Credit Inquiries and Scores

Anonymous · ‎03-08-2016

Just curious if there is a formula or rule of thumb on the number of inquiries and credit score. I know the obvious...don't get a hard pull unless you really, really need it. At the time of my discharge (1/12/16), I had 0 inquiries under 1 year. Since then, depending on the CR, I have 3 (Cap1, Barclaycard, and Verizon). In about a month and a half, I will have another one for Dish. The 1st two, naturally, were for cards for rebuilding. Verizon and Dish are more for savings/merging stuff with my wife. Through my company I get a 25% discount on verizon (which my wife has an account for her and her parents), so I took the hit to move over and it was time for a new phone. Dish is because we are trying to bundle with our isp for savings, but since the isp was in my name and dish in my wife's, it wouldn't work. To add me to the dish account, they were going to do a hard pull...so we decided if they are going to do that, we'll cancel and wait 60 days (Dish's policy) and I would apply for the service in my name (still get a hard pull, but then we'd get the new customer goodies).

jacetx · ‎03-08-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Just curious if there is a formula or rule of thumb on the number of inquiries and credit score. I know the obvious...don't get a hard pull unless you really, really need it. At the time of my discharge (1/12/16), I had 0 inquiries under 1 year. Since then, depending on the CR, I have 3 (Cap1, Barclaycard, and Verizon). In about a month and a half, I will have another one for Dish. The 1st two, naturally, were for cards for rebuilding. Verizon and Dish are more for savings/merging stuff with my wife. Through my company I get a 25% discount on verizon (which my wife has an account for her and her parents), so I took the hit to move over and it was time for a new phone. Dish is because we are trying to bundle with our isp for savings, but since the isp was in my name and dish in my wife's, it wouldn't work. To add me to the dish account, they were going to do a hard pull...so we decided if they are going to do that, we'll cancel and wait 60 days (Dish's policy) and I would apply for the service in my name (still get a hard pull, but then we'd get the new customer goodies).

Inquiries account for 10% of your FICO score. After the inquiry is 1 year old, it no longer factors in your score. The less inquiries you have the best.

Scupra · ‎03-08-2016

I think a lot of us worry about inquiries when we shouldn't. You don't have a lot nor are you near having a lot Enjoy

kobe2012 · ‎03-08-2016

I stopped caring about inquiries a long time ago.... I had at least 20 on my experian when i got my Amex blue cash and chase Marriott a few years back.. Chase was recon approved and Amex was 7-10 days then approved the next day... I also got Barclays with maybe 10 recent inquiries on Transunion... I think it's all about what's on ur report overall...

Starting Score: MYFICO 12/30/15 -TU: 481, EQ:561, EX:532 - BK7 DISCHARGED 12/2015 - Current: 09/01/2016 TU:642 EQ: 651 EX: 646
NFCU cashRewards:$6200 QS:$1500 Merrick:$1200 Cabelas:$1000 SonyVisa: $500 JCrew:$850 Overstock:$850 Express: $1050 PaypalCredit:$2150 NAVCHECK:$10K

Revelate · ‎03-08-2016

Not really.

I know on Beacon 5.0 I lost 7 points going from 2->3 inquiries; however, you don't take a loss for every single inquiry and I'm confident I don't take a drop going from 0->1 and I don't think going from 1->2 on that score.

They aren't really that damaging, there's significant diminishing returns (like going from 5-6 might be 3 points) and after something like 10 inquires there's no difference between that or 100 inquiries on a single report.

They really aren't worth worrying about, and unfortunately they're kind of hard to isolate since many of us app spree or otherwise don't have static reports. I might play games after I sort school financing out; however, inquiries are such a minor thing anyway and really should just be ignored. Only last a year which is a flash in the pan score wise.

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2016

It seems to me, that after a certain number of inquiries, it no longer will affect my score. Ex., there was NO change to my scores on Myfico.com from when I had 5 inquiries to my current 13. I wonder if it would drop more if, say, I had 25 inquiries..?

Revelate · ‎03-09-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
It seems to me, that after a certain number of inquiries, it no longer will affect my score. Ex., there was NO change to my scores on Myfico.com from when I had 5 inquiries to my current 13. I wonder if it would drop more if, say, I had 25 inquiries..?

