First of all what is an inquiry?

An inquiry is when you fill out a credit application to buy something on credit or get a credit card.

 

It is not an inquiry when you go online to take a look at your credit report and credit score to find out if something is wrong or what your score might be or why you got turned down for credit.

 

How much do you think or have you been told an inquiry will lower your score.
How much do you think or have you been told 3 or 4 inquiries will reduce your credit score.

 

I sell cars for a living and have been doing it for more than 15 years. One of the top statements I hear is I don't want you to pull my credit and kill my credit score. If you have your credit pulled one time your score might drop by 3 points max and in some cases will not drop at all. Now if we shotgun your deal because we are trying to just get you financed because your credit is bad or marginal your credit score might drop by 15 to 20 points depending on haw many creditors we shotgun your deal to. Most of the time a dealer will try 1 - 4 creditor and this will lower your score by 2 to 10 point max.

So my advice to all you how are worried and heavy laden over an inquiry to get over it.  

 

How Inquiries Affect Your Score

 

Inquiries on your credit report can indicate your risk as a borrower. Too many inquiries might mean that you’re taking on too much debt or that you’re in some kind of financial trouble and are looking for credit to help you out. Several inquiries can reduce your credit score.

 

Depending on how much information you have in your credit report, an additional inquiry might not affect your credit score at all. On the other hand, if you have a short credit history without a lot of accounts, an additional inquiry could cause your score to drop by a few points.

 

Credit report inquiries will remain on your report for two years, but only those made within the last year are included in your credit score calculation. The most recent inquiries have the most effect on your score

 

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What to know about "rate shopping.

Looking for a mortgage, auto or student loan may cause multiple lenders to request your credit report, even though you are only looking for one loan. To compensate for this, the score ignores mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So, if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won't affect your score while you're rate shopping. In addition, the score looks on your credit report for mortgage, auto, and student loan inquiries older than 30 days. If it finds some, it counts those inquiries that fall in a typical shopping period as just one inquiry when determining your score. For FICO scores calculated from older versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 14 day span. For FICO scores calculated from the newest versions of the scoring formula, this shopping period is any 45 day span. Each lender chooses which version of the FICO scoring formula it wants the credit reporting agency to use to calculate your FICO score.

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