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Hello all! I just got done with a mini-app spree to get any cards that I want, and am now going to garden so that I can get a good rate when I eventually go to apply for a mortgage loan.
To that end, my question is: I know inquiries are on your credit report for 2 years, but I have heard that they only affect your score for one year. On the other hand, I have heard people also say "Don't apply for credit cards if you're going to get a major loan in the next 2 years." Basically, should I plan on applying for a mortgage loan after a year or two years?
They are taken off your reports after two years. After 6 months, they have less of a impact on your approval chances for new credit. After one year, they really have no effect, unless you are dealing with a super picky lender.
The influence on your score is at the most in the first 6 months and when you get to the 12 month point the impact is non-existant. However, they still show up on your report for another 12 months (2 years total). While they may not impact your score from month 13-24 some lenders still consider the total number of inquiries when trying to decide whether to issue you credit.
Thus, it is recommended that you only apply for what credit you need and try to limit your inquiries if you intend to look for home/refi. When I refi in June I will have 5/7/5 inquiries on my reports (EX, EQ, TU). I'll be doing my refi with NFCU so I should be ok. I would had opened 8 new accounts in the past year. However, 2 of those are backdated to 1993, 2 will be a year old at time of refi, 3 will be 10 months old and 1 will be 8 months.