I recently found my credit score had dropped due to too many inquiries-does anybody know what the limit is?

Answer 1

Let me clarify something, because there is a lot of misconception out there. There are two types of "inquiries" soft pull and hard pull.

A soft pull is when a bank surface scans your report to send you promotional offers and other nonsense (pre-approval for loans, credit cards, insurance etc). These "soft pulls" of your report are not calculated into the math that comes up with your credit score

The other type of inquiry is called a "hard pull" or a true INQUIRY. This is when your entire report is pulled by an agency in order to determine whether or not to grant you credit. ie, applying for a car loan or looking to refinance your home. These HARD PULLS negatively affect your credit because they indicate that you are looking to aquire new debt. you are looking to take on an additional finacial burden (a new credit card, a car loan, etc.) If you have several pulls that are spread out over time with no NEW accounts being issued then it appears that you are frantically trying to obtain credit and because no one has granted you credit yet, that you may infact be a risk... this puts your score lower.

Your creditor score is nothing more than asessment of risk. It is a quick way for creditors to determine if they will get their money back from you.

Any time there is activity on your accounts it affects this number. You would be surprised to see how often your score will fluctuate... From month to month most people's scores with go up or down a few points.

One way to limit the damage of a HARD PULL inquiry is to do all of your searching in a 2 week timeframe. You can have 4 or 5 HARD PULLS in a 2 week period and it will only affect your score as if you had 1 HARD PULL.


I hope that clears things up. Oh, one more thing - you pulling your report, has ABSOLUTELY no affect on your credit score- it is a stupid myth like "cola dissolves steak."


For more information you can go to Fair Isaacs and Company (FICO as in FICO score)

Answer 2

I don't think that there's a limit. Maybe one or two inquiries aren't bad, but if you have a lot, it gives off the impression that you're applying all over the place and in an effort to keep you from over extending yourself, your credit score drops so that you won't be approved for everything.

Check the inquiries and if there are any that weren't initiated by you, then dispute them. Sometimes, credit companies make inquiries when they want to increase your limit and although these should have no impact on your score, mistakes can happen.

Answer 3

Every time your credit is pulled, you lose a few points off your score. Typically they say you shouldn't have it pulled more than 3 times in a month.
Here's a link that might be helpful.

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/repair/inqerase.shtml

My mother is a mortgage broker and she has also told me about the "15 days" of searching for a mortgage. She said the reason for this is because you are shopping around for the best deal, and credit companies understand that. If you're looking for a car to finance, you're not just going to take the first finance offer you get, you'll shop around a bit. To take this into consideration, they count it as just one "hit".

Answer 4

There isn't a so-called limit. Every hit will drop your score, so the more hits you have, the more your score drops. The only exception is mortgage lenders and auto loan companies that hit your report within a 15 day time frame. You can have 15 car companies look at your credit within 10 days of one another, and it only counts as one hit!

Answer 5

NEVER check your score more than 3 times in one year...

Answer 6

Each one will affect your score.

Dispute them using this sample inquiry dispute letter:

http://www.expert-credit-advice.com/Letters/Letter7.htm

Answer 7

usually you can can have 3 within 12 months without it affecting your credit. Also - KL (above) is very very wrong...I don't know where that info came from.