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A hard credit check is one that can negatively impact your credit score. These occur when you give a lender permission to check your credit history with the intent to open up a new line of credit. Each hard credit check can cause your score to drop by roughly 5 points and can affect your score for 6 months to a year. The hard credit pull is visible to anyone and will remain on your credit report for up to two years.
If you check your own credit report, which you can do for free once a year, this is done with a soft pull. Most of the time, you do not even know when they occur, and they do not affect your credit report. A hard pull on a credit report is different. It does affect your credit score. Anytime that you are actually getting a loan or a new credit card, the lender conducts a hard pull on your credit report.