Pick by the job, not the product
Five products, each built for a different question. This page helps you choose the right one, understand soft versus hard, and tell an identity check from a credit check.
Do not start from the product. Start from the job: who you need to identify, what you need to trust, whether someone can afford a commitment, and how they have behaved. The right check follows from the question.
The five products at a glance
All powered by TransUnion, delivered through Credit Canary. Hard and soft searches apply to the two credit products, CallReport and TrueVision.
| Product | Best for (the job) | Footprint | What the business sees |
|---|---|---|---|
| CallReport | A full credit view, lending and DIPs | Hard or soft | A full consumer credit report |
| CallValidate | Confirming identity, KYC and AML | Not a credit search | A verified identity: pass, refer or fail |
| PEPs & Sanctions | Screening for PEPs and sanctions | List check, no footprint | Matches to review and clear |
| TrueVision | Direction of travel over time | Hard or soft | Trended credit data, with the full report included |
| TU Affordability | Income and expenditure, modelled | Modelled, not a search | A modelled income and expenditure figure |
A soft (quotation) search leaves no footprint other lenders can see; a full search is recorded on the file. Hard and soft apply only to CallReport and TrueVision; identity, screening and affordability are not credit searches.
If you need…
Start from the sentence that sounds like your problem.
Soft search vs hard search
A soft search, also called a quotation search, is for pre-qualification, broking and comparison. The applicant can see it on their own report, but it leaves no footprint that other lenders can see, and it does not affect their score. It is the right choice whenever you are giving an indicative answer or sourcing a product the applicant has not yet committed to.
A full search, often called a hard search, is used at application, once the applicant is proceeding. It is recorded on the file and visible to other lenders carrying out their own checks, and a cluster of full searches in a short window can itself affect how the applicant is assessed.
CallReport supports both. The skill is matching the search to the step: soft to pre-qualify and protect the file, full only when the applicant commits. Done well, the applicant reaches a decision in principle with no footprint at all, and a single full search at the end.
Hard and soft are a property of credit searches, which means CallReport and TrueVision (a trended view of the same credit data, with CallReport included). CallValidate for identity, PEPs and Sanctions for screening, and TU Affordability for a modelled figure are not credit searches, so the distinction does not apply to them.
Identity check vs credit check
These answer different questions, and businesses often buy the wrong one. An identity check, CallValidate, confirms that a person is who they say they are. It is a KYC and AML check, not a credit search, and it says nothing about whether someone can afford or repay anything.
A credit check, CallReport, assesses how a person has managed credit. It is the right tool when creditworthiness is the question, and it should be run only for a permissible purpose, as a soft or full search depending on the step.
If all you need is to know who someone is, for a purpose where creditworthiness is irrelevant or a credit search is not permissible, use identification on its own and leave no credit footprint. If you need to judge how they handle credit, that is CallReport.
Buying as one block
The five products are available individually or together as one block. PEPs and Sanctions in particular is a standalone product, and can also be bought with the rest. Most businesses start with the one or two that fit their job and add others as they need them, all on the same integration and the same onboarding.
Choosing a check: FAQs
A soft (quotation) search is for pre-qualification. It leaves no footprint other lenders can see and does not affect the score. A full (hard) search is used at application and is recorded on the file.
An identity check (CallValidate) confirms who someone is and does not assess creditworthiness. A credit check (CallReport) assesses how they have managed credit. Many businesses buy the wrong one.
Yes. A soft CallReport, an identity check, affordability and screening all avoid a hard-search footprint. The full search is only for application.
Yes. All five are available individually, and also as one block. PEPs and Sanctions in particular is a standalone product as well as part of the block.
You need a permissible purpose and to be approved for it, and for most checks the person's awareness. We set this up once during onboarding.
Still not sure, or need more than one?
Tell us the decision you are making and we will tell you which checks fit, and quote them on one integration at a better rate.