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Just wondering if anyone knows how bad a hit it is to your credit if you apply for a card and are rejected. My credit score is 700 and my husband wants to apply for a retailer card to get equipment we need to buy for his business, just wondering how many points you get taken off your score if they reject you.
There's no "penalty" for a rejection per se. Any drop in points will come from the inquiry itself, but it depends on how many inquiries are already present from the past year. I would say that if there aren't many recent inquires then you don't have much to worry about.
Thanks! Just out of curiosity, any idea what the hit is for the inquiry? I seem to remember it being only a couple of points.
It varies depending on the individual's credit profile as a whole. My last 3 inquiries on TU didn't result in a change in score at all! However, I think you are correct to expect a drop of a few points. Nothing more than that though.
Typically an inquiry will hit your file with a 3-5 point drop. But it will come back as it ages over the next year. It has fairly minimal impact as far as your FICO score goes. Where a lot of inquiries can become a problem is when the creditor you're applying with doesn't like them. Creditors that typically are touchy with INQs are Amex, Citibank, Chase, and Penfed. But there is so much that is looked at regarding an application for credit that it's hard to pinpoint what my trigger a decline. If it's something that your hubby needs I would give it a shot and not worry about the temporary point drop.
I have almost identical reports for EQ and TU... Except that, in EQ I have an inquiry for my most recent credit card. This credit line already shows in both credit reports, so they are *practically* the same... There is a 15 points difference!!
Don't get too scared, though. The reason for this is that, my first credit line dates back only 1.5 years. I guess the shorter your history, the bigger the hit you get from inquiries.