How does pre-approval affect your credit score?

In order to get pre-approved for a mortgage, a lender will need to pull your credit to determine your credit worthiness and history. This requires your consent and often your social security number. This is standard practice and unavoidable unless you are applying for a mortgage and paying all cash.

While this may sound scary, don’t worry! When a mortgage lender pulls your credit for pre-approval, your score typically only decreases a few points and rebounds in a few months. It does not impact your credit score nearly as much as other things like past due bills, collections, or increasing your balance on a credit card.

Additionally, you usually have a 45 day window to get multiple pre-approvals from different lenders without affecting your credit score multiple times. You are NOT penalized for shopping around.

Example A

If you get a pre-approval from Lender A, then decide to get a second pre-approval 2 weeks later from Lender B, your credit score will only be affected once.

Example B

If you get a pre-approval from lender A, then get a pre-approval from the same or different lender 3 months later, you will receive a credit pull twice. 

TLDR

• Checking your own credit = no impact 🤓
• Having a lender run a hard pull (pre-approval) = small, short-term drop in credit score (3-5 points) ⭐️
• Shopping for the same type of loan within a few weeks = counts as one credit pull 👯

Ready to get pre-approved?