topic Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive? in Credit Card Applications

Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 09:01:09 GMT

Hi all, wondering if anyone can offer any insight on this, as Discover is a card I have my eyes on.

Let me preface this whole thing by saying that I am perfectly content to wait/let things age. But sometimes, for s--ts and giggles, I like to check for pre-approvals. The denial reason on my pre-approval request from Discover lately has consistently been 'number of recent inquiries'. Now, when talking inquiry-sensitive lenders, Discover isn't the first one that comes to mind. But, I also know that my profile is still very much in the improving stages, so they may be more sensitive to the number of inquiries on my report vs someone with higher scores.

Currently, I have 15 (!) inquiries on EX, with 7 inquiries from 2021 that are slated to drop over the course of this year (4 from a car loan in April, 1 in May, 1 in July, and 1 in August), 1 that is more than 6 months old and less than 12 months old, and 7 that are between 0-6 months. Again, as I said up-thread, more than happy to wait it out and not looking to apply right this second, as I am aware that 15 inquiries is a lot. Just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has had similar or contradictory experiences. Anything besides it being profile dependent (which is the conclusion I came to)?

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

JoeRockhead — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 12:26:21 GMT

@laurenjessica wrote:
Hi all, wondering if anyone can offer any insight on this, as Discover is a card I have my eyes on.

Let me preface this whole thing by saying that I am perfectly content to wait/let things age. But sometimes, for s--ts and giggles, I like to check for pre-approvals. The denial reason on my pre-approval request from Discover lately has consistently been 'number of recent inquiries'. Now, when talking inquiry-sensitive lenders, Discover isn't the first one that comes to mind. But, I also know that my profile is still very much in the improving stages, so they may be more sensitive to the number of inquiries on my report vs someone with higher scores.

Currently, I have 15 (!) inquiries on EX, with 7 inquiries from 2021 that are slated to drop over the course of this year (4 from a car loan in April, 1 in May, 1 in July, and 1 in August), 1 that is more than 6 months old and less than 12 months old, and 7 that are between 0-6 months. Again, as I said up-thread, more than happy to wait it out and not looking to apply right this second, as I am aware that 15 inquiries is a lot. Just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has had similar or contradictory experiences. Anything besides it being profile dependent (which is the conclusion I came to)?

Virtually every lender (especially prime lenders) has an internal threshold pertaining to what they deem excessive, or too many. For FICO scoring, only what you have in the last 12 months is calculated in your scores. For you, I'd say the 7 within the last 6 months combined with the very recent spree of new accounts is what is holding you back currently with Disco, as they see it as risky behaviour...

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

Yasselife — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 12:31:51 GMT

How many new accounts in the last 6 months? @laurenjessica

In my opinion all lenders have been inquiries/new accounts sensitive lol I started getting denials after #7 in a year.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

SUPERSQUID — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 12:34:19 GMT

@laurenjessica wrote:
Hi all, wondering if anyone can offer any insight on this, as Discover is a card I have my eyes on.

Let me preface this whole thing by saying that I am perfectly content to wait/let things age. But sometimes, for s--ts and giggles, I like to check for pre-approvals. The denial reason on my pre-approval request from Discover lately has consistently been 'number of recent inquiries'. Now, when talking inquiry-sensitive lenders, Discover isn't the first one that comes to mind. But, I also know that my profile is still very much in the improving stages, so they may be more sensitive to the number of inquiries on my report vs someone with higher scores.

Currently, I have 15 (!) inquiries on EX, with 7 inquiries from 2021 that are slated to drop over the course of this year (4 from a car loan in April, 1 in May, 1 in July, and 1 in August), 1 that is more than 6 months old and less than 12 months old, and 7 that are between 0-6 months. Again, as I said up-thread, more than happy to wait it out and not looking to apply right this second, as I am aware that 15 inquiries is a lot. Just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has had similar or contradictory experiences. Anything besides it being profile dependent (which is the conclusion I came to)?

Discover is a mystery on most things. In my case I had more inqs than you when I got my first Discover. keep managing your cards well and check the Discover prequal often, sooner or later your profile will improve or you will check one of the Discover mystery boxes.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 14:28:51 GMT

discover isnt historically inquiry/account sensitive. I speculate has more to do with current state of economy and charge offs and migating their losses. UW guidelines constantly change which a huge amount of conditions. Obviously depends on one profile where one can get away with it do to score or other factors while others can't this doesn't just apply ot discover either.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 19:06:13 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
@laurenjessica wrote:
Hi all, wondering if anyone can offer any insight on this, as Discover is a card I have my eyes on.

Let me preface this whole thing by saying that I am perfectly content to wait/let things age. But sometimes, for s--ts and giggles, I like to check for pre-approvals. The denial reason on my pre-approval request from Discover lately has consistently been 'number of recent inquiries'. Now, when talking inquiry-sensitive lenders, Discover isn't the first one that comes to mind. But, I also know that my profile is still very much in the improving stages, so they may be more sensitive to the number of inquiries on my report vs someone with higher scores.

