Lender Inquiries
Throughout this book, we recommend that you shop around for credit—a
new credit card, a home loan or an auto loan.
But how you shop around can affect your credit rating.
The issue is whether or not a potential lender or credit card provider
requests (“pulls” in industry jargon) your credit report.
Every time one of these companies pulls your credit report, it counts as
a “hard” inquiry. And hard inquiries lower your credit score.
One way to be sure you’re getting information—and not having
your credit report pinged at the same time—is to withhold your Social
Security number until you’re ready to make a decision on a lender or
credit card company.
Unfortunately, this can be tricky—especially when you’re shopping
for credit on-line. Most on-line lenders require you to provide your Social
Security number before they will quote an interest rate, since interest rates
are closely tied to credit scores.
And when you provide this information, you are applying for credit—and
that gives the lender your permission to check your credit report.
Next: Why Inquiries Matter
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