Is it possible to get my FICO score higher?

[JNesbit89]

I have a 750 FICO, which I am aware is pretty good. However, it's knocked down by something that irks me and I wanna know if I can fix it. 

I've always been told, and read, that when you are applying for a mortgage, "mortgage shopping" as it's called, that all those inquires with different lenders and banks to see if you're approved and for how much, that they would all count as one hit. One hit to your credit.

So you apply at Bank of America for a mortgage amount, as well as Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, etc. Potentially you look at 12 places to find the one with the best interest rates, grants, etc. Instead of being hit with 12 **bleep** hard inquiries, the system SHOULD classify it as one hit. Yet in the span of 5 days last year in the summer, I received 3 separate hard inquiries, each about the mortgage application. 2 were from the same place, 1 was a random bank. None of the others showed up because of the "collective" thing I mentioned before.

This has to be an error right? It should only be ONE hit. Unless there was a loophole, or perhaps a lender did some dumb method of inquiring my credit that didn't flag as being part of a mortgage search? What can I do? Can I dispute it?

Thanks bunches

[Anonymous]

I didn't think that each inquiry wouldn't show up on your credit report, but that in the calculation of your credit score it would only count as one inquiry. This is how it worked for me last year. I'd gone to three banks within a week. Each inquiry showed up on my report, but my score only took the hit of one hard pull, near as I can tell. 

[JNesbit89]

Ah, so it wouldn't be that all the inquires merged at some point as a "super" inquiry? **bleep**, if you weren't able to buy a house last year the inquiries should've died. Gonna be annoying having to take more hits this year!

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Every inquiry shows up. Deduplication and buffering keeps your score from taking a hit for each inquiry that's coded correctly during a specific time frame which can range from 14 - 45 days depending on the scoring model. In the end, all will still be visible for 2 years and affecting your scores for 1. You can typically recon an app denied for inquiries by explaining the situation. However, as systems become more and more automated, and lenders crack down on recon, you start to have situations like with cap1 and discover where the computer makes the decision and there's no way to get a reconsideration.

[Anonymous]

I will say, those preapprovals I got last February (2020) did lapse because of the pandemic as I'd stopped looking for a house. I had to get new preapprovals in May (2020) when I started looking again. My score held steady, maybe I lost just a few points, but nothing to sink me with my mortgage. I'd also had a hit in February (2020) for a balance transfer card, too, so the number of inquiries on my report was not ideal. The banks understood the preapproval situation. Eventually, there are actual people looking at your credit report and evaluating the situation reasonably. 

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@JNesbit89 wrote:

Ah, so it wouldn't be that all the inquires merged at some point as a "super" inquiry? **bleep**, if you weren't able to buy a house last year the inquiries should've died. Gonna be annoying having to take more hits this year!

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[GatorGuy]

As mentioned, all the inquiries show up but the SCORING algorithm counts them as one inquiry if they were made within a 30 day window.

However for the above to happen, each inquiry must be coded as a mortgage inquiry. You would be surprised how often they get coded incorrectly.

I mention scoring above because you may apply for credit and be denied for too many inquiries because their computer didn't recognize them all for a mortgage. Calling and asking for reconsideration should usually help after you explain they were all due to shopping a mortgage.

[JNesbit89]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Every inquiry shows up. Deduplication and buffering keeps your score from taking a hit for each inquiry that's coded correctly during a specific time frame which can range from 14 - 45 days depending on the scoring model. In the end, all will still be visible for 2 years and affecting your scores for 1. You can typically recon an app denied for inquiries by explaining the situation. However, as systems become more and more automated, and lenders crack down on recon, you start to have situations like with cap1 and discover where the computer makes the decision and there's no way to get a reconsideration.

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You mentioned it is/was possible to get an app reconned if It was denied due to too many inquiries? Here was my situation in mid 2020:

1. Applied at Citizens Bank (Inquiry was considered Real Estate?)

2. Applied at 1st Priority ( Inquiry was again considered Real Estate)

3. Applied at Bank of America (Inquiry considered Real Estate)

4. Citi Bank (This time inquiry considered Mortgage? (They were ALL mortgage applications beforehand, why is this different?)

Btw, I was approved for mortgage loans for all those banks.

5. Applied for a Citi Double Cash. Was rejected because "too many inquiries". I tried to get a second opinion using their phone system, but they said same thing. 

I then waited until 6 months later to apply again, and of course I got approved? Is it possible to recon or remove the first Citi Bank Credit Card app that was denied? The system should've seen that every single inquiry was for mortgages

[coldfusion]

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@JNesbit89 wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Every inquiry shows up. Deduplication and buffering keeps your score from taking a hit for each inquiry that's coded correctly during a specific time frame which can range from 14 - 45 days depending on the scoring model. In the end, all will still be visible for 2 years and affecting your scores for 1. You can typically recon an app denied for inquiries by explaining the situation. However, as systems become more and more automated, and lenders crack down on recon, you start to have situations like with cap1 and discover where the computer makes the decision and there's no way to get a reconsideration.

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You mentioned it is/was possible to get an app reconned if It was denied due to too many inquiries? Here was my situation in mid 2020:

1. Applied at Citizens Bank (Inquiry was considered Real Estate?)

2. Applied at 1st Priority ( Inquiry was again considered Real Estate)

3. Applied at Bank of America (Inquiry considered Real Estate)

4. Citi Bank (This time inquiry considered Mortgage? (They were ALL mortgage applications beforehand, why is this different?)

Btw, I was approved for mortgage loans for all those banks.

5. Applied for a Citi Double Cash. Was rejected because "too many inquiries". I tried to get a second opinion using their phone system, but they said same thing. 

I then waited until 6 months later to apply again, and of course I got approved? Is it possible to recon or remove the first Citi Bank Credit Card app that was denied? The system should've seen that every single inquiry was for mortgages

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It depends on the issuer as some of them (as previously mentioned) have no process in place to reconsider a denial, but yes it is possible to have a denial overturned upon reconsideration.

You did in fact apply for that Citi credit card so the inquiry you took was legitimate.   You cannot successfully dispute off legitimate inquiries.

Depending upon how soon it's been since that Citi denial it is possible to get a reconsideration (if more than 30 days ago forget about it) but you should expect that your request for consideration will trigger another inquiry.   If you don't want to do that you can try pleading your case to Citibank and ask that they withdraw the inquiry made when you applied, although the odds of their doing so are probably somewhere between infinitesimal and zero.

[JNesbit89]

Is there any non-dispute non-hostile way to contact Citi or Experian and explain the situation? I shouldn't have been denied the first time, because I didn't have too many inquiries, they were all supposed to be bundled as one mortgage Inquiry