Originally posted by honda_pilot
A creditor "hit" or inquiry, will affect your score. This is an in-depth look into your credit/payment history as well as public records. The reason these hits show up ( and the more of them you have the worse), is that when creditors (banks, dealerships, etc.) inquire about you this usually means you asked or have somehow initiated the request. When you ask/apply for credit frequently, this appears to creditors like you are living beyond your means. And this certainly affects your score.
This is the only part I mentioned, having some place like a dealership pull your credit, not personally going onto the web and checking it for yourself. Thanks for the claification on this though.