A bit of a backstory
I applied for mortgage prepprovals in the beginning of 2021 (January 21, January 22, and February 24). All three of the companies I applied with told me that they would only use soft pulls. However, in March my credit dropped to 556 to 661.
While 5 points doesn't seem like much, I no longer qualify for the HELOC loan that I wanted because my bank (KEYBANK) has stated that they will only open the line of credit up if my score is at least 660.
I called the mortgage company I got the preapprovals from and they told me that disputing the hard pulls wouldn't make much of a difference because the mortgage lenders were acting in good faith when they said the credit pulls would be soft pulls. They also said that they aren't likely what caused the drops.
I'm not sure if I should shop around at other banks or wait for these inquiries to stop affecting my score. I am unsure whether actually building up credit through a credit card would be the best option because I wanted to get this loan as soon as possible. I also don't have any loans that I can pay off or debt that I can pay. No credit card debt, no car payment, no negative infractions from non payments. I currently only have student loan debt.
Does anyone have any advice?
