Pre-approval and credit score

[Cognitive_Squeeze]

Pre-qualified has no impact on the credit score, but pre-approval does. I was told the pre-approval lasts for three months. Is that correct?

I would like to get pre-approved just in case I find something we like, the market is very competitive. Also, this could motivate me to finally get this done; we had been waiting for too long to buy, and it's time.

However, how would this affect my current credit score if we don't buy in three months, six months, so on? I was told this could be as slow as five points. My credit close is 795 Transunion and 769 Equifax according to Credit Karma.

Thanks,

[Pizzaman1415]

Hi- also going through the same process.

Our pre-approval lasted 4 months but it did expire. Each time a pre-approval letter is created, it is a hard check on your credit score and thus, will have somewhat of a negative impact.

[playtothebeat]

I imagine the impact is extremely minimal. I just went through something very similar while trying to refi my house.

I gave the "ok" to a mortgage broker to start the underwriting (which involved pulling my credit, of course). Half way through the underwriting process, my wife lost her job and we put the process on hold. Once she had a new job, I reached out to another broker to start the process (I switched primarily due to the fact that the first one had some issues with title to our property, and I hoped another underwriter/broker with a different company wouldn't have that issue). I was concerned about pulling credit again so quickly (it was probably 30 days apart), and so I asked the second broker about that. She said it's expected that people will pull credit multiple times when looking for a mortgage or a car loan, and that there is nothing to be concerned about. When I pull credit at that point, I was asked to sign a letter that stated that the hard pull 45 days prior to this was related to a mortgage application and that no credit was extended with it. My refi closed about 6 weeks after that (this Monday, actually).

[Cognitive_Squeeze]

Thanks for the feedback.

[nordlead]

Anything over a 720 is golden. Credit Karma uses Vantage Score 3.0 (not FICO), and they are typically close, but under certain circumstances they can be significantly different (100 points or more). If you generally have good credit (no late payments, no bankruptcy, no derogatory marks), then they should be pretty dang close.

It took years, but my FICO is now over 800 (billing snafu when I moved, as a creditor turned off auto-pay on me). I now have no hesitation opening cards, as it would take a lot of hard inquiries and new accounts to drop that below 720.

Hard inquiries only really impact your score for the first few months, and even then it is only a handful of points. By 1 year, they are essentially meaningless, and they are gone after 2 years.

[Cognitive_Squeeze]

If you generally have good credit (no late payments, no bankruptcy, no derogatory marks), then they should be pretty dang close.

Nope, none of that.

Thanks for the feedback,