There are 3 types of inquiries to know about as you look over your credit report. It’s important to understand them and how they affect your credit scores because they can affect your credit scores very seriously. I have seen a couples credit scores drop over 120 points because of “shopping for credit” and not realizing their inquiries were costing them points.

The second type of inquiry is called a Soft Pull.  When you “shop for credit”, you are asking the sales people to pull your credit.  This is very dangerous as the more you have your credit pulled, the lower your score drops and it can be very significant.  The solution is to pull your own credit score and report from www.MyFICO.com and use that to shop with until you find the right loan for you then let them pull your credit scores. This way you can shop all day for as long as you like, months if you want and it won’t hurt your score one bit. When you pull your own credit scores it won’t cost you points either. That’s because it is called a soft pull. Soft pulls won’t cost you.

Anytime that you pull your own credit report or scores, the credit bureaus recognize that you are just looking over your own credit and it isn’t going to anyone that could use the report anyway so it is a soft pull and won’t cost points. Other companies can do a soft pull as well and see your credit and scores to be sure you still qualify for their special programs or offer you insurance rates, interest rates, etc. These inquiries can be in the hundreds and still not cost you any points.

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