How many inquires is too many?

[Anonymous]

I am looking to apply for my first few credit cards and was wondering how many inquires is too many? They show for 2 years but only effect the score for 1 year. I have 2-3 inquires right now on my reports that are for student loans.

The reason why I ask is because I see a lot of people get declined for applications because of "too many inquires".

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

It depends on the lender. 

Unfortunatley it is impossible to say who will and who won't approve because all of our credit is different. Or as some say YMMV.

The only sure way to know in all honesty is to apply.

That being said I know Nordstrom hates INQ's with a passion and Crap 1 uses it as an excuse too.  

[oracles]

Pappy is definitely correct.

It all depends on the lender. Some lenders are more hateful of inqs than others.

Also it matters more how many inqs you have for the last 6-9 months than 2 years.

Most lenders care about how many inqs in the last 6-9 months.

Tell us of the card you are considering and we can give you some feedback.

Hope this helps

[score_building]

i agree with Pappy.  pentagon federal, for example, not only often shuns applicants w/ more than one or two recent inqs., they apparently consider any account under two years old 'new' and a potential cause for concern.

[Anonymous]

Craigh... Pappy, Oracles, and Sb are 3 of the sharpest people on this forum. If you follow their advise (I do), it's hard to go wrong. But speaking specifically, Citi declined me with a single 3 month old inquiry (and claimed it was due to too many recent inquiries), Amex Costco declined me with 2 and gave the same darn reason. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Chase and Discover approved me with around 8.

[Red1Blue]

I have 72 inq's on my EX and still managed to get 14 cards in the last 12 months.

[Anonymous]

Woah!

[mphan]

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@Red1Blue wrote:
I have 72 inq's on my EX and still managed to get 14 cards in the last 12 months.

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How do you get that? lol

[score_building]

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@Red1Blue wrote:
I have 72 inq's on my EX and still managed to get 14 cards in the last 12 months.

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yes, absolutely kudos to you!  however, in all fairness concord, at least imho, one is much more likely to be given flexibility with inqs if a lender feels your income in particular, and other factors under consideration allow for it. 

even you have recently reported denials for too many inqs if i'm not mistaken.  i'd hate to see a youngster reading your post go out there and try to accomplish what you have without any further insight into how it was possible for you.  in any case, you rock!!

[Red1Blue]

Quite honestly, I dont know how I did and why I did it. If I were to do it again, I am not sure if I would do the same again. I defyed the wisdom of all pundits and never took no for answer and went after what I want.

18 months ago I could not even rent an apartment while I am working on a project. That is when I said enough is enough and I have to take care of this. It has been very long rocky road. I am glad I am finally where I am now. Close to $150K in Credit Lines for Personal and $95K Credit Lines for Business.

Now I am in the credit gardening mode. I have no more desire to obtain new credit. May be Discover in a year or two to complete my card collection.

My advice to youngsters is save / save / save / save as much as you can instead of spending on the credit cards. Keep debt very low. Do not have more than 3-4 major cards, 3-4 store cards. Save at least 40% of income for the future. I learned very hardway in my life. I have 3 kids ready to goto college in the next few years and I rebuild my credit for the sake of the kids and in case if I need to help them by co-signing or getting them AU Cards.