Does switching mortgage lenders at renewal hurt my credit score?

If you use a mortgage broker, they typically pull credit once and submit that report to multiple lenders — one hard inquiry, not five. If you shop the banks directly, each bank pulls its own report — potentially several hard inquiries in a short window.

Credit bureaus treat multiple mortgage inquiries within a 14–45 day window as a single event for scoring purposes (the 'rate shopping' allowance), so even direct-shopping doesn't stack multiple penalties if done quickly.