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7. Facts and Fallacies

Fallacy: A credit score will drop if I apply for new credit.
Fact: If it does, it probably won't drop much. Applying for several new credit cards within a short period can equate to higher risk and a lower score. However, most credit scores are not affected by multiple inquiries from either Auto or Mortgage lenders within a short period of time (14 days plus the score ignores all auto/mortgage inquiries in the prior 30 days to scoring). Typically, these are treated as a single inquiry and will have little to no impact on the credit score.

Fallacy: A poor score will haunt a consumer forever.
Fact: Just the opposite is true. A score is a snapshot of your risk at a particular point in time. It changes as new information is added and deleted over time. A score is "recalculated" each time an inquiry is made into your credit file.

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