How Much Does Mortgage Spree Hurt Scores?

[tpatterson2k9]

I plan to go shopping for a mortgage sometime soon and was wondering if anyone knew how much my scores would likely drop when I go interest shopping for a good loan.  The plan would be to apply to around five different places and go with the lender with the best rate and terms.  Will five inquiries for a mortgage within a two week time frame impact my score at all?  I only have one inquiry now as of 4/10/11 and I probably won't be shopping for a mortgage until a year from now. 

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

They say mortgage inquiries within a 30 day period only affect your score once - so you can shop for mortgages within 30 days of the initial credit report and only the first inquiry will factor in.

[bigman023]

Ive heard the same thing.  All inquirys with-in 30 days count as one.  But I have also heard that, with Ex, this window is only 14 days.  So because LO's pull all 3 CRAs when you are mortgage shopping, you really only have a window of 14 days.

[tpatterson2k9]

Thanks for the information.  It's interesting the EX counts more than one inquiry after only 14 days. 

So when the LO hard pulls a CR again just before closing, if it's after 30 days since the first time they pulled it then this will count as a second inquiry even if it's from the exact same lender?  Also, I plan to use the house I buy as a rental, so do lenders like to see higher scores when you will be renting the house out versus living in it?

[Lel]

---

@tpatterson2k9 wrote:

I plan to go shopping for a mortgage sometime soon and was wondering if anyone knew how much my scores would likely drop when I go interest shopping for a good loan.  The plan would be to apply to around five different places and go with the lender with the best rate and terms.  Will five inquiries for a mortgage within a two week time frame impact my score at all?  I only have one inquiry now as of 4/10/11 and I probably won't be shopping for a mortgage until a year from now. 

---

For the newer versions of FICO, which include Equifax's Beacon 5.0 score (which you get here) and the TU 04 model, the window for mortgage applications is 45 days.  For the older versions of FICO, which include Experian v2 and TU 98 (available here), the window is 14 days.  In addition, mortgage inquiries are suppressed from scoring for 30 days.  So, if you go to one lender on Monday and they make an inquiry, if you go to a second lender on Tuesday the inquiry from Monday won't affect your score (but it will be visible on your credit report).  This avoids a "first hit" phenomenon.

A useful link that explains things in more detail is here: How credit checks affect your credit score

BTW, you mentioned that this mortgage might be for an investment property.  With reference to your query about interest rates vis-a-vis credit scores, be aware that the interest rate and other requirements for investment properties or second homes is typically different from that of primary residences.

[mauve]

When I was shopping, I was subscribed to SW and QM.  I have mortgage inquiries from November through February.  I have not seen a score drop affiliated with mortgage shopping.  It is, however, noted on my tri-merge report from my current lender as affecting my score on each bureau.  I'm wondering if it's a little like when I got a score alert saying that my score went up because of something negative.  Yes, I said up.  I don't actually remember what the negative thing they were suggesting was, but it was pretty funny at the time.

IME, rate shopping for 4 months = 0 point drop.