Are all hard inquiries equal?

[Anonymous]

So, I purchased my TU and EQ FICOs today here on myFico, and was scrolling thru the reports.  I don't have any hard inqs on either, but I did look at the Inquiries tab, and saw this:

"Inquiries associated with applying for new credit are typically the only kind of inquiry that will impact your FICO® score"

Does that mean that hard inqs generated when you apply to join a credit union (where no new credit is being issued, you usually are opening a 'share' account with your own money) don't count against your FICO?

[haulingthescoreup]

No, unfortunately. It's just saying that softs don't count against you.

Many entities are doing hards these days, when they don't really seem to be involved with credit. Apartment rentals, cell phones, CU membership, overdraft checking. They all have arguments of varying merit to justify pulling hards.

At any rate, a hard for an apartment rental app carries just as much weight as one for a CC.

If you have some cluttering up your report, and you're ever denied for new credit for "too many apps (or inqs)", ask for a manual review of your records, as opposed to a review by computer, and point out that these aren't traditional applications for credit.

[Anonymous]

I suppose that's what they mean, since you can get a ton of inquiries for credit apps, but never get approved for 'new credit',  and those still count