuer of Amazon’s store card and they are responsible for pulling your full credit report and scores.
Hard inquiries can have an impact on your credit score in two ways. First, if you have too many hard inquiries in a short period of time, it can ding your score temporarily because it looks like you’re taking on too much debt at once. Secondly, having one or two hard inquiries can still lower your score slightly because it shows lenders that you are applying for new lines of credit.
Bottom Line: Yes, Amazon does do a hard credit check when you apply for their store card. The inquiry will show up as being from Synchrony Bank on your official credit report. While this can affect your score in two ways (temporarily if there are too many inquiries in a short period of time or slightly if only one or two inquiries), it’s not enough to significantly lower your score unless other factors are at play.