I just closed on my mortgage on Tuesday. The mortgage company I worked with had me write letters of explaination on every inquiry I had even though most of them were from mortgage companies pulling for pre approvals. I had gotten a new chase card a few months ago and had to explain that. They told me if I had had a balance on my new card that could have had an affect on my mortgage application but since I had not posted a balance on it since I had gotten it and my other card utilization was at 1% they would let it go.
My company went back 3 months from time of application on everything inquiries, accounts and bank statements.
Dpeezy has the right of it: determine your priorities and then go from there.
If Credit Card / CLOC > mortgage, I'd make the argument you shouldn't be applying for a mortgage period actually.
In any event, inquiries for absolutely certain on the FICO score trifecta count for the full year with no "aging" in terms of reducing their impact; as a result, you want as few inquiries as possible within the last 12 months if you're playing in the sub-gold-plated tiers... namely anything under a 760.
If you have 800 scores then it doesn't matter but for anyone under a 760 taking inquiries unless they're absolutely necessary in the year before a mortgage is a mistake. LOE policies to the contrary notwithstanding, LOE's fill check boxes, your score determines your initial rate with some modifications after that, but the score is the principal determination and inquiries are never ever a positive, nor is a reduction in AAOA.
