Question about a credit check at a car dealership that tanked my score

Honestly, I was at a Ford dealership in Austin trying to get a loan for a used truck. The sales guy said they needed to run my credit to see my options, which I thought was fine. Tbh, I didn't know they'd pull from like 5 different banks, so I got 5 hard inquiries on my report that same day. My score dropped 28 points right before I was trying to apply for a mortgage. Some people say you should always shop around for rates, but others say you need to tell them to only use one credit pull. What's the right move when you're at a dealership so this doesn't happen?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_phoenix2d ago

Always ask if they can do a soft pull first to give you a ballpark rate! Hard inquiries should only come in once you pick a specific lender.

jade_lane2d ago

Honestly, my credit score dropped like 8 points last year from a few hard pulls and it bounced right back in a couple months. @the_phoenix makes a fair point, but I feel like people stress way too much over a single inquiry. It's not a huge deal unless you're applying for a ton of stuff at once.