Too many inquiries - how long a negative?

[Anonymous]

I applied for a number of credit cards not realizing about fico scores. Now my score apparently went down, how long will this be for if I don't apply for anything else? And how long should I wait? One card I won't use, another I won't open that I was approved for... I guess it looks like I was desperately looking especially since I already had a 30k line with American Express and then the other card only gave me a pathetic $750 line. I run a business thus the high credit with American Express. Any way I can make this better?

[GFer]

Inquiries stay on your credit file for two years, but only count in scoring for a year. From what I've read here, you start gaining points back after the new accounts hit the 3-6 month mark. I actually started gaining points back after 2 months, albeit slowly.

[Anonymous]

The scores do tend to come back somewhat after 6 months, though this is not related to inquiries lessening in effect, this is due to age increasing and the "new credit" category being hit less. Inquiries are removed from scoring after 1 year and you get every point back from that hit at that time.

[Anonymous]

Bear in mind also that "too many inquiries," like most other negative factors, is all relative. The people who have to worry the most about inquiries are people with credit scores in the nosebleed section--775 or so and up. That's where every little thing counts and the system takes out a scanning electron microscope to find a "reason" to ding you. If you're a normal person with a more typical score--say 710--a couple inquiries aren't going to ding you more than 3 to 5 points.