There's no such thing as “too many” hard credit inquiries, but multiple applications for new credit accounts within a short time frame could point to a risky borrower. Rate shopping for a particular loan, however, may be treated as a single inquiry and have minimal impact on your creditworthiness.
Too eager for credit. A card issuer can decline your application if it believes you have too many inquiries or even too many credit cards already. That said, having multiple credit cards generally helps your credit utilization if you keep the balances low.
Since hard inquiries affect your credit score and what is found may even affect approval, you might be wondering: How many inquiries is too many? The answer differs from lender to lender, but most consider six total inquiries on a report at one time to be too many to gain approval for an additional credit card or loan.
However, multiple hard inquiries can deplete your score by as much as 10 points each time they happen. People with six or more recent hard inquiries are eight times as likely to file for bankruptcy than those with none. That's way more inquiries than most of us need to find a good deal on a car loan or credit card.
Inquiries can be seen by other lenders when they check your credit. Inquiries tell other lenders that you are thinking of taking on new debt. An inquiry typically has a small negative effect on your credit scores. Inquiries are a necessary part of applying for a mortgage, so you can't avoid them altogether.
In general, six or more hard inquiries are often seen as too many. Based on the data, this number corresponds to being eight times more likely than average to declare bankruptcy. This heightened credit risk can damage a person's credit options and lower one's credit score.
There's no such thing as “too many” hard credit inquiries, but multiple applications for new credit accounts within a short time frame could point to a risky borrower. Rate shopping for a particular loan, however, may be treated as a single inquiry and have minimal impact on your creditworthiness.
Credit scores can drop due to a variety of reasons, including late or missed payments, changes to your credit utilization rate, a change in your credit mix, closing older accounts (which may shorten your length of credit history overall), or applying for new credit accounts.
Too many credit inquiries on your credit report can make you appear riskier to lenders which can reduce your chances of getting approved for new credit. While different lenders may have varying criteria for what they deem as “too many,” you should try to keep the number of inquiries under six.
For many lenders, six inquiries are too many to be approved for a loan or bank card. Even if you have multiple hard inquiries on your report in a short period, you may not see negative consequences if you're shopping for a specific type of loan.
If you find an unauthorized or inaccurate hard inquiry, you can file a dispute letter and request that the bureau remove it from your report. The consumer credit bureaus must investigate dispute requests unless they determine your dispute is frivolous.
Bottom line. Generally, it's a good idea to wait about six months between credit card applications. Since applying for a new credit card will result in a slight reduction to your credit score, multiple inquiries could lead to a significantly decrease.
Hard inquiries are taken off your credit reports after two years. But your credit scores may only be affected for a year, and sometimes it might only be for a few months. Lenders may be concerned if you have too many hard inquiries on your credit report within a short period of time.
Large debt: You could be turned down if you have a high amount of existing debt even if you have an excellent credit score and no previous problems in repaying any of it.
One or two hard inquiries accrued during the normal course of applying for loans or credit cards can have an almost negligible effect on your credit. Lots of recent hard inquiries on your credit report, however, could elevate the level of risk you pose as a borrower and have a more noticeable impact on credit scores.
In most cases, it's one of the following: Your credit score is too low. You don't have enough income. You have too much debt relative to your income.
Disputing hard inquiries on your credit report involves working with the credit reporting agencies and possibly the creditor that made the inquiry. Hard inquiries can't be removed, however, unless they're the result of identity theft. Otherwise, they'll have to fall off naturally, which happens after two years.
How do hard inquiries impact your credit score? A hard credit inquiry could lower your credit score by as much as 10 points, though in many cases the damage probably won't be that significant. As FICO explains: “For most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO Scores.”
Missed bill payments, high credit utilization, bankruptcy, and a number of other factors can cause your credit score to drop.
It's possible that you could see your credit scores drop after fulfilling your payment obligations on a loan or credit card debt. Paying off debt might lower your credit scores if removing the debt affects certain factors like your credit mix, the length of your credit history or your credit utilization ratio.
Multiple hard inquiries in a short period could lead lenders and credit card issuers to consider you a higher-risk customer, as it suggests you may be short on cash or getting ready to rack up a lot of debt. So consider spreading out your credit card applications.
To get an inquiry removed within 24 hours, you need to physically call the companies that placed the inquiries on the telephone and demand their removal.
If your credit has been damaged in the past, you'll want to re-establish it slowly and carefully. You'll also want to avoid temptations that may have gotten you into trouble before. Even if you think you could get approved, wait at least six months between applications to make sure you won't get into trouble again.