Inquiry Dropped Score, Will it drop again?

MIKE091 · ‎09-10-2015

hello, pretty simple question. i have 4 inquiries on Experian for 2015(5 total), applied for a secured card through cap1 on august 3rd 2015, denied. applied yesterday, was approved. Score still dropped from Experian by 14 points(rebuilding anyway)

question: I want to apply for the CITI secured card too, as i understand it does graduate after 18mos. would anyone recommend this? or just take the cap1 card, and hold off on inquiries as it will further drop my score?? thank you in advance

Anonymous · ‎09-10-2015

Capital One pulls all three bureaus, and it seems you got hit twice. Ouch. BUT HEY, you got your foot in the door. Congrats!

Think of this:

With a low score and/or thin file, inquiries can make or break an acceptance. 2-5pts per Inquiry...on each bureau...times 3...do the math. That can make a 600 drop to 575. It takes a minimum of 6 months for them to lose their value, and after a year, they barely matter at all - depending on lender, some count the whole 2 years.

I see some say in rebuilding mode, screw the inquiry count, you're rebuilding and it will take a minimum of 2 years before good stuff starts rolling in on average. Assess and research what Citi Secured prefers for overall CS, research other secured cards as there are TONS NOW. NO, REALLY, there's alot out there, some that earn rewards, some with low downpayments - you've got one with Cap1 - some that, like Citi, graduate.

Besides Citi, I can't remember but there's some secured that graduate in as little as 12 months.

I look before I leap, so I preach that alot. I don't know much about Citi, please knowledgable forums...speak!

Anonymous · ‎09-12-2015

Inquiries simply do not hit that hard. 1-2 points is typical. Something else is at work here. Whats on your files?

Gunnar419 · ‎09-13-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
Inquiries simply do not hit that hard. 1-2 points is typical. Something else is at work here. Whats on your files?

Inqs can hit hard on a thin file. Five to ten points easily. 14 is conceivable, especially with a growing number of inqs on a thin file.

OP, it could be worth checking your CRs just to make sure nothing else is going on, but you may just need to garden for six months to ease the impact of the inqs you already have.