New credit.
In plain English
New credit covers your recent activity: how many accounts you have opened lately and how many hard inquiries you have on your report. A hard inquiry happens when a lender checks your credit because you applied for something, and each one can shave a few points off your score for a while. Opening several accounts in a short stretch can make you look riskier to lenders. Checking your own credit is a soft inquiry and does not count against you, and most scoring models group similar loan shopping (like rate shopping for one car or mortgage) within a short window into a single inquiry.
01Why it matters
A flurry of credit applications right before a big loan, like a mortgage, can ding your score at the worst possible moment and raise the rate you are quoted.
02The math, step by step
Say you apply for three store cards over one holiday weekend to grab the discounts. Each pull is a hard inquiry, and the cluster of new accounts can lower your score for several months. If you apply for a mortgage soon after, that temporary dip could nudge you into a higher rate. Spacing applications out, and avoiding new credit in the months before a major loan, avoids this.
03What this is NOT
Looking at your own report or score is a soft inquiry and never lowers your score. Only a hard inquiry, triggered when you apply for credit, can ding it, and even then only briefly.
04Receipts
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Plain-English answers from our glossary. Receipts included. Never advice.
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