Credit Check through a couple banks within the same time period inquiry

[Disoblige]

So I gave TransUnion a call, and surprisingly their call center reps all have an Indian accents after speaking with multiple people on there who give generic memorized answers.

Basically my inquiry was, if you're looking to get a pre-approval from a couple banks within the same time period, would all credit checks affect your credit score negatively or do they just count all the checks from the banks as one inquiry if made during a specific time period? I know all of these will be hard inquiries, by the way.

For me, I received a pre-approval through TD, but shortly after found that BMO offered something slightly better as a safety net. This was only 2 weeks ago, so my question is if I decided to get a pre-approval with BMO as well, would it count as one inquiry since it was done within 2 weeks, or is it going to lower my score twice?

The representatives for TransUnion told me it doesn't matter when you do the check, it will lower it regardless. From how they responded, I'm not sure I could take their word for it.

I know this is from the US, but here is what I mean:

What to know about "rate shopping."

Looking for a mortgage, auto or student loan may cause multiple lenders to request your credit report, even though you are only looking for one loan. To compensate for this, the score ignores mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So, if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won't affect your score while you're rate shopping. In addition, the score looks on your credit report for mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries older than 30 days. If it finds some, it counts those inquiries that fall in a typical shopping period as just one inquiry when determining your score. For FICO scores calculated from older versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 14 day span. For FICO scores calculated from the newest versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 45 day span. Each lender chooses which version of the FICO scoring formula it wants the credit reporting agency to use to calculate your FICO score.

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...inquiries.aspx

[Masked Bandit]

I don't think one or two hard hits are going to have much impact on your overall credit score. If you had filed six or seven then that might be different but I think you'll be okay.

[max_boost]

Would it work if you got a copy of your report and scanned to the banks? Or do they have to pull it themselves?

I think as long as your score is within range it doesn't matter. I know for TD the min. score is 650 which isn't that high.

[Disoblige]

Cool. I'm pretty sure I'm just over analyzing it.

My score is fine; I just thought if I could prevent multiple hard pulls on my file, I would do it.

Originally posted by max_boost
Would it work if you got a copy of your report and scanned to the banks? Or do they have to pull it themselves?

They probably need to pull it themselves, but that's a good idea. Wouldn't hurt to ask.

Thanks guys.

[Tripz]

Banks would need to pull it themselves and when ever each bank pull your CB, it will count as an inquiry.

[tpurcell4]

^^


The only time I've heard of it not counting as a hard inquiry twice is if they are pulled within 24 hours of each other with the same institution. It's not very often this happens, unless the person accidentally deleted the application in the system.

And, yeah, as long as you have good credit, a couple of inquiries won't have a drastic affect on your credit, but if you had really poor credit for example, every inquiry could drop your score significantly.

[Disoblige]

Good info from everyone

Everyone essentially saying the same thing, which is more reassuring haha.

[psi_klops]

Each lender you apply with will (as far a I know) have to pull an independant credit bureau to process and application. If you are doing a subsequent application with said lender they will use the same CB as long as it is <30 days old.
A coulple hits shouldn't affect your score, it when you are classified as "credit seeking" - been declined at prior places and are actively seeking credit....it looks shady.

[l/l/rX]

use a mortgage broker. credit score is pulled once and they can inquire to as many different financial institutions as they'd like to, with it only showing once on your report.