Ironically, even when a Credit card issuer checks your credit history and approves you, your credit score still drops by a few points. This is because they’ve had to run a hard credit check or inquiry so they could see your full credit history. Every hard check results in a small deduction of points from your score. So, after receiving a new credit card, you could go back to check your score and find it’s lower than before.

A credit card provider will carry out a hard pull on your credit only after you apply for a card (not for preapproval). This means they’ll request your full credit report from one or more credit bureaus, but almost always from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax (the top three).