The cost of attending any post-secondary educational institution can be expensive. Trade schools provide students with a great alternative to a four-year college degree for many reasons; you help get them into the job market quicker and into a field that may be desperate for qualified workers. And, trade schools cost significantly less compared to a four-year university.
Soft Pull Solutions can provide trade schools with the credit reporting tools needed to help prospective and current students secure funding for their education. Whether your trade school offers programs for agriculture, aviation, automotive, cosmetology, construction, culinary, electrical, healthcare, HVAC, massage therapy, mechanics, plumbing, welding, and more, we can help you to meet the financial needs of your student body.
Through our services, you can instantly pull soft or hard credit reports. Our web portal provides a standardized and comprehensive report from the three main credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. These services can be used to help your students explore and decide on their financial options.
Why Trade Schools Need a Powerful Credit Reporting Software
At Soft Pull Solutions, we recognize that trade schools need quick and reliable resources to use when discussing financial options with their current and future students. Among the highest priorities for any student and their family is the cost of the program and what financial options are available to them. We are dedicated to helping your school provide answers to these questions.
Since federal or state loans and grants may not be an option if the program is not eligible, your students will be looking for alternative sources of funding. Even if federal or state funding is available, students may need help to supplement that funding with other financial resources. We know that they will be looking to you to find out what private or school financial options might be available to them.
When assessing a student’s or family member’s creditworthiness for private loans, you need access to fast and accurate credit reporting software. This ensures that you receive the right information when you need it to help students make their educational and financial decisions.
Soft Pull Solutions has an online portal that provides you with an instant full credit report for your student or their family member. It allows you to see their FICO score and credit history. From the data you receive, you can pre-qualify them for financing options provided by your trade school or help them explore other private loans or sources of funding.
In addition to accessing information from the three main credit bureaus, another convenient benefit from our online portal is that it allows the report to be pulled as a soft credit check. You do not need the student’s or family member’s personally identifiable information (PII), such as their social security number or date of birth. This also means that it will not negatively impact their credit score. Students and family members can make confident financial decisions before filling out the loan application and a hard credit pull is done. This makes it a win-win for your students and you.
Benefits of Soft Pull Credit Reporting for Trade Schools
Quick Reporting
When making financial decisions, time is important. You don’t want to keep your students or their family members waiting any longer than necessary. They want to be able to see what financial options are available to them so they can decide how to proceed and enroll in your program.
We recognize that your time and your student’s time are valuable. We have designed our program in a way that instantly provides you with the necessary information to move forward. We don’t want you to be waiting around for a report that can be delivered quickly through our online system.
No Impact on Student’s Credit
One major benefit of a soft pull credit check is that there is no impact on the student’s or family member’s credit score. While you will need some basic information and their permission, they do not need to fill out a lengthy application or provide you with their date of birth or social security number.
After you receive the soft pull report, which shows you the same information found on a hard pull credit report, it will not show up on their credit history as an inquiry. They will not see their credit score go down just because you pulled a soft credit report.
Evaluate Risk
As with any financial decision, all parties should be informed of all relevant information. You want your students and their family members to feel great about their decision to pick your school for their educational needs. Understanding their financial options is a big part of that decision.
As a trade school, you want to receive accurate and timely information about a person’s creditworthiness before you can pre-qualify them for financing through the school or before sharing information about other possible financing options. This allows you to evaluate their risk.
Our soft pull credit reports allow you to receive all the information needed to properly assess the risk of a potential loan applicant. You will be able to see their credit score, credit history, payment history, collection accounts, tax liens, and fraudulent activity. From this data, you can identify any potential red flags. You can also pre-qualify them for available funding.
How Soft Pull Solutions Can Help You Find New Students
We know that potential students have many options when it comes to finding the right school and the right program to pursue their career goals. We also know that being able to address their financial questions is an important part you play in helping them as they make their ultimate decision about where to enroll.
At Soft Pull Solutions, our priority is to help our customers meet their clients' needs. With trade schools, this means helping you as you assist your students and their families in understanding all possible options as they make financial decisions.
To secure funding through your school or other possible private lenders, it is important to have all the necessary information in a prompt, accurate, and readable format. Our customizable API integration affords you the opportunity to create reports to get the exact information you need when you need it. As needed, you can create unique reports based on the several funding options you may have available through your school.
As you help students to have the complete picture of their funding options, it will assist them in deciding if your trade school is the right fit for them.
Other Services We Offer to Help Your Business
In addition to soft pull credit reporting software that you can use to help your students secure funding, we offer other services that can also be used to grow and improve your processes.
Hard Pull Credit Reports: While we recommend using soft pull credit reports when pre-qualifying students for your school’s funding options, you will need to pull a hard pull credit report to process the actual loan application. Through our software, you can do both.
Alternative Credit Data: Our alternative credit data allows you to view a more extensive credit report that provides additional information not found on a standard credit report. This can enable you to get a more in-depth picture of a potential borrower’s risk. This will help your trade school make more confident decisions as you help your students secure funding for their education.
ID Verification: With our ID verification service, you can use a student’s driver’s license to verify their identification. This helps ensure the integrity of your trade school and reduces the risk of identity fraud. It also generates any potential red flags to notify you of possible suspicious activity.
API Integration: Through our API integration, you can tailor our software to meet your exact needs. You can review important information, pre-qualify students and family members for financing, run reports, and more.
Soft Pull Solutions can help you save time and money as you work hard to assist your current students and enroll new students. Schedule an appointment or call us today at (844) 515-1550 to get your questions answered and to see how we can meet the needs of your trade school.
Additional Reports & Features
When you sign up with Soft Pull Solutions, you’ll have access to a variety of other detailed reports and services designed to meet your specific business needs. Click the button to view a full list of reports available to your account.
Difference Between Soft & Hard Pulls
| What Is Different? | Soft Pulls | Hard Pulls |
| Impact on consumer credit? | No | Yes |
| Social Security Number required? | No | Yes |
| Date of Birth required? | No | Yes |
| Does running an inquiry create trigger leads? | No | Yes |
| Do you need to print a Risk-Based Pricing Notification and give it to the consumer after you pull the report? | No | Yes |
| Is it a full credit report? | Yes | Yes |
| Is a FICO Score included with the report? | Yes | Yes |
| Is the report sufficient for tenant screening purposes? | Yes | Yes |
| Can I get consent over the phone? | Yes | Yes |
See the Difference Firsthand
Click below to view a sample soft pull report and discover how it can streamline your processes today!