credit inquiries - mortgage and student loan look the same?

[Bonez]

I know that because people will frequently shop multiple lenders for mortgages or student loans that multiple inquiries for one of these purposes within a 14-45 day window will be viewed as a single inquiry as far as its effect on your credit score. I just unfroze my credit recently so I could apply for a student loan re-finance, but I am also probably going to be putting an offer on a house shortly as well. Do credit bureaus look at multiple inquiries in this case (student loan AND mortgage) in the same way - as a single inquiry?

If not, is there a way to get pre-approval letter from a mortgage company without a hard credit inquiry? The reason I ask that is because the house I'm looking to make an offer on is currently an "off the market" pocket listing that my agent told me about and the sellers are open to / interested in a later closing date (Spring '21) which is what I'm also looking for. If we get an accepted offer I'd have to re-apply and lock in rates some other time at least a few months from now before actually closing on it.

[jhwkr542]

Yes, I believe they'd lump all the credit inquiries together. The point is likely moot for you though. It doesn't affect credit score that much, negligible if you have a good score to begin with.

[Bonez]

Yes, I believe they'd lump all the credit inquiries together. The point is likely moot for you though. It doesn't affect credit score that much, negligible if you have a good score to begin with.

Yes it is still >810, but it had gone down about 15 points with my credit pull to apply for student loan refi. If it goes down more to apply for a mortgage for pre-approval then I'm just concerned I might not eventually get the "best" rate I can get when I have to apply again for a mortgage in a few months since the rate locks are generally only good for 30-60 days.

[pierre]

Are your student loans federal? And if so, did you see they extended the 0% for at least another month?

[jhwkr542]

Yes it is still >810, but it had gone down about 15 points with my credit pull to apply for student loan refi. If it goes down more to apply for a mortgage for pre-approval then I'm just concerned I might not eventually get the "best" rate I can get when I have to apply again for a mortgage in a few months since the rate locks are generally only good for 30-60 days.

The cutoff for the best rates is 740 usually. You're nowhere close. It isn't going to matter for you.

[Bonez]

Are your student loans federal? And if so, did you see they extended the 0% for at least another month?

No mine are private. I just noticed that rates kept dipping so I'm doing another re-fi to take advantage.

[CordMcNally]

Yes it is still >810, but it had gone down about 15 points with my credit pull to apply for student loan refi. If it goes down more to apply for a mortgage for pre-approval then I'm just concerned I might not eventually get the "best" rate I can get when I have to apply again for a mortgage in a few months since the rate locks are generally only good for 30-60 days.

You're going to have to do a lot more than credit inquiries to get your credit down far enough where you don't get the best rates.

[Bonez]

Update: I was able to get a 2.8% fixed rate on student loan refi and I also applied for the mortgage which didn't further drop my any further. My score ended up going back up 12 points since the student loan refi application a week ago, so basically back to where it was Only downside is that I'm going to ask for a closing in the Spring of 2021 so if my offer gets accepted I'll have to re-apply for the mortgage again.