Currently, I have 15 (!) inquiries on EX, with 7 inquiries from 2021 that are slated to drop over the course of this year (4 from a car loan in April, 1 in May, 1 in July, and 1 in August), 1 that is more than 6 months old and less than 12 months old, and 7 that are between 0-6 months. Again, as I said up-thread, more than happy to wait it out and not looking to apply right this second, as I am aware that 15 inquiries is a lot. Just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has had similar or contradictory experiences. Anything besides it being profile dependent (which is the conclusion I came to)?
Virtually every lender (especially prime lenders) has an internal threshold pertaining to what they deem excessive, or too many. For FICO scoring, only what you have in the last 12 months is calculated in your scores. For you, I'd say the 7 within the last 6 months combined with the very recent spree of new accounts is what is holding you back currently with Disco, as they see it as risky behaviour...

That makes sense and basically mirrors what I was thinking. As I said earlier, more than happy to wait this one out, just wanted to see if others had any insight, as it's not one of the usual reasons I see on Disco denials.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 19:10:40 GMT

@Yasselife wrote:
How many new accounts in the last 6 months? @laurenjessica
In my opinion all lenders have been inquiries/new accounts sensitive lol I started getting denials after #7 in a year.

4 in the last 6 months, which, given my profile, I totally understand them seeing as risky.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 19:13:10 GMT

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I think I was mostly shocked/happy that the only denial reason on the pre-qual was inquiries. That's an easy one to handle/wait out.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

Beefy1212 — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 02:44:30 GMT

That may have been the reason listed but I suspect it may have also been score, and whatever dropped you to that 533 score in the first place.

It is important to remember they are required to give you A reason, not THE reason(s).

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

Lou-natic — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 04:35:12 GMT

If you want a Disco card, sign up for a Discover account. They will let you know once you are eligable. I signed up years ago because they were giving out a FICO score and letting you see credit alerts for free. They still let me know at least once a week if not more that I can get one of their cards, pretty good terms too now days but alas, not really a card I want right at the moment.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 18:24:29 GMT

@Beefy1212 wrote:
That may have been the reason listed but I suspect it may have also been score, and whatever dropped you to that 533 score in the first place.

It is important to remember they are required to give you A reason, not THE reason(s).

High balances and unpaid charge offs, all of which have now been resolved. Believe me, I'm aware of how much history can hold you back with lenders. That's why I was shocked when the inquiries were the only thing listed in the pre-approval denial, because I'm used to it being (insert prior delinquency and/or other baddie here and maybe something about inquiries).

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 18:25:33 GMT

@Lou-natic wrote:
If you want a Disco card, sign up for a Discover account. They will let you know once you are eligable. I signed up years ago because they were giving out a FICO score and letting you see credit alerts for free. They still let me know at least once a week if not more that I can get one of their cards, pretty good terms too now days but alas, not really a card I want right at the moment.

That's a great idea! I didn't know they did that. Thank you!

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

butterpecan — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 06:01:47 GMT

@laurenjessica wrote:
@Lou-natic wrote:
If you want a Disco card, sign up for a Discover account. They will let you know once you are eligable. I signed up years ago because they were giving out a FICO score and letting you see credit alerts for free. They still let me know at least once a week if not more that I can get one of their cards, pretty good terms too now days but alas, not really a card I want right at the moment.
That's a great idea! I didn't know they did that. Thank you!

@laurenjessica I see you have the Discover card in your signature now, Congratulations! I was reading through this thread because I have been having a similiar issue with getting approved by them. My denial letter for prequal keeps coming back "too many newly opened" accounts. It doesn't state anything about inquires (but I only have 5/24 inquires). However, I have opened 5 new credit cards in the last 3 months. Prior to that I had absolutely zero credit cards open, two medical collections and a couple very small charge offs from almost 6 years ago which were not paid when I tried the prequal. They are paid now but I plan on waiting on applying again being I already know they obviously don't like several new accounts plus the 4 small baddies even though they are paid. I assume they would have other reasons but only listed the new accounts. Like it was mentioned upthread, they gave me a reasons, not all of the reasons. Good luck with yours I look forward one hopefully next year.

@Lou-natic I wondered if that would help by perhaps opening a checking account with them. They are having a SUB right now. I may look into it. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

wxman2021 — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 14:37:34 GMT

I also get the too recent accounts one as well. I have like 3-4 new accounts under 3 months...so, maybe by the end of the year?

Re: Discover-- inquiry sensitive?

laurenjessica — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 04:14:21 GMT

Honestly, who knows with Discover. I ended up not doing the pre-qual and taking a chance on a cold app. Applied for the student card since I just went back to school (and may have less strict underwriting requirements) and was approved. And at that point I had opened 7 cards within the prior 6 months.

Disco retains her mystery on how she operates lol.