Inquiries...

[x1West]

I recently obtained a new car, during the dealerships process of trying to get me a loan with my credit though it appears they shopped me around to about 20 different places. All of the inquiries are now showing up on my credit, a substaintial enough number that it's showing as one of the main factors effecting my credit score on MyFico:

You've recently been looking for credit.

Your applications for credit in the past year: 25 inquiries

About 72% of FICO High Achievers [?] did not apply for credit in the past year. Of those that did, about 20% applied for credit just once.

Each time you apply for credit a credit inquiry is added to your credit report. Your credit report shows recent credit inquiries, which indicates that you've recently been seeking credit. People who are actively seeking credit pose more of a risk to lenders than those who are not. Your FICO score was lowered due to the number of credit inquiries performed within the last 12 months. Your FICO score will consider these recent inquiries less as time passes, provided no new inquiries are added.

... is there anything I can do about it? would it be worth sending out some GW letters maybe asking them to remove some of them? I had no idea they'd do so many pulls, if I had I would have gone a different route, I've been working hard to get my credit back in shape, not have it all messed up again by something so minor. I've heard though that trying to have them taken off can sometimes hurt you more than it helps you. I don't know,

[Anonymous]

FICO claims that when shopping loans for auto or home that all the inquiries in about a 14 day period will be treated as one.  Now, I can't guarantee you that this is fully the truth because we can't pop the hood on FICO and see how they calculated the score.  But, this is what they tell us.

[Anonymous]

All inquiries will show on your report, but FICO should count them as 1 when scoring.

[BungalowMo]

I would go to the dealer with a printout of all these inq and demand an explanation. I wouldn't even expect that many while looking for a mortgage lender.

Let them know you may have expected 4 or 5, but this is excessive.  See if they will call these people & get a chunk of those removed.  They may have better luck as they do business with these folks all day long.  You may not have this luck as you didn't go with (all but one of) them for your loan.

BTW...you're not driving around with the dealer sticker or plate frame on your vehicle...right?  NEVER give anyone free advertising.  EVER.  

[Lel]

Do you know your FICO score before your started shopping for a car?  If so, how much did it change after all those credit inquiries and the addition of a new loan to your credit profile?

I would take the automated statement with a grain of salt.  Even though the FICO scoring model treats all inquiries within a certain timeframe as a single inquiry, the report that you get back doesn't differentiate between multiple inquiries in a single 14-day period or inquiries spread out over a few months.

Regardless of whether you had one inquiry and one new loan or 25 inquiries and one new loan, you're still going get a "negative factor" alert from myFICO that says that "you've recently been looking for credit."  This is a factor that I got consistently for a year after I opened a new credit card, and that was the only new account or inquiry on my record. 

Unless you have clear evidence that your score has taken a major beating due to these inquiries, then I don't think there's any point in trying to contest them.

[CreditKnight_850]

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@BungalowMo wrote:

I would go to the dealer with a printout of all these inq and demand an explanation. I wouldn't even expect that many while looking for a mortgage lender.

Let them know you may have expected 4 or 5, but this is excessive.  See if they will call these people & get a chunk of those removed.  They may have better luck as they do business with these folks all day long.  You may not have this luck as you didn't go with (all but one of) them for your loan.

BTW...you're not driving around with the dealer sticker or plate frame on your vehicle...right?  NEVER give anyone free advertising.  EVER.  

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I never thought about it from this point of view, and it make sense. Thanks for pointing that out. (off to removing frames from my car!)

Khawar. 

[Trishco]

Fico only counts them as one in the 14 day period IF they are coded correctly if memory serves correctly. 

Back in 2007, when I was looking at getting a new truck and the dealer shopped for financing, I ended up with something like 47 inquiries. Talk about devastation! 

The score took a huge nosedive.  

[Anonymous]

The problem is, that a lender who "pulls" your CR cannot delete the inquiry.  Only the CRA can do so, as they are ultimately responsible to "report' anyone who has obtained a copy of your report for ANY reason in the past 24 months as a consumer disclosure under FCRA.  The lender can't "take it back."

At best, the lender could code the inquiry as something to qualify as "soft" rather than hard similar to what utilities, insurance and others who pull in that manner.

Message Edited by txjohn on 05-07-2009 06:48 AM

[x1West]

Thanks for all your input. For some reason though the inquiries posted over the course of like a month and a half. I am STILL getting things in the mail saying "thanks for your recent car loan application... blah blah blah" the first inquiry posted on the day I applied for the loan (Feb. 22) and the last appears to have hit (Apr. 2) ... I have NO idea why they were so spread out, by it appears as though they dropped my score 17 points! which is rediculous. Is there anything I can do about this?? I had no idea they would apply me to so many places or that it would effect my credit score so much. I realize my ignorance is no ones fault but my own, but I've been working so hard at rebuilding, and 17 points might not seem like a lot, but in my position it is certainly a set back, and it just feels like an unnecessary one. I didn't miss a credit card payment or default on any of my responsibilities I just hate to see something so benign have such a severe effect.

[BungalowMo]

As mentioned, see about getting these hard inq recoded to be soft hits.

And get rid of those dealer stickers!