In case you didn't already know every time anyone takes a peek at your credit report it is recorded.
These are known as inquiries.
And if you have a lot of them on your report it could look like you're shopping around for a bunch of different loans at once, or that you're repeatedly being denied by lenders and moving on to the next one.
Now you can see how this would make you seem like a credit risk and negatively impact your credit score.
So in short you should definitely be careful about how many times you have your credit report ran.
The good news is checking your credit score your self does not impact your score at all.
There are two type of credit pulls, one is a hard pull which is recorded on your report for any future lenders to see, and the other is a soft pull which only shows up when you yourself request your report.
If you are in the market for a new loan make sure it is a relatively quick process.
If a couple requests are made in a short period of time they are usually bunched together and only impact your score once as a group instead of spreading them out and having each individual requests drop your score little by little.
Another trick to reducing the number of inquiries on your report is to do your research beforehand.
Narrow down the list of lenders you plan on seeing and stick to it.
So instead of blindly applying at several different places you can do your research and eliminate places you don't feel are that necessary anyway.
This will save you time and help keep your credit score high.
When it comes to online loan rate comparisons you should be informed that most credit bureaus count each quote estimate as an inquiry on your report.
Online rate quotes are real easy to get and very convenient.
Not to mention they are free and very enticing.
So remember when getting online quotes they are all being reported on your credit history.
This by no means should deter you from using online rate comparisons.
They provide a great service to consumers.
But what I would suggest once again is doing your research to narrow down the number of possible lenders you are considering.
This will make sure that the number of inquiries marked on your report state and a reasonable number.
If you want to see or track the number of inquiries on your report you can always order a free copy of your credit report.
You can also make sure that all the inquiries on your report were initiated by you as well.
If you find any phantom inquiries you can notify the credit bureau and have them taken off your report which in turn will raise your credit score.