Question about inquiry buckets or brackets

[drmceo]

I have 11 inquiries on Experian within the past 12 months. I understand they only affect my score for the first year and they are starting to become a year old soon. My question is based on Credit karma there are 5 brackets concerning inquiries. 9+, 5-8, 3-4, 1-2 and 0. For those like me with files that arent so thick and every little thing counts so much, is this same bracket system relevant for fico scores? And if so what kinds of differences are there point wise going from barcket to bracket. Of the 11,  4 will be a year old within the next 2 weeks. then 3 more become a year old by mid december.

[Anonymous]

Inquiry value is variable based on a lot of things, so it is hard to say exactly what they cost you.

After 12 months, an inquiry no longer penalizes you in score for that inquiry (but some lenders may continue to consider it in their internal scoring measure).  But...after 6 months, an inquiry may hurt less as it ages between 6 and 12 months.

Amount of scorable inquiries is also difficult to know fully since even if you have inquiries less than 12 months old, their age may affect how much penalty they score as.

In addition, some types of inquiries (namely mortgages and auto loans) may merge into equalling just one inquiry if they're all pulled in the same time frame when you are shopping for credit.

So one person with 12 inquiries in 12 months may be penalized way more or way less than another person with 12 inquiries within 12 months.

Also you can note that one you exceed a certain number of inquiries, they stop mattering for FICO scoring purposes.  There's a "maximum penalty" for inquiries -- the "New Credit" portion of FICO scoring is about 10%, or call it 55 total points possible.  But "new credit" is more than just inquiries, it's also the penalty for new accounts.  So I guess you could say that having NO inquiries and NO new accounts can boost your score as much as 55 points from the month you had a brand new account and a lot of inquiries -- but most people do not get hit with the entire 55 point pummelling.

[DollyLama]

Just be cautious if in the next year or so if you are applying for a mortgage and car (possibly). Mortgages they will looking into credit inquiries the past 24 months, so even though they are no longer scoreable on FICO 8, it will be taken into consideration if underwriting a mortgage. I've often seen here to limit max 5 inq/24 months to not get dinged badly. 

[drmceo]

I am gardening for now and just trying to get sp cli on what I have. By the end of the year I will only have 3 on EX, 1 on EQ and 4 on TU less than a year old. 

[Anonymous]

The big thing to do is to manage credit properly and learn all of the FICO boosting tricks you can (see my 11 rules link in my signature to start).  If you have prime credit scores, inquiries don't matter whatsoever even for a mortgage or auto loan.  The folks I know in the 800s can have 3000 inquiries and still get a perfect mortgage rate, while the folks in the 600s can get taunted for having 6 inquiries.  Without knowing your FICO scores, it's impossible to know how inquiries may affect you -- but in general the fewer the inquiries, the better.

[marty56]

If the INQs come with a bunch of new accounts. This could your FICO score and possibly cause AA from other lenders.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also you can note that one you exceed a certain number of inquiries, they stop mattering for FICO scoring purposes.  There's a "maximum penalty" for inquiries -- the "New Credit" portion of FICO scoring is about 10%, or call it 55 total points possible.  But "new credit" is more than just inquiries, it's also the penalty for new accounts.  So I guess you could say that having NO inquiries and NO new accounts can boost your score as much as 55 points from the month you had a brand new account and a lot of inquiries -- but most people do not get hit with the entire 55 point pummelling.

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Hello ABCD!  Hope you had a good weekend.

Actually the impact of new accounts affects more than just the New Credit category.

It can affect the Amounts Owed (30%) category: e.g. if CC utilization goes down below a key breakpoint, or if number of $0 balance cards increases.

It also affects the Length of Credit History (15%) category.  Here's how FICO describes that category:

Your FICO Scores take into account:
•how long your credit accounts have been established, including the age of your oldest account, the age of your newest account and an average age of all your accounts
•how long specific credit accounts have been established
•how long it has been since you used certain accounts

A new account affects your age of newest account and your AAoA, which both belong to this Length of Credit History category.

On the other hand, the same resource also claims that that the age of newest account is part of the New Credit category.  Frustrating that it doesn't tell you which it is for sure.

What is certain is that AAoA is definitely part of the impact of opening a new account and that it is definitely in the Length of Credit History category.

http://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-your-credit-score/

[Anonymous]

Yep, I was merely focusing on the 10% "new credit" portion and not the others and of course FICO factors can be changed in multiple categories for the same reason.

I based my most more on this: http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/new-credit.aspx

It does reference AAoA but I wonder if AAoA affects "new credit" at all or if it affects other categories and not "new credit" 10%.

[Revelate]

No aging on FICO 04 models; not sure FICO 8 / 9 but I assume that holds as well.

Mortgage lenders don't generally look back at 24 months; 12 months affect scores, usually have to write a letter of explanation for any inquiry within 3-4 months.

That's about it though, the GSE's don't care, therefore the mortgage originators don't either (unless they're trying to encourage their customers to go elsewhere).