Hard Inquiries
Any time you apply for credit, whether it’s for a personal loan, a car loan, a mortgage, or anything else – someone is checking your credit report. And more often than not, this is in the form of a hard inquiry. These inquiries show up on your credit report for 2 years, and they will directly lower your credit score. Even worse, having too many inquiries within a six month period will result in you getting denied on applications for loans and credit cards, etc. Usually anything over six or more hard inquiries within a single six month period will result in you being denied for credit.
Just how much are hard inquiries affecting my credit score?
The entities that perform the credit inquiry (auto dealer, bank, employer, etc.) have you sign an application, which includes your consent to have your credit pulled (a hard inquiry). Each one of these inquiries can take off anywhere from 3 to 7 points off your credit score, which can add up. For example, if you have 10 inquiries within the last two years, you are potentially losing out on 70 points from your credit score! Just imagine, if you had all of these inquiries removed then your score would skyrocket up by 70 points and you would suddenly get approved for loans and credit application that you were previously getting denied for. Even better, if you don’t have any derogatory items such as collections or bankruptcies, then you will get approved by virtually any online automatic application processors.