Is 5 Inquiries in two year period too many?

[MountainHiker]

I'm curious to know how many inquiries are thought to be too many in the eyes of a potential creditor?

I have two recent inquiries in the last 10 months and two more that will be one year old as of november.A total of 5 all with Equifax.I have only two inquiries on both Experian and TransUnion for the last two years. What is the tipping point, how any inquiries when credit scores take a dive and creditors start to get nervous that a person might be apping too much?

[AZHeather]

I think that it really just varies on the lender.  What one might see as too many, another might think is no big deal.

[bichonmom]

That's not a lot of inq. IMO, when a CC uses that as a reason, there are probably other factors (like maybe util). However, I think when you start going over 5 to 7 in a year, that's a lot. Keep in mind that the inq are usually spread out over the 3 CRAs. So, if you have 5 inq on each CR, that's 15 total. That is a lot. Probably CCs take that into acct also; they know the CRA they check is just representative of the other 2.

Personally, I have tried to keep my inq as low as possible. I don't always have control over which CRA is going to be pulled. So, I treat each HP like a diamond. Recently Navy said that I could ask to lower my interest rate -- but it would likely be a HP. Since I always PIF anyway, I declined. It would be nice to have a lower rate, since my credit has improved since getting the card. But for me, it's just not worth the HP.

[MountainHiker]

Thanks for the input.Inquiries are like diamonds.Have to use them sparingly and only in a must have situation.This is something I never factored in when thinking about my credit.Now I'm mindful of the various effects that can impact my fico score.