Will getting too many pre-approal or pre-qualification affect my credit?

[Gordon Wong]

Will getting too many pre-approal or pre-qualification affect my credit?
I ask because they usually expire in 90 days and will need a new one after that.
Also, this property which is a short sale is requiring pre-approval through their lender even though I have one with another bank already.
So will it affect my credit if I keep getting pre-approal or pre-qualification?
Thank You

[Dion DePaoli]

The credit model allows you to shop your loan as a consumer and thus within a short span 30 days or less can obtain more than one inquiry for mortgage credit without affecting your score. When you continually update pre-quals over the course of several months that will affect your score.

Don't pursue looking at homes that require you to get a pre-qualfication. A pre-qualifcation to submit an offer is different. In other words don't window shop with your credit. If you want get one reputable bank pre-qualifcation perhaps ask for them to only pull one credit report.

OR

Perhaps get a free credit report and let any loan officer only use that and do not give them permission to pull your credit. Black out your full social security number if it is present. That would avoid the pull altogether. Don't give in if the loan officer cries that they need to use their report, they don't put that much effort into a pre-qual anyway.