I cringed earlier this week when I realized I may not be getting the best deal on a mortgage that is in the works and wanted to let another lender be competitive; I've worked pretty diligently at getting my score up and didn't want the extra ding on my credit because it was almost a month after the last inquiry for mortgage and it wouldn't fall in the 2-week window. I've had 3 inquiries for mortgage as below:
4/23 - 1st inquiries on all 3
5/21 - 2nd inquiry on all 3
6/7 - 3rd inquiry on all 3
Neither of those inquiries fall into line with the 2 week window theory, however, there was not a score decrease to EQ FICO on either one. Each time, I received an alert with no score change, and no, there were no payment reporting updates for that might balance it out, either.
With this in mind, it seems the scoring is even complex within the realm of inquiries - the effect of inquiries looks to be a variable factor.
By the same token, the FAKOs took a hit of 1-2 points each time.
Just thought it'd be interesting to share... Midnight, no Cingular ranting please.

(LOL)