Would 2 or 3 inquiries prevent a FICO score > 800?

[SouthJamaica]

I'm wondering, if a person had 2 or 3 hard inquiries a year, would that preclude him or her from being in the 800+ category?

[Thomas_Thumb]

You can't get to 850 with 2 or 3 inquiries but you can easily get to 800. Scores in the 840s have been reported with 2 inquiries.

Also, I can attest to maintaining 850 with one hard inquiry [it was related to a CLI - not a new account]

Edit add: If you are suggesting adding 2 or 3 hard inquiries each and every year [and they are related to new accounts] then reaching 800 may not be in the cards (pun intended). However, if you add a boatload of inquiries for a couple years and then garden for 5 years, then yes.

[Anonymous]

If you read some of the posts of the very high scores, a couple of inquiries currently showing will definitely keep you from 850, but over 800, NO. However if those 2 or 3 inquiries are resulting in new accounts (and by extension lowering your AAoA) it may. If you have a very deep thick file and the average age of accounts doesn't take too big of a hit then you may well stay at or over 800.

There are some people with multiple cards still active from the 60's and 70's which makes their AAoA relatively bulletproof. Others have far more newer accounts and no 40 year card history. These factors play a big role when you start get into the superhigh scores. 750-780 is realtively easy to achieve (look at me, AAoA <1 yr, never had a credit card til last May. Sitting around the 750 mark on all 3. But 800 is a very long way off because my AAoA is low, new mortgage so balance to loan proportion is high etc).

The obvious answer is.... it depends.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

You can't get to 850 with 2 or 3 inquiries but you can easily get to 800. Scores in the 840s have been reported with 2 inquiries.

Also, I can attest to maintaining 850 with one hard inquiry [it was related to a CLI - not a new account]

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Thanks for the good solid info

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you read some of the posts of the very high scores, a couple of inquiries currently showing will definitely keep you from 850, but over 800, NO. However if those 2 or 3 inquiries are resulting in new accounts (and by extension lowering your AAoA) it may. If you have a very deep thick file and the average age of accounts doesn't take too big of a hit then you may well stay at or over 800.

There are some people with multiple cards still active from the 60's and 70's which makes their AAoA relatively bulletproof. Others have far more newer accounts and no 40 year card history. These factors play a big role when you start get into the superhigh scores. 750-780 is realtively easy to achieve (look at me, AAoA <1 yr, never had a credit card til last May. Sitting around the 750 mark on all 3. But 800 is a very long way off because my AAoA is low, new mortgage so balance to loan proportion is high etc).

The obvious answer is.... it depends.

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Thank you. You've pretty well answered my question.

Basically for someone like me, who has an average age of accounts of 4 years or so, I can't expect to ever make it into the top echelons unless and until I'm willing to totally stop applying for new credit for at least a couple of years.

[BigBS]

I have added 3 new INQs on EQ, 1 new INQ on EX, and 2 new INQs on TU with a total of 7 new accounts this year and in Oct each credit score crested 800 where it remains today.  My AAoA has been above 8.5 years the entire time.

[SouthJamaica]

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@BigBS wrote:

I have added 3 new INQs on EQ, 1 new INQ on EX, and 2 new INQs on TU with a total of 7 new accounts this year and in Oct each credit score crested 800 where it remains today.  My AAoA has been above 8.5 years the entire time.

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Very interesting. I guess the AAofA is critical.

[BigBS]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@BigBS wrote:

I have added 3 new INQs on EQ, 1 new INQ on EX, and 2 new INQs on TU with a total of 7 new accounts this year and in Oct each credit score crested 800 where it remains today.  My AAoA has been above 8.5 years the entire time.

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Very interesting. I guess the AAofA is critical.

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Not sure if it helps, but for clarity scores are 803 EQ, 814 EX, and 801 TU.  Total INQs for each are 11 EQ, 10 EX, and 12 TU.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Thanks, good data.

My guess is max damage due to inquiries alone [e.g. isolated from impact on AAoA) does not exceed 30 points. Once you reach 10 inquiries with a CRA you are at a plateau - adding another 10 won't have any additional impact in and of itself

FYI - Data I have seen presented strongly suggests an AAoA of 8 years may be the minimum for "no points deduct" in that category.

[Anonymous]

I was able to get 

850 on EX with one

844 on EX with two

848 on EQ with one

840 on EQ with two

8+ years AAoA

831 on TU with two

826 on TU with three

7+ years AAoA