topic Re: Question about hard credit inquiries in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Question about hard credit inquiries

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:19:24 GMT

Last year I began trying to raise my credit score by getting a few credit cards, using them and paying them off almost completely each month. WELL, I applied for too many and it lowered my score.

I have seen two different things, one saying hard inquiries come off within 2 years and one saying that FICO does not pay attention to them after 1 year. Which is the correct answer? And how much can I expect my credit to raise per drop off? I don't know how many I have, but it's a decent number. I went in to it kind of blind and was definitely stupid in not realizing it. I have raised my credit, but since I currently have 100% on time payments and no problems, I think as soon as the hard inquiries drop off, it should raise pretty well. *Hoping*

Thanks for any input!

Re: Question about hard credit inquiries

laz98 — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:31:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Last year I began trying to raise my credit score by getting a few credit cards, using them and paying them off almost completely each month. WELL, I applied for too many and it lowered my score.

I have seen two different things, one saying hard inquiries come off within 2 years and one saying that FICO does not pay attention to them after 1 year. Which is the correct answer? And how much can I expect my credit to raise per drop off? I don't know how many I have, but it's a decent number. I went in to it kind of blind and was definitely stupid in not realizing it. I have raised my credit, but since I currently have 100% on time payments and no problems, I think as soon as the hard inquiries drop off, it should raise pretty well. *Hoping*

Thanks for any input!

both are correct. they physically fall off of your reports after 2 years. they only count against your scores for 1, but are still visible on your reports.

i would not expect many points for inquiries falling off. i have read here that after about 6 or so you really are not getting dinged anymore, so you may not see any gains in your scores until you have less than that! but there's no way to know for sure until it happens

Re: Question about hard credit inquiries

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:34:06 GMT

Okay, thank you. :-) I'm planning to pay off the majority of my debt in the next few months as well so I am sure that will probably help the credit score as well. At least, I hope so! ;-) It definitely did ding it when I first started applying for (too) many so I was hoping it would do the opposite as they come off.

Re: Question about hard credit inquiries

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:32:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Okay, thank you. :-) I'm planning to pay off the majority of my debt in the next few months as well so I am sure that will probably help the credit score as well. Utility on revolving accounts is a large part of your FICO score. Depending on what your utility is now, and what you pay it down to, you can see some significant FICO increases.

At least, I hope so! ;-) It definitely did ding it when I first started applying for (too) many so I was hoping it would do the opposite as they come off. The inquiries may have cost you some FICO points, but there's also a FICO score impact when opening new accounts; and a FICO score impact from reducing your AAofA. It's highly likely that the inquiries themselves caused less damage than the new accounts.

Re: Question about hard credit inquiries

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:40:42 GMT

Okay, thanks so much. :-)

I just got my equifax score and two others. There's such a wide range of variances from credit karma, equifax and transunion. Which is the most accurate or do I just pick the middle ground of the three? ;-) Creditcarma was the worst and equifax was the best.

Re: Question about hard credit inquiries

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:46:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Okay, thanks so much. :-)

I just got my equifax score and two others. There's such a wide range of variances from credit karma, equifax and transunion. Which is the most accurate or do I just pick the middle ground of the three? ;-) Creditcarma was the worst and equifax was the best.

Creditcarumba is a FAKO score - best ignored in this situation. Equifax sells their own FAKO scores and FICO scores (which are very hard to find on their website) - if your score says FICO that's what it is - if it says Equifax credit score - it's a FAKO. TransUnion sells their own scores and FICO's - if it says FICO you're looking at the scores lenders see, if it says anything else, it's a FAKO.

You can purchase your FICO scores here. They come with a nifty report and a helpful FICO score simulator.

Here's some helpful info on FICO's and FAKO's.

Re: Question about hard credit inquiries

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:49:00 GMT

Okay, thank you again. I bought the equifax fico score through this site. So I'll just go by that one. I do plan to purchase the other here (transunion, I think it was?) next week unless they will be very similar in which case I may wait a few months once I get the rest of the debt paid down/off.