Credit Inquiries – Can They Drop Your Credit Score?

Spring has sprung, which means the real estate market is heating up and many consumers throughout the United States will be taking advantage of the uptick in home inventory to search for that new home. But for the vast majority of Americans, in order to finance any purchase as significant as a new home, a mortgage loan is necessary.

At the same time, however, it’s wise to shop around between lenders to see who can offer you the lowest interest rate so that you can save the most long-term over the loan terms. In order to do this, lenders need to pull your credit information.
This has a tendency to make consumers uneasy, simply because there’s a misconception out there that when lenders pull credit scores and credit reports, it can negatively impact your overall score.
That’s not the case, just so long as you meet the proper time criteria. Let us explain:

The 30-Day Rule

Not too long ago, if you wanted to buy a home, you’d just call up various mortgage lenders to see what they were offering when it came to interest rates. Times have obviously changed. Now, we’re at the point where a full application needs to be filed – complete with a credit check, income assessment, etc. – as a means of getting preapproved. So, say you file an application with five different lenders. Will all the credit inquiries that occur cause your score to drop?

The answer is “no,” and here’s why: Because those who are shopping mortgage lenders are likely to consider more than one lender, any credit scores and credit reports pulled for such purposes will be ignored so long as they all occur within a 30-day period. It’s only natural for consumers to try to secure the best interest rate possible on such a large purchase, so there’s an exception to be made in such a case. While we’ve used mortgage lending in this example, the same is also true for auto lending and student loans – two other respective fairly large purchases that consumers may elect to shop around for rates pertaining to.

So for those of you out there concerned with what will happen to your credit score – and the possible credit repair you may have to administer – should you shop around when it comes to lenders, just make sure that any of this shopping around occurs within the same 30-day period and your score won’t be impacted in any way.

Go ahead and chase that dream home. You’re not going to be punished for getting preapproved by more than one lender. Just be sure to meet the time requirements. Check out this video for more information.

Hard Vs. Soft Inquiries

Hard Vs. Soft Credit Pull – Credit Tip #5

Hard Vs. Soft Credit Pull – When a lender checks your credit score so you can borrow money, this is considered a hard pull. This is the only pull that can actually hurt your credit, but only if there are multiple pulls in a short period of time. A soft pull, or soft inquiry, which is a credit company’s preapproval. A third type of pull from your credit report is called a consumer inquiry. While a consumer inquiry does not show up on your credit score at all, a soft pull may not show up on your credit score either.

For additional information feel free to contact our office at 617-265-7900 or schedule a free consultation below.

hard inquiries truth

Credit Inquiries – How do they affect my scores?

How Do Inquiries Affect My Credit Score?
Each time someone views a copy of your credit report, an inquiry is added to your record to indicate that it has been viewed. While some of these inquiries are completely harmless, others will lower your credit score.

Types of Inquiries

  • Hard inquiry: A hard inquiry occurs when a potential lender pulls your credit report with your express permission. Because this type of inquiry indicates that you are trying to borrow money, it can count against your credit score.
  • Soft inquiry: A soft inquiry occurs when someone who is not a potential lender pulls your credit report. For example, a soft inquiry may appear when an employer pulls your report or when you check your own credit. Soft inquiries appear on your report, but they won’t affect your score in any way.

Understanding the Effects of Inquiries

According to FICO, the effect a hard inquiry has on your score depends on a variety of factors, including the amount of time that has passed since the inquiry, the number of inquiries and other such information. For some people, a single inquiry will have no effect at all. For others, the credit score may decrease slightly. Hard inquiries will have a more dramatic effect on your score if you have other negative indicators on your credit report, such as a short credit history. Likewise, a large number of inquiries may be viewed as a sign of poor debt management.

TransUnion reports that most credit inquiries remain on your report for one year. However, some inquiries may remain for up to two years.

Rate Shopping

One of the most important credit tips you will hear involves finding the best interest rate for long-term loans, such as mortgages, student loans or car loans. If you are shopping for financing in one of these categories, it’s possible to apply for a loan from multiple lenders without incurring extra inquiries on your credit report. FICO reports that all hard inquiries made to finance an automobile, obtain a mortgage or take out a student loan within a 30-day period are typically counted as a single inquiry when your credit score is calculated.

