Inquiry increased score?

[RW771]

Hi everyone,

I received a SW alert back on 02/12/12 regarding an inquiry that was made (and a hard pull of my credit) for a security alarm system I had installed in my home (that they didn't mention anything about pulling my CR, much less a hard pull). Anyway, my score actually went UP 2 points? I kept thinking it would go back down after a few weeks but the last 2 SW alerts I've received had "no changes". I thought inquiries knocked off a few points? I know sometimes when you dispute items on your CR your score can increase, but never noticed an increase after an inquiry. Definitely not complaining, just confused!

[Jazzzy]

Your increase could have been due to something else. We get ScoreWatch alerts telling us that something has changed in our report....in your case, an inquiry.

It doesn't say that the increase or decrease in score is due to whatever change was reported. Could well have been something else that happened in the past couple of days/weeks.

[RW771]

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Score Watch® alert February 12, 2012

View details of other recent alerts:

2/12/20121/25/201212/29/201112/28/201112/9/201112/4/201111/6/201111/5/201110/29/201110/26/201110/19/201110/13/201110/11/201110/8/20119/15/2011

Alert:

Applying for new credit has added an inquiry to your credit report

Score Watch alert/Changes to your FICO® Score

Your FICO® score has gone up to 651 on February 12, 2012.

This is the only thing I have done since my home loan and 2 cards back in early December. I'm pretty sure it's due to the inquiry because nothing else happened during that time except the balance increased on one of my cards. 

[OhioCPA]

As Jazzzy stated, it likely was something else. It could simply be from the aging of the items in your report. Your other inquires, as well as all of your accounts have aged between the two SW alerts. Your score probably went up more than the 2 points from some other event which did not trigger a SW alert, then when the new inquiry hit your score dropped or stayed the same.

[pizzadude]

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@OhioCPA wrote:

As Jazzzy stated, it likely was something else. It could simply be from the aging of the items in your report. Your other inquires, as well as all of your accounts have aged between the two SW alerts. Your score probably went up more than the 2 points from some other event which did not trigger a SW alert, then when the new inquiry hit your score dropped or stayed the same.

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+1.  Either decreased utilization on your reports or increased age made your score go up.   Sorry, but inquiries can't increase your score, although I certainly wish they did. 

[llecs]

+2.

Something else caused the change. Don't assume that if you get an alert for one event, then that score change was a direct result of that event. There could have been a half-dozen things going on within your report that caused the change resulting in the net increase.

When I first subscribed, I got an alert for a 20 point increase due to an inquiry and thought that it was so. It was a baddie falling off that SW doesn't pick up on that caused the 20 gain.

[RW771]

Thank you for all of the replies! Sorry jazz, didn't realize how rude that came across on my response...I didn't mean for it to come across that way. I didn't think inquiries could increase your score but still can't figure out what else would have caused the change! Oh well, I'll take a 2 point score increase and an inquiry that didn't make an impact anyday!

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

+2.

Something else caused the change. Don't assume that if you get an alert for one event, then that score change was a direct result of that event. There could have been a half-dozen things going on within your report that caused the change resulting in the net increase.

When I first subscribed, I got an alert for a 20 point increase due to an inquiry and thought that it was so. It was a baddie falling off that SW doesn't pick up on that caused the 20 gain.

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+3

Whatever caused the increase, Congratulations, any increase, be it 2 points or 15 points is a good thing.

Congrats again.

[Tanafied]

Interesting...I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday. According to SW, my score went up after a 2+ increase from a hard pull. I'm trying to finance a house, trying to stay positive and praying ernestly, but I still think it's a little too soon.

[Duke-of-Earl]

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@RW771 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I received a SW alert back on 02/12/12 regarding an inquiry that was made (and a hard pull of my credit) for a security alarm system I had installed in my home (that they didn't mention anything about pulling my CR, much less a hard pull). Anyway, my score actually went UP 2 points? I kept thinking it would go back down after a few weeks but the last 2 SW alerts I've received had "no changes". I thought inquiries knocked off a few points? I know sometimes when you dispute items on your CR your score can increase, but never noticed an increase after an inquiry. Definitely not complaining, just confused!

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Commenting here only on the inquiry, not the change in your score.  I'm always sensitive to unwarranted INQs and wonder about your experience.  This was just for having the alarm system installed?  Or did you finance the cost of the installation, or sign up for a monitoring service to go with the alarm?