Protecting your credit from numerous soft hits? Advice?

[Antonio Marte]

Just came back from DFW looking for good deals on buy and holds SFR. We had no luck and will continue to look for solid deals but are now considering other markets. Every lender and insurance company wants to run your credit to give you the best possible rates,which i understand. Are there any ways to protect your credit from all these soft inquiries? Am i over reacting? I have great credit and so does my partner so we are using that as leverage besides our large down payment. Thanks in advance!

[Joel Owens]

WHY are you getting pulls on credit without an accepted property under contract??

You find the property first and negotiate to get under contract. Then you decide on a lender and get a rate lock once initial approval is confirmed. Multiple pulls in a 2 week time period is usually counted as one pull as the algorithms know you are rate shopping.

If you get pulls going on a few months each time you try to locate a property to buy then it can affect your score.

If you know your score is high say above 740 middle score then you typically qualify for the best rates anyway and do not need credit pulled in the beginning.

No legal advice given.