Credit Score Myths That Delay Pre-Approval
A lot of buyers walk into pre-approval and accidentally hurt their own credit score trying to help it. Here's what's actually true, and what to leave alone until after you close.
Myth: Closing an old credit card boosts your score
It's the opposite, or at best neutral. Closing a card can hurt your score two ways.
First, it changes your credit utilization, the share of your available credit you're actually using, which makes up roughly 30% of a FICO score. Close a card and your available credit drops, so the same balances on your other cards suddenly look like a bigger share of what you have available.
Second, it affects the average age of your accounts, about 15% of your score. A closed account in good standing stays on your report and keeps aging for up to 10 years, so it won't hurt you immediately. But once it eventually falls off, your average account age can drop.
If you're planning to apply for a mortgage, leave old cards open and untouched, even ones you don't use.
Myth: Checking your own score hurts it
Checking your own score is a soft pull. It never affects your score, no matter how many times you do it. This myth stops a lot of people from monitoring their own credit, which means they miss real errors or fraud they could have caught early.
The only kind of check that can affect your score is a hard pull, the kind that happens when a lender formally reviews your credit for a new account. Even then, multiple mortgage-related hard pulls within a short shopping window are typically treated as a single inquiry by scoring models, not counted individually.
Myth: Co-signing for someone else doesn't affect you
It does. A co-signed loan or credit card shows up on your own credit report and usually counts against your own debt-to-income ratio when a Loan Officer calculates what you qualify for, even if you've never made a payment on it yourself. If you're planning to buy soon, think carefully before co-signing anything for someone else in the meantime.
What's actually changing in 2026
Credit scoring for mortgages is shifting, slowly. Regulators have started allowing some lenders to use VantageScore 4.0 alongside the traditional FICO score on loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As of now, that's a limited, optional rollout, not a full replacement of the FICO-based system most people are still qualified under. For most buyers today, the practical advice hasn't changed: know your real number, don't make sudden moves right before applying, and ask before you assume something will help or hurt.
Not sure where your credit actually stands for pre-approval? That's a five-minute conversation with a real person, not a guess.
Expect to close one week early.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does closing an old credit card help my credit score before buying a home? No, it usually hurts it or does nothing at best. Closing a card reduces your available credit, which raises your utilization ratio, and it can eventually shorten your average account age. Leave old cards open and untouched before applying.
Does checking my own credit score hurt it? No. Checking your own score is a soft pull and never affects your score, no matter how many times you check. Only a hard pull, the kind a lender runs when reviewing a new application, can affect your score.
Does co-signing a loan for someone else affect my own mortgage application? Yes. A co-signed loan or credit card shows up on your credit report and usually counts against your own debt-to-income ratio, even if you've never made a payment on it yourself.
What credit score do I need to qualify for a mortgage? It depends on the loan program, but the more useful question is where your real number stands today. That's a quick conversation with a Loan Officer, not something worth guessing at.
