Inquiries drop from 4 to 3 --> EX FICO 8 +7

[keekers]

I opened a new card yesterday, which moved my scoreable inquiries on EX from 4 to 5 resulting in a 5 point drop. Looking at what's changed from the report the day before I opened the card the only thing that changed was the additional inquiry.

[SouthJamaica]

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@keekers wrote:
I opened a new card yesterday, which moved my scoreable inquiries on EX from 4 to 5 resulting in a 5 point drop. Looking at what's changed from the report the day before I opened the card the only thing that changed was the additional inquiry.

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Thanks for the data point.

Interestingly it contradicts @Thomas_Thumb 's hypothesis that 4 and 5 are in the same bin.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Yes, it contradicts others who have stated no score change in that QTY transition.

Inquiry tracking and proper reporting is a mess. As we know inquiries can be deduped so multiple inquiries over a 45 day time span count as 1 for scoring. It depends on how they are coded. Furthermore, the old Fico 98 and Fico 04 models used for mortgages use 14 or 15 days for Dedupe.

As we also know, impact of a new inquiry (or deduped group) on score can be delayed up to 30 days due to the buffer. That again depends on how the inquiry is coded.

Therefore, reported data will always conflict. I'd hesitate to establish a rule or discount one based on the latest data point presented.

My understanding is hard inquiries associated with CC applications or CLIs are not deduped or delayed in impacting score once reported. If it were me, I'd limit a binning analysis to accounts with only those types of inquiries.

Are opening CU memberships subject to a 30 day scoring delay or Dedupe? What about personal loans or student loans? We know mortgages and auto loans are deduped. I think they are type specific (meaning mortgage HPs are deduped seperate from auto HPs). However, I'm not 100% sure.

All I know is a unauthorized HP I had for a PenFed membership application cost me points. My recollection was the drop may have been delayed a month. My HPs associated with CLIs were not delayed. For me going from 0 to 1 cost points as did going from 1 to 2.

Aging of inquiries past 12 months is a bit more straight forward as a 30 delay on score is not a factor. Unfortunately, deduping may complicate analysis as well as effective start date for aging such a group. First you have to identify the group and count it as one. Then would the 12 month start date for the group be based on the oldest or most recent HP date in the group? Posters typically report inquiries individually without regard to dedupe.

[Patient957]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

My understanding is hard inquiries associated with CC applications or CLIs are not deduped or delayed in impacting score once reported. If it were me, I'd limit a binning analysis to accounts with only those types of inquiries.

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So a few days ago, I decided to purchase my TU 1B report from MF.  There are 3 inquiries on this report, all three for credit card apps:

3/27/2024  Ally, approved

2/26/2024 USB, denied

12/2/2023 Synch, approved

But when I look at the "Insights" section for my Fico 8 score, under "Amount of New Credit" it says:

"Number of recent Inquiries, 

Your applications for credit in the past year:

2"

So from this I'm thinking that perhaps the USB and Ally inquiries were deduped for Fico 8 scoring, even though they are both credit card apps.

Just to confuse matters even more. 

[Thomas_Thumb]

That's a possibility. If they are deduped, that's a good reason for adopting mini spree strategies for CC apps. A frequent applier could help assess the CC HP dedupe hypothesis.

*I do know there was a poster in the CC forum with over 60 HPs on a single cra.  Fico scores were low to mid 700s. The OP was past a HP saturation QTY on all CRAs. 

I wonder how dedupe would work if you have 52 CC HPs in a year each spaced 7 days apart? Where would 1 dedupe group end and another begin?

* The OP in a thread titled "Credit Inquiries" dated 5/11/17 states having the following QTY of hard inquiries on file: EQ122, EX 98 and TU 36. Perhaps 40%-50% in the most recent 12 months. When probed, the poster stated new HPs were having no effect on score.

I contend saturation point is 10 scoreable HPs. That means count for saturation point could be higher if some are deduped. Unfortunately, that OP has joined the ranks of Anonymous. Actual Fico scores were mentioned in other threads.

[SouthJamaica]

Update:

Unsurprisingly, the EX FICO 8 points which I had gained as inquiries dropped from 3 to 0, have now been lost as my inquiries rose back up from 0 to 3, and each time the number of points lost matched exactly with the number of points gained.

From zero to 1....    -3

From 1 to 2...            -3

From 2 to 3...           -7

[FicoMike0]

Good data.

[Patient957]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

Oddly it appears that it was very close in time that 2 inquiries dropped to 1 on all 3 bureaus, so here is the result in the respective FICO 8 scores:

EX +3

EQ +8

TU +5

This also fully confirms that 2 hard inquiries is a threshold.

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Today my EX scorable inquiries dropped from 2 to 1 on a clean profile.

EX8 +3  (790 --> 793)

Edit to add:

BTW, I'm expecting an inquiry from Amex to appear on EX any day now, taking me back up to 2 scorable, so I should be losing these 3 points soon.  I will update if/when this happens.

[Saleen099]

Following.