At the end of March I opened three new cards (2 reporting since one is a business card). I fully expected to take some score damage for 3 inquiries (Chase also double pulled me), 2 new accounts and a bump in utilization from 0% to 4% (~34% on one card ...I loaded up ~$6500). I waited until today to pull my newest reports to account for the lag in card reporting and inquiry scoring (I didn't even know that was a thing).
The new accounts also dropped my AAoA to 7 years 4 months but to my surprise the FICO 8 score impacts were minimal and even positive:
EX: -3pts (770 to 767)
EQ: No change (766)
TU: +1pt (759 to 760)
@keekers wrote:At the end of March I opened three new cards (2 reporting since one is a business card). I fully expected to take some score damage for 3 inquiries (Chase also double pulled me), 2 new accounts and a bump in utilization from 0% to 4% (~34% on one card ...I loaded up ~$6500). I waited until today to pull my newest reports to account for the lag in card reporting and inquiry scoring (I didn't even know that was a thing).
The new accounts also dropped my AAoA to 7 years 4 months but to my surprise the FICO 8 score impacts were minimal and even positive:
EX: -3pts (770 to 767)
EQ: No change (766)
TU: +1pt (759 to 760)
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I too would have expected to see a little more damage 
Very nice.
Enjoy your new cards.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:I would have expected a 4-6 point hit for the CRAs receiving an inquiry if a bin was crossed. If the double hit was for the same card, it likely only counts as one.
The stated utilization change is a bit confusing. If you were truely zero (no cards with any balances) your score would be hit with a no recent revolving activity penalty 25-20 points is typical. If atleast 1 card had a small balance (say $5 or more), that penalty would not have been assessed.
An aggregate utilization of 4% is below any penalty threshold I am aware of. An individual card utilization above 29% can trigger a penalty but often does not. When I had an open mortgage, individual card utilization had to exceed 49% (54% for my data point) before seeing a UT specific score drop.
Swirching to a new accounts scorecard often results in a 15-20 point penalty. However, if you already had an account under 12 months then opening new ones won't affect score - no double jeopardy for new accounts.
Did you have an account under 12 months previously? On your prior score pull did you have any accounts with balances?
@Thomas_Thumb to clarify...I always have one card that reports a small balance but it rounds to 0% utilization. No new revolvers in almost two years but I did have a new loan opened last September.
@keekers wrote:
No new revolvers in almost two years but I did have a new loan opened last September.
You already had the big ding for a new account and inquiry in the past 12 months.
There isn't much of a ding for more new accounts, unless you go ham with it.
