There are two different types of credit checks that occur during the mortgage process.
The first is a hard inquiry, which will have a full credit report that it + it's scores will be used to qualify you as well as determine interest rate pricing. Usually this has an expiration date of 90-120 days. If your loan hasn't closed by then, a new hard inquiry and that new report will replace the existing report in terms of qualifying & interest rate pricing.
The second type is used for the "Loan Quality Initiative", which is just a fancy term for the lender getting updated balances and payments for the items on your credit. This usually occurs as part of the clear-to-close/final approval, and is valid for 7 days (so if the clear-to-close is issued, but you don't close within 7 days, then a new LQI has to be pulled). This is a "credit refresh" and not a hard inquiry, although some people have said they still see it on their own consumer reports which leads me to believe it's a soft inquiry.
Some lenders have the ability to see real time inquiries, even without utilizing one of the above types of credit checks. I've had lenders email me out of the blue, smack dab in the middle of the loan process, that my client has a new credit inquiry and needs to explain it and document any new credit that has been granted from the inquiry.
So if you don't want to be hassled by explaining & potentially documenting inquiries, or have them impact your loan, then wait until after your loan has funded.
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