What's worse..inquiry or new account?

[Anonymous]

I ask because we opened a few new cards...usaa, discover and Walmart for me, chase and Walmart for hubby. Usaa and chase pulled EQ, the others pulled TU. we refinanced two vehicles on 10/16, opened the new cards the same night. They will be replacing our crappy AF cards. All the inquiries have hit, and so has the Walmart card (they're FAST!). Lost 2 points on EQ and gained about 14 on TU (fico is 668, lender TU is 650, so from the lender i lost 4pts).

how much of a nosedive can I expect once discover and usaa hit? My util is already low, so I don't think that'll make much difference...but does fico take my student loans into consideration?

[namvet]

Your scores will take a hit once the new cards start reporting.  The inquiry will do less harm than the new accounts.  Base on my past experiences my scores dropped around 30 points when the new cards reported.  My scores recovered within 6 months.  YMMV

[RobertEG]

The biggest factor might be change in your average age of accounts.

The new cards will enter at zero age, and be included in calculating your new AAoA.

If AAoA was high prior to addition, adding multiple news might have a significant impact.  Do the calculation.