"I was told that if I made multiple applications for a mortgage refinance in a certain period of time, that it would not impact my credit score. But this isn't necessarily true. My credit score has been lowered because of it and the banks aren't listing them as application for a mortgage. Where does the responsibility lay? Even when I tell a lender not to pull a credit report, they do (such as my current mortgage servicer). They weren't soft inquiries either. They ran it twice! Another lender ran my report five times last year and I only authorized it twice. I tried to dispute it but it's nearly impossible to dispute inquiries. What can the consumer really do about this issue?"

There is a lot of confusion surrounding when it is permissible for a lender to access your credit reports. There is even more confusion about inquiries and their impact on your FICO scores. First off, access to your credit report is strictly governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, section 604 "Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports." It's rare that a lender will simply pull your credit report without a good reason, but I have seen it happen.

What you were told about inquiries is true, but not complete. There are some important details missing. Years ago FICO installed logic in their credit scoring models that measured mortgage, auto and student loan inquiries differently because of the fact that consumers would shop around for the best deal on these types of loans. This would lead to multiple inquiries but still only one loan. As such, it made sense not to penalize consumers who were smart rate shoppers, hence the different treatment of those types of inquiries.

Mortgage inquires do count in your score so whatever you were told wasn't 100% correct. They just don't count for the first 30 days they're on your credit reports. After 30 days they are fair game and do count. If there are other mortgage inquiries within a 45 day period then those multiple inquiries only count as one. The same holds true for auto and student loan inquiries.

The banks don't choose to categorize inquiries. That's not how it works. The credit bureaus set them up with specific loan or industry designations and any reports pulled by the lender is coded or identified as being from that industry or loan type. Example, an auto dealer will be set up with an auto related inquiry.

Simply telling a lender not to pull your report doesn't mean they can't. Remember, in the law it gives them specific scenarios where pulling a report is fully legal. You simply saying "don't do it" doesn't mean they won't. But, of course, if you think your lenders have violated the law by pulling your reports, then you certainly have the right to pursue it legally, which isn't easy and it isn't cheap.

John Ulzheimer – Credit scoring and credit reporting expert and author, John is the President of Consumer Education for Credit.com. Formerly with Equifax and Fair Isaac, John shares his unique insight of the inner workings of credit scoring models and the credit reporting industry on CreditBloggers.com.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten a healthy dose of questions from friends and friends-of-friends via Twitter and Facebook, many of them credit-related. I thought this would be a great forum to include my answers and to encourage you, our readers, to submit your credit blunders, as well.

Stephanie from Pittsburgh writes…

I would like ideas on how to teach young children about credit health.

Stephanie’s a new mom and I’m happy to know she’s thinking in the right direction. With young children, it’s important to remember that they’re very observant and will pick up on a lot of our behaviors. It’s not so much about having a firm talk, but about teaching them by example. First, I’d recommend using cash more often in front of them versus credit cards. In our plastic-driven world, kids barely ever see cash anymore and begin to see credit cards as the only way to buy stuff (and it makes purchases appear "free"). But when they actually see you parting with cash at the checkout line they can better understand that there are limits to how much you can spend in life. Next time you explain that there’s no money left for ice cream after the movies, they’ll more likely get it. And when explaining credit cards you might want to say something like, "With this card I can borrow money from the bank to buy only what we need for the family…but then I have to pay the bank back right away.” (You can get more specific about the consequences of paying late when they're in grade school and old enough to understand interest, late fees, debt, etc.)

Richard from Boston asks…

I have a 780 credit score and I have some cash in my checking account that is earning a meager .01%. Should I pay off my $5,000 car loan outright which has a 3.9% APR (which is a low rate historically)? Would paying the car loan early affect my credit score in the long run?

Congrats on having a very strong credit score, Richard! I’m sorry to tell you, though, that you won’t see a boost in your credit score just for paying down your car loan early. On the other hand, you may end up saving a little bit of money by avoiding those extra years worth of interest. Just make sure that if you’re going to pay off the loan in full that you won’t be depleting your savings to do so. As for your meager .01% savings, you can definitely do a lot better than that by either putting some of that money in a long-term CD or in an online checking account where you can find rates as high as 2.00%. In fact online bank Smartypig.com is boasting a rate of 2.15% right now.

Torez from Catersville, Georgia asks...

I'm about $4,000 in debt between two credit cards. I was wondering should I consolidate or pay both separately?

You really need to do some math with this one. Keep in mind that consolidating debt is not free. You often have to pay a transfer fee of 3 to 4 percent of your balance. Now, if the interest rate on the new card is so low that the transfer fee eventually cancels out, that might be a good deal. But don’t let the low interest rate be an excuse to pay off your debt in smaller increments. You should want to consolidate in order to pay less interest and get out of debt faster, right? So keep your monthly payments above and beyond the minimum. If you decide to pay off the cards separately, be most aggressive with the card that has the highest interest rate since that’s your most expensive debt.

Farnoosh Torabi – Credit.com Personal Finance Contributor, nationally recognized author, expert and television host. Her first book, You're So Money, is an acclaimed tell-all for young adults searching for financial independence. Her new book Psych Yourself Rich, gives readers the mindset and discipline to build their financial life.