Events that COST You Points

[Anonymous]

To anyone who knows (and isn't just speculating):

I've heard several people suggest that applying for a credit card and getting rejected affects your score. I've even heard that viewing/printing your credit report costs you points because it's an inquiry. Others have said that when an employer or a retail store conducts a check, this will cost you points too. I'm wondering how significant these changes are, if the rumours are even true?

[fused]

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shneily007 wrote:

To anyone who knows (and isn't just speculating):

I've heard several people suggest that applying for a credit card and getting rejected affects your score. I've even heard that viewing/printing your credit report costs you points because it's an inquiry. Others have said that when an employer or a retail store conducts a check, this will cost you points too. I'm wondering how significant these changes are, if the rumours are even true?

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Hi! You can pull and print  your credit reports as much as you want and it will not affect your scores. Some people do see a drop in their scores when applying for credit. This is because of one new Hard inq (soft one's have no affect to scores) and a new account. Specifically this new account negatively affects one aspect of FICO scoring, the average-age of your accounts. So new accounts re-age your credit file and shorten the average-age of your accounts.

Their are others, usually with thin files who need new accounts and sometimes when they apply for new credit the hit is minimal. Some have even reported a boost in scores with a new account and 1 inq.

The affects on your scores really depend on where you are at score wise. Do you know all three of your FICO scores?

Employer credit checks are usually soft inqs and have no impact on your scores.

P.S. Have you read the credit scoring 101 thread?

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=2654

Message Edited by fused on 10-23-2007 03:33 PM

[RobertEG]

Want to see a definitive listing of each inquiry on your CR, and more importantly, whether it was a hard or soft pull,  and why?  Simple to do.  MyFico shows only hard pulls.  It does not provide all inquiries, but ALL those included in your full credit report can be viewed when you get your free EQ report from annualcreditreport.com, along with the prefix explaining the specific type of each individual inquiry.Only hard inquiries are provided by myFico, but the free report gives you all inquiries, hard and soft, and their specific type.   If you have not ordered this free (yes, really free which no hitches, as mandated by federal law) credit report in the last year, I urge you to get the full picture. There are seven types of inquiries. Simply compare your myFico report with the annualcreditreport.com full report, and you will see each inquiry, and can tell whether it was a hard pull (listed on your myFico EQ report)  or soft pull, which is shown only on your expanded annualcreditreoprt.com report.  Here are the exact definitions as provided on the EQ credit report obtained thru annualcreditreport.com:

PRM: Inquiries with this prefix indicate that your name and address were given to a credit grantor so they can provide you a firm offer of credit or insurance.(PRM inquiries remain for 12 months). 

AM or AR: Inquiries with these prefixes indicate a periodic review of your credit history by one of your creditors. (AM and AR inquiries remain for 12 months)

EMPL: Inquiries with this prefix indicate an employment inquiry.(EMPL inquiries remain for 24 months)

 PR: Inquiries with this prefix indicate that a creditor reviewed you account as part of a portfolio they are purchasing.(PR inquiries remain for 12 months)

Equifax or EFX: Inquiries with this prefix indicate Equifax’s activity in response to your contact with them for a copy of your credit file of a research request.

ND: Inquiries with this prefix are general inquiries that do not display to credit grantors.(ND inquiries remain for 24 months)

MR: Inquiries with this prefix indicate the reissue of a mortgage credit report containing information from your Equifax credit file to another company in connection with a mortgage loan. (ND MR inquiries remain for 24 months)

Important:  Note that "Remaining on your credit report does NOT mean that it affects your credit score unless it is a hard pull!!!!

Message Edited by RobertEG on 10-23-2007 09:46 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 10-23-2007 09:55 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 10-23-2007 09:59 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 10-23-2007 10:04 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 10-23-2007 10:14 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

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@fused wrote:
Their are others, usually with thin files who need new accounts and sometimes when they apply for new credit the hit is minimal. Some have even reported a boost in scores with a new account and 1 inq.

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This is probably where my 19-year-old is. She has a whopping two cards, USAA MC with $1000 limit and Gap with $500. Her reports also show a closed Discover card (acquired in one of those on-campus get-a-water-bottle app deals) and the original MC lost/ stolen, now closed. On the sims, app'ing for and receiving a new card with a $1K CL jumps her scores 40 - 60 points.

[anabelle]

I applied for a circuit city card about 6 months ago and that inquiry did not hurt my score, as I didn't have any inquiries for a year previous. My score actually went up by about 25 points because it created 6 grand in available credit. Then last month I applied for a Banana Republic card, thinking it wouldn't make a difference. Wrong. My score went down by 14 points due to having 2 inquiries in the past 6 months.