Ok so here is my question - when should first time home buyers get a credit report done? *We don't want to get it done too many times because this may negatively impact our scores. Thanks!!
Lendor 1 - told me that we should do it now (plan to try to close in Sept) because they are good for 120 days - and just in case there are any issues we have time to fix
Lendor 2 - told me that we should wait until end of July/August because they are good for 60 days
Also - Lendor 1 said we would get a copy of the score and Lendor 2 said they would take a credit report done by someone else. So if the scores will be good for 120 days we could get it done now.
Re: When to get credit report done?
We just had ours done to get the pre-approval letter, though we were fairly confident in our scores and weren't worried about needing time to raise our scores.
But, I'm pretty sure that if the credit checks are done for mortgage applications, then it doesn't negatively affect your scores.
The mortgage company we are working with stated that the credit score is good for 120 days (so we just had to get a second one done). Our company ran our scores before doing the pre-approval letter. You do need a credit score before you can get pre-approved, and you need the pre-approval before you can get an accepted offer on the table. Basically you cannot close without your credit score, since it is the catalyst for everything. Our company (and a previous company) would not pre-approve us until any problems with our credit were taken care of.
In regards to the previous poster it does go against your credit score as a hard inquiry, so every time it is run by your mortgage company/bank you will lose a few points on your score.
Our company did the scores themselves so we got a copy in the mail after they ran them, which also stated the problem areas as well.
I hope this information helped you out a little bit. And good luck!
I'd recommend you to get your credit report now as it will give you enough time to analyze and to fix if you find any probs. Apart from that you are sure of buying home, so it's not gonna hurt your credit score by getting report now or later. So just to be in safer side and provocative, get your credit report done quickly.