Monte,

If you don't mind I have a credit question. How much does filling out a credit app at a dealership drop your score?

We have bought 3 new cars over the last 10 years, a house about 8 years ago, and paid off a lot of debt. Our score WAS great when we started shopping for latest vehicle (My wife's Honda needs replacing, she has developed knee problems and it is just too cramped for her to drive). Again, no late payments on any vehicle for eight years, credit lines getting paid off, we are doing everything right.

Anyway, we shopped around a few dealers, and filled out apps at all of them to see who could give us the best deal. Well, when we went to pull the trigger on a suv for her, we had problems. The salesman told us that our credit had been pulled nine times in the last week and that had tanked our score.

Is this plausible? Does getting your credit pulled cause it to drop like a lot? If so, how long do we need to wait for it to recover from that. There is nothing negative on it except a medical bill that we are trying to deal with. Also, if your score drops from being pulled, what's the best way to shop around for a rate, without disqualifying yourself for that rate?

I just wonder if it is just the pulls or if I need to look and see if there is something else going on.


Thanks for your time sir.