@Anonymous wrote:
Hello,
Is it true that as long as you do your interest rate shopping and pre-approvals for a major purchase (i.e. car loan) all within 45-day time period, that the CR will count the credit inquiries as ONE inquiry as it relates to your FICO score? If I'm mistaken please explain. Thanks in advance.
The inq's must be coded correctly ie mortgage , auto. and or student loans. The timeframe can be 14-45 days depending on which version of FICO each lender chooses.
From MYFICO Credit Basics:
'Research has indicated that the FICO score is more predictive when it treats loans that commonly involve rate-shopping, such as mortgage, auto and student loans, in a different way. For these types of loans, the FICO score ignores inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So, if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won't affect your score while you're rate shopping. In addition, the score looks on your credit report for rate-shopping inquiries older than 30 days. If it finds some, it counts those inquiries that fall in a typical shopping period as just one inquiry when determining your score. For FICO scores calculated from older versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 14 day span. For FICO scores calculated from the newest versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 45 day span. Each lender chooses which version of the FICO scoring formula it wants the credit reporting agency to use to calculate your FICO score.'
