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How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

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HomeBuyerSpring2021
New Contributor

How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

Can anyone say for certain that FICO only uses Hard Inquiries as part of your score calculation for 1 year (even though they appear on your report for 2 years)? And on a related note, I think it was my Equifax report that actually provides a specific date when each Hard Inquiry will be removed & while my credit card inquiries have 2 year dates, the credit pull from my landlord when I first applied has a 3 year date for removal. Does this inquiry still only factor into my FICO score for 1 year? Thanks in advance.

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Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

1 year - affirmative.
Message 2 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

From the Credit Education tab at the top of each forum page:

 

https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-scores/new-credit

 

An inquiry is when a lender makes a request for your credit report or score. Inquiries remain on your credit report for two years, although FICO® Scores only consider inquiries from the last 12 months.

Message 3 of 13
HomeBuyerSpring2021
New Contributor

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

In that case, is there a certain number of inquiries that FICO8 finds okay? If we're only looking at 1 year, then my Experian & Equifax each have 1 inquiry that will fall off in December & TransUnion has none. And in another category, I just posted where Chase took away $7,500 of an $8,500 credit limit (just days after Discover had given me an automatic $1,500 bump). But the Chase was my highest limit as I'm rebuilding & now Discover is my highest at $6,000, but I'd rather have another card with more than $1,000 that isn't a Discover. So in trying to be strategic about applications & inquiries, is there a range that FICO is happy with? Do you think I'll see a score improvement going from 1 to 0? Or a significant drop going from 0 to 1 or 2? Thanks in advance.

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Message 4 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

In most cases about 5 point differential with +/-3 point margin of error. That said, it's YMMV, I took 2 inquires on TU (only 2 scorable) in May and my score didn't drop either time, my scores stand currently at EX 829 TU 841 EQ 827 with only 2 scorable inquiries on TU and yet it has the highest score.
Message 5 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

The general wisdom is that a FICO model scores inquiries in brackets.  Nobody knows what those brackets might be for sure, but here is an example:

 

0-1 inquiries = No penalty

1-2 inquiries = 5 point penalty (roughly)

3-4 inquiries = additional 5 point penalty (roughly)

5-7 inquiries = additional 5 point penalty (roughly)

etc.

 

Different FICO models might have different brackets.  Even for a specific model different scorecards within that model might have different brackets.

Message 6 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

That said, 3-7-7-3-2 were my point gains when 5 of my inquiries on EX hit the 1 year mark on the day, unfortunately I didn't know enough to track point losses when they first hit.
Message 7 of 13
HomeBuyerSpring2021
New Contributor

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations

Thank you both. I have a couple other things happening in the next 2 months that may positively impact my score & right now 5 & 10 points might be meaningful to me in case I need to submit new rental applications for a new place to live. So I'm going go see how these couple things shake out then experiment with 1 inquiry at a time. I don't really need more available credit right now. I just feel vulnerable having my largest credit line being a Discover $6,000 & Chase just bashed me $7,500 (detailed on a different board here), so I'm trying to strategize.

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Message 8 of 13
pizza1
Community Leader
Super Contributor

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations


@Anonymous wrote:

The general wisdom is that a FICO model scores inquiries in brackets.  Nobody knows what those brackets might be for sure, but here is an example:

 

0-1 inquiries = No penalty

1-2 inquiries = 5 point penalty (roughly)

3-4 inquiries = additional 5 point penalty (roughly)

5-7 inquiries = additional 5 point penalty (roughly)

etc.

 

Different FICO models might have different brackets.  Even for a specific model different scorecards within that model might have different brackets.


Is there a Pizza1 bracket?  hehehehe

Message 9 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How Long Inquiries Really Count in FICO Calculations



In that case, is there a certain number of inquiries that FICO8 finds okay? If we're only looking at 1 year, then my Experian & Equifax each have 1 inquiry that will fall off in December & TransUnion has none.


It's important to understand that they don't fall off at the 1 year mark, but rather become unscoreable.  They will still be there and visible for you or any lender to see, they just no longer impact FICO scores past 365 days of age.

Message 10 of 13
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