Differentiate between a soft inquiry and a hard inquiry, and indicate which can affect your score.

• A. Soft inquiries do not affect scores; hard inquiries can cause a small temporary drop.
• B. Soft inquiries always cause a major drop; hard inquiries never affect scores.
• C. Soft inquiries are visible to lenders; hard inquiries are not.
• D. Soft inquiries require consent; hard inquiries do not.

Answer: (A)