Inaccurate Inquiries

In some cases, inquiries you did not solicit may appear on your credit report. Even though you did not approve these inquiries, they will still harm your score if they are not removed. For this reason, it is important to check your credit score regularly and use credit repair strategies to eliminate any inaccuracies. If you need help to repair credit problems, contact our office at 617-265-7900.

Credit Inquiries - Do They Damage Your Credit Score?

Credit Inquiries – Do They Damage Your Score?

For more buyer tips and information contact one of our consultants by dialing 877.842.5215 or requesting a free consultation below.

The Effects Of Multiple Credit report Inquiries On Your Ratings

Due to the fact that statistical studies show that numerous questions are linked with higher danger of default, Credit rating questions effect credit rating ratings negatively.

Credit Inquiries – Do They Damage Your Credit Score?

Distressed borrowers frequently speak to numerous lenders wanting to find one which will accept them. On the various other hand, multiple questions could additionally arise from applicants looking for the very best bargain.

To stay clear of penalizing loan “customers,” credit scores neglect questions that take place within 30 days of a rating date.

Expect, for instance, I shop a loan provider on June 30 as well as the loan provider has my credit scored that day.

Even if I had actually gone shopping 50 other loan providers in June and also they had all examined my credit rating, none of those inquiries would certainly influence my credit history on June 30.

Queries from May and back 11 months would certainly, nevertheless, be relied on June 30.

To avoid prejudicing the credit history from earlier shopping episodes, the markers manage all inquiries that happen within any 14-day period as a solitary inquiry.

They would count as one inquiry if you shopped 50 lenders throughout June 1-14. They would certainly count as 2 questions if you spread them over June 1-28.

You will certainly harm your credit report if you disperse your financing shopping over many months.

Due to the fact that the market can change from day to day, it makes little sense to do this in any kind of case.

Situations could trigger a consumer to shop, leave of the market, and also return later when disorders are more favorable.

You lessen the damaging effect by focusing each shopping episode within 14 days or less.

More about inquiries…

Do You Know The Difference Between A Hard and Soft Inquiry?

Are you trying to obtain a credit card with a truly great price? You could have been shopping around for a while to make sure that you could acquire the best feasible bargain. Opportunities are, you could have located a few various cards that you like, yet there were a few things that you did not like regarding every one. In some cases, you will certainly discover one that you like but you need to pay a yearly cost. Various other times, you will discover one without any yearly cost yet there will certainly be truly higher late costs or various other miscellaneous costs.

Looking with all of the terms for each one of them is one point, but applying for all of them is one more. Were you mindful that making a number of queries could in fact hurt your credit report rating?

The what’s what is, every time that you secure a bank card or ask about any sort of sort of a financing or installment plan, the details will certainly turn up on your credit rating report. This is called a “hard inquiry”. Many times, folks will get various type of credit history while they are entirely uninformed that the questions are breaking their credit report. It is in fact too bad that this info is not provided these individuals up front to make sure that better selections might be made.

One more common misconception is that an asking for a copy of your credit rating record can really harm you. This kind of a questions is called a “soft query” as well as needs to never count versus your credit history rating. If this kind of error ever appears on your credit record as well as it is showing versus you, it is very important that you go through the actions to deal with the mistake immediately.

Home loan Inquires

The credit rating reporting firms have made one exception. They have made it that numerous mortgage questions made within 14 days are addressed as one inquiry.

Several financial institutions will planning to understand the specific amounts of credit questions that you do have on your credit rating record. Relying on the guidelines of each lender, four or additional questions within a particular duration of six to 9 months could be taken into consideration to be very an excessive quantity. If they do consider this amount of credit inquiries as too much, they could wind up rejecting your credit history demand. This demand and denial will certainly then turn up on your credit history guide in addition to any others that you might have. All these inquiries will certainly harm your credit report. So pick what you obtain thoroughly as well as actually think about whether this new credit card or loan deserves dipping your credit report by a couple of factors

The fact of the concern is, every solitary time that you use for a credit history card or inquire concerning any kind of kind of a loan or establishment credit, the details will certainly reveal up on your credit history guide. Many times, people will use for different kinds of credit rating while they are totally uninformed that the queries are going versus their credit rating rating. Several creditors will look to see the specific quantities of credit report queries that you do have on your credit rating guide. If they do deem this amount of credit report questions as extreme, they could possibly finish up rejecting your credit history demand. Select exactly what you use for meticulously as well as really believe regarding whether or not this brand-new credit report card or loan is worth dipping your credit score by a couple of factors