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Old 10-16-2008, 07:50 AM
 
175 posts, read 1,482,749 times
Reputation: 176

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Hi Everyone- I am moving to another state. I have excellent credit HOWEVER...I am getting slammed with credit checks! One to rent an apartment, another from the phone company to start new service, another from real estate agent, and of course there will be more when I need to obtain a mortgage when I find a house to buy. I've heard that numerous credit checks can lower your credit score. Is this true? Are there any options to keep this from happening??
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Old 10-16-2008, 07:58 AM
 
Location: LEAVING CD
22,974 posts, read 26,897,065 times
Reputation: 15644
From myfico:
Not all credit inquiries count toward your FICO® score.
When you check your credit report, you may notice that a number of credit inquiries have been made, sometimes from businesses that you don’t know. But the only inquiries that count toward your FICO score are the ones that result from your applications for new credit.
Inquiries that count toward your FICO score.
There is only one type of credit inquiry that counts toward your FICO score. When you apply for a mortgage, auto loan or other credit, you authorize the lender to request a copy of your credit report. These types of inquiries, prompted by your own actions, appear on your credit report and are included in your FICO score.
Inquiries that don’t count toward your FICO score.
Your own credit report requests, credit checks made by businesses to offer you goods or services, or inquiries made by businesses with whom you already have a credit account do not count toward your FICO score. Credit checks by prospective employers also do not count. These types of inquiries may appear on your credit report, but they are not included in your FICO score.
Your FICO score is not affected when you check your credit.
Checking your credit reports regularly to be sure they are accurate and error-free is a good idea. In fact, maintaining accurate credit reports is a part of good credit management, which can help to improve your FICO scores over time.
You can order more than one of your credit reports with FICOscores right here at myFICO.com. Checking your score at myFICO does not count as an inquiry and will not hurt your FICO score.
How credit inquiries are factored into FICO scores.
There are five types of information used to calculate a FICO score at any given point in time. Each type of information counts as a percentage of a total FICO score:
Payment history = 35%
Amounts owed = 30%
Length of credit history = 15%
New credit = 10%
Types of credit in use = 10%

These percentages are based on the importance of the five categories for the general population. For particular groups, such as people with relatively short credit histories, the importance of the categories may differ.
Inquiries are a subset of the "new credit" category shown above, which accounts for 10% of the total FICO score. Their importance depends on the overall information in your credit report. For some people, a given factor may be more important than for someone else with a different credit history. In addition, as the information in your credit report changes, so does the importance of any factor in determining your score. What's important is the mix of information, which varies from person to person, and for any one person over time.
Inquiries may or may not affect your FICO score.
A FICO score takes into account only voluntary inquiries that result from your application for credit. The information about inquiries that can be factored into your FICO score includes:
Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account.
Number of recent credit inquiries.
Time since recent account opening(s), by type of account.
Time since credit inquiry(ies).
A FICO score does not take into account any involuntary inquiries made by businesses with whom you did not apply for credit, inquiries from employers, or your own requests to see your credit report.
For many people, one additional credit inquiry (voluntary and initiated by an application for credit) may not affect their FICO score at all. For most people, a credit inquiry will only decrease their FICO score by a few points.
Inquiries can have a greater impact, however, if you have few accounts or a short credit history. Large numbers of inquiries also mean greater risk: People with six inquiries or more on their credit reports are eight times more likely to declare bankruptcy than people with no inquiries on their reports.
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Old 10-16-2008, 08:02 AM
 
Location: New Jersey
1,181 posts, read 3,049,626 times
Reputation: 464
They don't ruin your score, but some do affect it.

There are 2 different kinds of credit checks.
(1) There are ones that pull all your detail and scores when you apply for credit. They do lower your score a little bit, but can drastically affect it if you go crazy and apply for a lot of credit all at once. There are rules however that don't let your score get affected drastically when inquiries for the same type of loan occur within a 14 day period to allow for rate shopping for a mortgage or car loan. These type of inquiries remain on your credit for 3 years.

(2) The other ones are pulled for background information on you. These are most likely the ones used by utility companies and such. These do not affect it at all. However, an insurance company pulled my credit once and it showed up as a full blown inquiry and I had to dispute it.

As with everything, you can dispute inquiries to have them removed off of your credit report. I have found that they are the easiest thing to have removed.
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Old 10-16-2008, 08:51 AM
 
Location: LEAVING CD
22,974 posts, read 26,897,065 times
Reputation: 15644
Quote:
Originally Posted by MommyV View Post
They don't ruin your score, but some do affect it.

There are 2 different kinds of credit checks.
(1) There are ones that pull all your detail and scores when you apply for credit. They do lower your score a little bit, but can drastically affect it if you go crazy and apply for a lot of credit all at once. There are rules however that don't let your score get affected drastically when inquiries for the same type of loan occur within a 14 day period to allow for rate shopping for a mortgage or car loan. These type of inquiries remain on your credit for 3 years.

(2) The other ones are pulled for background information on you. These are most likely the ones used by utility companies and such. These do not affect it at all. However, an insurance company pulled my credit once and it showed up as a full blown inquiry and I had to dispute it.

As with everything, you can dispute inquiries to have them removed off of your credit report. I have found that they are the easiest thing to have removed.
So what is different than was posted above from FICO?
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