Will applying for Amex hurt my score?

[nickcredit]

I have worked very hard to imrove my score over the past 1.5 years with the help of this forum. Moving all 3 of my scores over 100 points. 

I have scores in the high 700's, zero debt and my youngest credit line is at least 5 years old with the oldest being 18 years old. I wish to apply for a AMEX platinum charge card. I'm worried the hard pull will hurt my score that I've been working on building up. 

Will applying hurt my score? If so, how much? How long will it hurt my score? 

[RobertEG]

Before worring about the impact of an inquiry, I would ask what are your plans within the next year or so?

If you are not planning to need your FICO score in the near future to qualify for needed credit, then the inquiry is kinda meaningless.  FICO wont score it after one year, so regardless of whether you obtain the AMEX, the inquiry will be short-lived.

New inquiries seem to impact those with higher scores more than those with lower.  If you are in the high 700's, you might take as much as a ten point hit, but who cares after a year?

If you want the card, I would not give the hard pull impact too much concern.

[nickcredit]

Interesting. I heard the hard pull would stay for two years. 

We are going to try to buy a house but it likely will not be for another year or so but DEFINATELY within 2 years. This is one of the reasons I'm worried about the pull. (if the pull stays for 2 years) 

[RobertEG]

The CRAs continue to include the inquiry in your CR for two years, but FICO excludes their scoring after one year.

It looses its risk predictive value, in their opinion, after a year.

I doubt that a single inquuiry in your CR that is over a year of age will give a pause to a future creditor.  Maybe if there were many, but not for one. For the same reason that FICO considers inquiries over a year of age to be non-predictive, I would expect a future credtior would view it the same way.

[llecs]

IMO, inquiry damage is overrated. As mentioned, your impact would be felt more with a higher score and being inquiry free. I think the most I ever lost was 6 points, but I also had no inquiries reporting. However, in the past, I've gone from 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 with no FICO change.

The ding comes from the new account. IME, I've lost anywhere from 15-25 points per new TL reporting. I've found that most of those points return within 6 months and the remainder by a year. Many report a score increase when those TLs hit exactly 1 year. YMMV based on how many new TLs report, changes in AAoA, and your overall credit.

[nickcredit]

I'm thinking about doing the following which is a little different than previously posted. 

I'm thinking when I apply to Amex that I will apply for the Delta Reserve CC AND the Platinum Charge at the same time. Is that possible to do? Will it show as one inquiry or two? Does anyone have experience with this?

I want amex for the rewards and essentially stop using my FIA CC and others and making these two Amex cards my "go to" cards.