Question on credit inquiries

[Anonymous]

I just applied for a credit line increase with one of my credit cards, which required a hard credit pull (since it was at my request, rather than offered).

So in regards to credit bureaus counting multiple hard credit pulls of the same type and during the same period as one inquiry, ala rate shopping when purchasing a car, my question is this: Would this also apply to credit inquiries for credit card line of credit increases?

Basically, now that I have the hard pull on file, I might as well apply for increases with my two other credit cards, since their inquiries won’t be considered distinct.

Can anyone comfirm this?

Thank you,

[Anonymous]

No, CLI inquiries count, and are looked at as, individual inquiries just like a CC application, you might be able to ask the issuer to use the same pull if the other 2 cards are from the same issuer depending on the issuer's policy, but if they're from different issuers, they might not even pull from the same CRA.

[Anonymous]

Ahh, gotcha. Thank you very much.

[Anonymous]

No problem

[Anonymous]

Auto loan inquiries are different because you're "rate shopping."  You may have 10 or 12 inquiries, but they will only result in the taking on of credit 1 time, so they get grouped together and scored as 1 inquiry.

If you apply for CLIs with 3 different CCCs, you're looking to take on [more] credit 3 times, so you'll receive 3 different inquiries that will be viewed independent of one another.

[Anonymous]

That’s a good explanation BBS. Thank you.

So let me ask you this. I actually called the card company to upgrade my existing card to a newer version which had a more appealing rewards program for a slightly higher annual fee. The CLI was something I applied for in addition to the upgrade. Moreover, I actually did them separately. The rep explained how the upgrade could be done online, so I chose to just do the CLI with him, and do the upgrade online myself.

So the CLI was done over the phone, requiring one inquiry. The card upgrade was done online, requiring another inquiry (as mentioned in a prior post, this was a hard inquiry, since I was requesting the upgrade rather than accepting an offer).

So in this case, I upgraded an existing account then increased its line of credit, but did so via a method which required two distinct CI’s in the same day. Can I rest easy believing this will still only count as one CI since it is for a single line of credit?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
That’s a good explanation BBS. Thank you.

So let me ask you this. I actually called the card company to upgrade my existing card to a newer version which had a more appealing rewards program for a slightly higher annual fee. The CLI was something I applied for in addition to the upgrade. Moreover, I actually did them separately. The rep explained how the upgrade could be done online, so I chose to just do the CLI with him, and do the upgrade online myself.

So the CLI was done over the phone, requiring one inquiry. The card upgrade was done online, requiring another inquiry (as mentioned in a prior post, this was a hard inquiry, since I was requesting the upgrade rather than accepting an offer).

So in this case, I upgraded an existing account then increased its line of credit, but did so via a method which required two distinct CI’s in the same day.  Can I rest easy believing this will still only count as one CI since it is for a single line of credit?

I think you are asking if this will count as only one inquiry for scoring impact.  I am not sure what it would mean to have two separate credit limits (CLs) in the same day, but if I replace CL with inquiry it makes senses.

Assuming you mean inquiry, the answer is No, you should not believe that.

BBS was explaining the logic of why the FICO developers never built in a "de-duping" piece for CC-related inquiries.  They did do this for auto, student and home loans,, because rate shopping is common there.

Every inquiry on your report counts separately, unless several are for a car, student, or home loan and are coded as such.  If those specific types of inquiries all occur in the same short time frame, then they are treated by FICO as one.  The only inquries for which this is true are those three kinds.  CC application, CC CLIs, Personal loans, etc. are not de-duped.

[Anonymous]

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@AnonymousSo let me ask you this. I actually called the card company to upgrade my existing card to a newer version which had a more appealing rewards program for a slightly higher annual fee. The CLI was something I applied for in addition to the upgrade. Moreover, I actually did them separately. The rep explained how the upgrade could be done online, so I chose to just do the CLI with him, and do the upgrade online myself.

So the CLI was done over the phone, requiring one inquiry. The card upgrade was done online, requiring another inquiry (as mentioned in a prior post, this was a hard inquiry, since I was requesting the upgrade rather than accepting an offer).

So in this case, I upgraded an existing account then increased its line of credit, but did so via a method which required two distinct CI’s in the same day. Can I rest easy believing this will still only count as one CI since it is for a single line of credit?

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I'm not really clear on why you'd receive 2 inquiries for the above, as you're only applying for credit 1 time; This should be 1 inquiry.  It sounds like you did a product change (PC) with one of your lines of credit.  As PC as far as I've ever know it does not result in a HP.  With a PC you aren't applying for new credit, you're just changing an existing credit line to a different product.  With a PC all of the account information like the date opened, account number, etc. remains the same, just the rewards structure and other card perks/benefits changes.  A PC is usually done to avoid a HP or addition of a new account when you have an existing one with a lender that you don't find a lot of value in.  This is a better option than closing down the existing account and opening a new one, which would result in a new account and new inquiry.

Maybe there are examples of a PC resulting in a HP, but from my experience they do not.  Your CLI request of course could very well result in a HP, but that's really lender-specific.  Some will hit you with one and others will honor a CLI request with just a SP.  It's always a best practice to ask before hand, that way you know in advance if you'll be expecting a new inquiry to show up. 

[AndySoCal]

Here is a link that covers the subject

https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-reports/credit-checks-and-inquiries

[Anonymous]

Sorry if my post was confusing. I’m new here and probably got a little carried away with the acronyms. :-)

To be clear, I have a chase Marriott premier card. I saw an article about the new chase Marriott premier Plus card, and called to apply. I decided to also ask for an increase on my credit limit while I was at it. The rep told me he could help me with both, but that I could apply for the premier plus card online.

So I ended up doing the credit limit increase over the phone with him, then applied for the premier Plus card online myself.

So as far as I’m aware, I didn’t apply for any “new” credit, just an increase to spending limit on an existing line.

To BBS’s point, yes, I believe it was a product change. Before I applied online, I did ask the rep some questions before doing so. He verified it be the same account and even stated my credit card number wouldn’t even change.

Regardless, it’s a moot point now that it’s done. I’ll wait a couple months then see what the outcome was when I run one of the free annual credit reports and post the result here.

Thanks for everyone’s advice.