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I've read that if you shop around for a mortgage all the credit reports which are pulled within a 30 day period will count as only one inquiry in terms of any negative effect on your score. Is this accurate?
So, if within a 30 day period I go to 7 places (brokers, banks, credit union) to see what my best possible option is then I only get dinged for one inquiry?
Also, how many points off ones score is one hit?
And lastly, let's say I go shop around for a month. I do them all within 30 days. But then I don't buy a house immediately. A few months from now I decide to buy. So my credit is run again.
How many points with this inquiry be?
Each inquiry will show up on your credit report inquiry section but pulls within 14 or 30 days (depending on the type of report & how the creditor codes themselves) shouldn't impact your score more than the first inquiry - but then if your credit is checked outside of that window of time it'll affect your credit score again. The points you are deducted depend on your overall credit profile, someone with weak credit will take a bigger hit than someone with strong credit.
The window is 14 days or 30 days depending on the CRA and the version used by the lender. Most will factor on a 30-day window.
If you do rate shop, all of the inquiries will appear, but FICO will treat them as 1, if within that window.
IMO, inquiries are over-rated. Pulling my FICO immediately before and after, I had a 0 point change from 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 on TU. Doing the same for EX, I also had a 0 point change for 10 consecutive inquiries (all non-mortgage or non-auto) last fall/winter. I now had around 32 on EX with no credit denials due to the inquiries. Though I wouldn't recommend apping for anything at least 6 months prior to apping for a morgage anyway.
ETA: Shane is a faster typer.