No. When we check your credit for a mortgage prequalification, it's considered a "soft" credit inquiry, which does not affect your credit score.

If you decide to move forward after prequalifying, we'll ask your permission before doing a "hard" credit inquiry later in the process.

No documents or fees are required for a mortgage prequalification. That's one reason why a prequalification is just an estimate: it's based on financial information that hasn't been documented and verified.

Later on, if you decide to complete a full mortgage application, your home mortgage consultant and loan processor will let you know exactly what documents to provide.

Prequalification and preapproval actually have more similarities than differences:

• Neither comes with any fees or obligations.
• Neither one is a commitment to lend.
• Both provide an estimate of how much you could borrow to buy a home.
• Both base that estimate on factors like your debt-to-income ratio, how much you have for a down payment, and your credit history.

The key difference is that a preapproval is a more accurate and reliable estimate based on a more complete view of your credit. That's because when you prequalify, we perform a "soft" credit inquiry, which gives us information about your credit history and monthly debts, but this doesn't provide as much detail as a "hard" credit inquiry, which is required for a preapproval.

Your preapproval also comes with a PriorityBuyer^SM Preapproval Letter that you and your agent can give to sellers when you make an offer, so they know you're a serious buyer.

If you're not sure which option is right for you, start by getting prequalified online. It only takes a few minutes, and afterward you can easily take the next step and let us know you'd like to get preapproved.

A prequalification doesn't come with an expiration date. On the other hand, the more time that passes after getting prequalified, the more likely it is that something could change that affects your estimated loan amount.

When you get prequalified, we estimate how much you could borrow based on your income, debts, credit, and down payment amount at that moment in time. If all those things stay the same, the amount you qualify for shouldn't change dramatically.

If things do change, don't worry — you can always come back and repeat the process to double check your results. Getting prequalified online with Wells Fargo is quick and simple, costs you nothing, and doesn't affect your credit score, no matter how many times you do it.