Its not the inquries that lower a score, it's the new accounts. Yes on average a few points get knocked off. The main, more important problem with a lot of inquiries is the banks extending the credit all look at them in different ways. Yes some of us with 30 inquiries still can apply and get new accounts, but I have had credit cards since 1996. 10 recent inquries for someone with a long thick file may not be seen the same as a guy or gal 3rd year in college with only 4 tradelines. Additionally if someone applying is in the grey area ofd approval, high inquiries will make it a NO quicker that someone who hasnt applied for anything in a year or two.
They look for patterns. If you light up as an individual actively seeking credit everywhere, it looks bad. You can get HP from just asking for credit line increases, so inquries dont always tell the story that a brend new account, or a bunch of them does.
