Refinancing - pulling our credit report question

[ilovediznee]

Hello Dis family,

First, I want to say a big thanks to everyone who has posted about their mortgage refinancing experiences. I've learned a lot and began calling places today.

Here is my question. I truly believe in dealing with people who treat you with respect, listen to what you say and answer your questions. I am asking each and evey place the same questions. BUT this is my question - let's say I call 6 places that I am interested in and then cut it down to 3 places (banks, credit unions, etc). Should I decide on one BEFORE I authorize them to pull a credit report, or let all threee pull one? I've read and heard that every time your credit report is pulled it can bring your point value down. I certainly don't want all these random places pulling my credit.

Now I thought of another questions. We refinanced my husband's car about 3 or 4 months ago and can I assume that the credit union pulled it at that time to approve his loan. If so and I use that credit union for our mortgage refinancing, will they pull another? I wasn't sure if they would pull it again since we just changed his car over under 6 months ago.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Thanks - Diane

 

[Robbi]

Usually but not always, the same lender can use the same report for 6 months. At least they could in the past. Call and ask to make sure.

 

[DisneyBill]

Let me suggest you pull your scores at myfico.com and visit the potential lenders you are considering and show your copy to the decision maker. There is no score penalty for a consumer self pull. This enables you to discuss your transaction with current, pertinent facts and level the playing field with each firm- then make your determination as to which lender(s) you wish to move forward with and authorize them to do the hard pull. It is stated and suppose-to-be that one's score won't be affected by "X" number of pulls by a mortgage company within a 30 day time period, but I can tell you that isn't always or most of the time the case.

As for whether a lender can use a previously pulled score, yes they could. But they won't, just as you could have opened/borrowed since the date of last pull. Also, it is common practice for a mortgage company to pull your report just days before loan closing to ensure no recent indebtedness has occurred. I have known home buyers who are on-track for a closing to go out and buy appliances for their new home on credit and the mortgage lender to bust them on that matter hours before scheduled closing.

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

Let me suggest you pull your scores at myfico.com and visit the potential lenders you are considering and show your copy to the decision maker.

I agree!! We did this. Most banks refused to even LOOK at what we had, even though we thoroughly explained we did not expect them to use it without pulling a report. That's how we decided on a bank, the one that would actually listen to us and looked at our report and treated us with respect got our business!

 

[GrnMtnMan]

As for whether a lender can use a previously pulled score, yes they could. But they won't, just as you could have opened/borrowed since the date of last pull. Also, it is common practice for a mortgage company to pull your report just days before loan closing to ensure no recent indebtedness has occurred.

This.

I think people make too big a deal of the impact of credit inquiries on a score. Mortgage originators do not tinker with your mortgage rate based on a few points...and if you're already an excellent credit, you should be getting the best possible rates out there, not be penalized for researching competitive mortgage offers.

If someone says your score is a few points too low, they are nickel-and-diming you.

 

[timmac]

The effect on credit score to have a report pulled is not all that big. Furthermore, multiple inquiries within a given timeframe (30 days I think?) for the same type of credit, by law, have to be treated as a single inquiry for scoring purposes.

 

[ilovediznee]

Thank you for everyone who shared some ideas! I called a bank, the bank we are already with our mortgage and the credit union that we have our cars with. BY FAR, the credit union was the nicest, most professional and really listened to me. She and I spent 30 minutes talking about my situations, our mortgage, our goals, etc.

I will let you know what happens!

Diane