Don’t Trigger Unnecessary Inquiries
When you sign a credit application or give a lender your social security number you are automatically giving that lender permission to make a hard inquiry into your credit. Unfortunately every time you apply for a loan or credit it is reported as a negative comment on your report. Usually this comment appears as a line item on the bottom of your credit report. Commonly it is called a credit inquiry.
The minute that you sign away permission for an inquiry into your credit; the credit bureau sees it as an inquiry that you initiated because you need money. As the FICO system sees the need to borrow money as a bad thing, your initiation into the matter lowers your credit rating.
To avoid the accidental lowering of your credit due to unnecessary inquiries it is a very practical and good idea to ask a lender whether or not they will be making an inquiry into your credit before you sign on the dotted line.
The bad news is that a hard credit inquiry stays on your credit report for two years. However, the good news about hard inquiries they only count against your score for the first twelve months.