Does credit check lower your credit score?
Q: My husband and I are shopping for the best mortgage rate to buy a house. We went to a local bank and fill several applications online, with Quicken Loans, Wells Fargo, Chase and few credit unions we belong to - all within may be 10 days. Now we are told that our FICO scores would drop. Does credit check lower your credit score? I want to check with two other lenders but my husband is firmly against it.
A: He is right. Credit check does lower FICO credit score if it represents a hard inquiry or hard pull, which judging by your question is exactly what you are getting. Does hard credit check always lower credit scores? It does almost universally but by how much, depends on several factors, like length and depth of your credit history, how many times credit check is performed in a span of a week or two, etc.
For example, one or two hard pulls made within a month won't lower FICO score of someone with 2 or 3 credit lines that go back at least 12 months. However 10 hard credit checks made in a week can significantly drop credit score of someone with well established credit history. I would advise you to stop right now and just buy that house. If you don't buy anything and want to continue, better wait for at least a month. If you want to dispute some of the inquiries down the road, check hard inquiry dispute letter.
Fri Mar 12, 2010 09:03AM | Copyright: www.bad-credit-advisor.com | More in Credit Score Help | Comments (0)
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