How long till hard inquiries don't have an effect on applying for new cards?

[Anonymous]

I have 10 inquries on Experian, 5 on Equifax, and 3 on Transunion since January of this year. I started having my first credit card in May which is the Discover IT student card. I may be thinking of applying for a Chase Freedom Unlimited card next year. Do you think those inquries will prevent me from getting accepted. My credit score is fair at about 680 TU, 655 EQ, and unknown for EX as it needs 6 months history. 

[Anonymous]

Inquiries are on your credit report for 2 years from the time you take them on and their impact to your score goes away after 1 year.  Your number of inquiries isn't all that significant, so that factor alone wouldn't prevent you from securing a Chase card.  With your scores though, they are suggestive of other issues going on.  Do you have baddies on your report?  What's your utilization?  Multiple things combined (inquiries being a very small one of them) could cause they to deny you when you app.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing negative on my report except with those inquries. I have a low utilization every month and pay my monthly statement on time each month.

[Anonymous]

Where are you getting your scores from?

It sounds like your credit history is very short?  Low AAoA/AoOA?  That is a major reason for denials, far more common than inquiries from what I've seen.

[HeavenOhio]

Given the TU/EQ combo, I'm betting on VantageScores from Credit Karma. Justin, once you have six months of history, you'll want to pull your FICO8s. I woudn't be surprised if they're above 700 as long as you're keeping your utilization in check.

[Anonymous]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

Given the TU/EQ combo, I'm betting on VantageScores from Credit Karma. Justin, once you have six months of history, you'll want to pull your FICO8s. I woudn't be surprised if they're above 700 as long as you're keeping your utilization in check.

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I agree.  That's sort of what I was getting at.  No way would the OPs FICO scores be in the 600's if his reports are clean and his utilization is very low, as we know people all the time report 700's with very young credit history.