 TITLE: Does Mortgage Prequalification Affect Your Credit Score? CONTENT: Can a Mortgage Prequalification Affect Your Credit?\n---------------------------------------------------\nAs long as the mortgage prequalification only asks you to share an estimated credit score, or the lender checks your credit with a soft pull, your credit won't be affected.\nHowever, because lenders generally don't verify your information for mortgage prequalification, it may only provide you with a rough estimate. If you're ready to make a move and show you're serious, you could try to get preapproved for a mortgage instead.\nMortgage preapprovals can be different than prequalifications. They tend to be more rigorous—similar to the actual mortgage application process—and require verification documents, such as copies of pay stubs, bank statements and tax returns. Mortgage preapproval can also require a hard credit check, which means getting preapproved for a mortgage may hurt your credit. You should know, however, that the credit score harm associated with a single hard inquiry, if there's any at all, will be slight and temporary.\nStill, getting preapproved can be a good idea if you're ready to make an offer, as you'll have a more certain idea of the type of mortgage and amount you can qualify for with the lender. Also, in competitive housing markets, being preapproved could give you a leg up with sellers who want to accept offers from buyers they know can follow through on the offer.\n(Know that some lenders sometimes use the terms preapproval and prequalification interchangeably, and you might not get what you expect from a preapproval. If a lender provides a preapproval without verifying the information you shared or checking your credit, it may be less certain and carry less weight than one that considers a detailed financial picture.) END