Sounds backwards, but looking at your credit score (outside of certain avenues) will hurt your credit!
Simply put:
The more “Hard” pulls of your credit card. The more it impacts your credit score. Plan your credit pulls wisely and don’t be afraid to ask.
Simple note:
When you go to car dealerships to look at cars, you are NOT obligated to have your credit ran by them. Go with your bank or credit union.
You may also ask whomever if they are going to pull a credit report and which type it will be.
What’s a hard pull?
A hard credit pull is a credit inquiry that dings against your credit whether you buy or not. This means that if you go to a car dealership and they run your credit (YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DENY THEM ACCESS) this will ding your credit by anywhere from 10 pts up to 50 or more depending on your personal situation. Hard pulls stay on your credit for roughly 3 years or less depending on the credit bureau.
How can you prevent this?
There was a magnificent invention known as the Soft Pull. Or even better, Credit Karma or other similar services. These allow you to view your credit at any time with NO negative impact on your credit. You can watch your credit scores for hours if you so choose to, but it won’t help or hurt it.
What are Soft pulls?
These pulls are normally for pre-approval situations to verify that you have what it takes to be approved for a future loan. When you get letters in the mail saying you qualify, often a credit card company has already pulled a Soft inquiry into your credit score and they know, based off what they saw, that you’ll be approved unless something drastically changes between your pre-approval and the application. Using Credit Karma is a soft inquiry that does no damage! Soft inquiry is your friend here. These type of pulls are typically when you’re establishing a utility like getting electricity or gas. Other companies can use them for your background checks.
Simple tip:
If you’re shopping for a car, pull your credit when you are sure you are going to buy. This will allow you to pull your credit a few more times from the same source as you work with financing, TYPICALLY with no additional hard pulls.
Simple knowledge:
If a company or entity illegally (without your verbal or written consent) pulls your credit, you can get a few thousand dollars from them for each instance of a pull they commit without your permission! This is big money. Talk to your local lawyer and ask them about it. They)(The company) will also be mandated to remove the inquiry from your credit after they’re fined!
Simple conclusion:
If you really don’t need your credit pulled, don’t get it pulled. You can check your credit for FREE (key word of the day) at Credit Karma. It takes $0 to download the app or sign-up online. It’s great and I will be putting a page in the resources.
To boost your credit, sometimes you have to stop pecking away at it.
I advice that you be cautious when taking on new credit cards as well.
What is the weirdest credit pull you’ve had?
Simple Money 