Make All Shopping Inquiries Within 14 Days
You have probably heard that every time you give a company permission to make an inquiry on your credit report your credit rating is adversely affected. However it is impossible to find the best interest rate on something like a mortgage or a car loan without giving the lender permission to make this inquiry. Are you damned if you do and damned if you don’t? The answer is no.
Isaac Fair recommends getting around this problem by doing all your shopping for an interest rate for a car loan or mortgagee with in 14 day time period. As discussed in the last chapter, there is a loophole in the FICO calculation that says that all credit inquires for car loans or mortgages within a two-week period will only count as one credit inquiry.
Fair Isaac has mentioned in a press release that this time period will be extended to 45 days by 2006. However so far it hasn’t happened yet. To be on the safe side, always try and contain your shopping for the best interest rates to that two-week period.