It was certainly higher than 5 before in terms of breakpoints under FICO 04 from testing but I haven't seen anyone play with it on FICO 8, but there's going to be either minimal or no further loss going from 13 -> 25.

Were those all credit card or similar related inquiries on a single bureau within the past year?

Thomas_Thumb · ‎03-09-2016

@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
It seems to me, that after a certain number of inquiries, it no longer will affect my score. Ex., there was NO change to my scores on Myfico.com from when I had 5 inquiries to my current 13. I wonder if it would drop more if, say, I had 25 inquiries..?
It was certainly higher than 5 before in terms of breakpoints under FICO 04 from testing but I haven't seen anyone play with it on FICO 8, but there's going to be either minimal or no further loss going from 13 -> 25.

Were those all credit card or similar related inquiries on a single bureau within the past year?

I do know inquiries are binned (grouped) and if you stay in the same bin no score change. What are the bins ?- don't know for sure but my best guess (and this may be profile dependent) on a given CB report is:

Bin #1 = 0

Bin #2 = 1

Bin #3 = 2 to 3

Bin #4 = 4 to 5

Bin # 5 = 6 or more

Note: The above count are for independently classified inquiries. If you have 5 mortgage inquiries coded together that may show as 5 but count as one.

Additional Note: Not all hard inquiries count the same and they may be coded differently "behind the scene". I had an unauthorized hard inquiry show up on my EQ report from PenFed for a membership application. It had no impact on my EQ Fico 04 score - which usually punishes me for inquiries {I since had PenFed remove the inquiry]. Other posters have stated seeing no impact from credit union HPs - and are adament about that difference.

To the OP - Inquiries that are not associated with new credit (such as a change in phone carrier or a landlord inquiry) are coded so they don't impact score.

See below for related info I came across

Below from CK potentially - VantageScore inquiry bins

Fico 9: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 8: .......EQ 850 TU 850 EX 850
Fico 4 .....:. EQ 809 TU 823 EX 830 EX Fico 98: 842
Fico 8 BC:. EQ 892 TU 900 EX 900
Fico 8 AU:. EQ 887 TU 897 EX 899
Fico 4 BC:. EQ 826 TU 858, EX Fico 98 BC: 870
Fico 4 AU:. EQ 831 TU 872, EX Fico 98 AU: 861
VS 3.0:...... EQ 835 TU 835 EX 835
CBIS: ........EQ LN Auto 940 EQ LN Home 870 TU Auto 902 TU Home 950

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2016

Mine were all credit card, within the past few months. 13 Tu, 11 EQ ,10 Ex. It was very, very interesting to see what happened to my score with inq's and new accounts on a very clean report (The only things showing were a AU on a CAP One card with a perfect payment history, and about 30% util that I have been on for a year and a half, and a CapOne secured card with a small limit). I went from a 725 to a 712 on TU, 690 to 684 on EQ, and 716 to 709 on Ex. I added 9 accounts total, a mix of store and MC/Visa.

I want to buy a house in a year or so, and had NO established credit history. I figured this would be the easiest way - I have money in the bank, make good money, and have almost zero living expenses. I don't need the cards at all, but I will probably need to wualify for a mortgage in a year or so... No car loan, I paid cash for that.. We will see what happens with my scores in the next year...!

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2016

@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
It seems to me, that after a certain number of inquiries, it no longer will affect my score. Ex., there was NO change to my scores on Myfico.com from when I had 5 inquiries to my current 13. I wonder if it would drop more if, say, I had 25 inquiries..?
It was certainly higher than 5 before in terms of breakpoints under FICO 04 from testing but I haven't seen anyone play with it on FICO 8, but there's going to be either minimal or no further loss going from 13 -> 25.

Were those all credit card or similar related inquiries on a single bureau within the past year?
I do know inquiries are binned (grouped) and if you stay in the same bin no score change. What are the bins ?- don't know for sure but my best guess (and this may be profile dependent) on a given CB report is:

Bin #1 = 0
Bin #2 = 1
Bin #3 = 2 to 3
Bin #4 = 4 to 5
Bin # 5 = 6 or more

Note: The above count are for independently classified inquiries. If you have 5 mortgage inquiries coded together that may show as 5 but count as one.

See below for related info I came across

Below from CK potentially - VantageScore inquiry bins

OK. now that makes a LOT of sense, based on what I have seen with my profile...