Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ FICO score inquiry deduplication, For auto and mortgage inquiries

[Christine]

Counting Inquiries for the Fair Isaac FICO Credit Scores

As per Fair Isaac's Barry Paperno:

An inquiry buffer is in place and all AUTO and MORTGAGE inquiries within 30 days from Scoring are IGNORED.

De-duplication for inquiries prior to the 30 day buffer:

AUTO and MORTGAGE inquiries in any 14 day period count as one inquiry.

Important:

Only if the auto and mortgage inquiries are CODED as such will they be ignored or de-duped.

While Fair Isaac claims that they are always coded correctly, I found that this is not always true. Unfortunately the bureau consumer disclosures don't identify how inquiries are coded.

The PrivacyGuard report shows how the inquiries are coded - go for the $1 60 day trial.

1/31/04: Experian's CreditExpert reports now also provide the description with their otherwise incomplete reports.

Applications for credit cards, charge cards, cell phones, pagers, bank loans, apartments, employment, checking/savings accounts or ANY other credit inquiries that are NOT mortgage or auto related count separately and are NOT IGNORED.

Example:

Today your Experian Score is obtained, you had several EXPERIAN auto inquiries and mortgage inquiries within the last 30 days (one per week,) you got cell phone service 2 weeks ago, you opened a department store account and you got a new bank account requiring a credit check 3 weeks ago. (They all used Experian.)

So all the auto and mortgage inquiries in the last 30 days are ignored, but the cell phone credit check + the department store inquiry + the bank account application give you 3 inquiries in the last 30 days.

And then of course you have any previous inquiries, again with combined auto and mortgage inquiries for every 2 week period, going back 12 months from the scoring date.

However, a month later your Score is obtained again:

This time you have ** 2 ** ADDITIONAL inquiries, as the previously ignored auto credit checks under the 30 day buffer are now counted under the deduplication feature.

And if you had one of those inquiries on day one of the 30 day buffer, one inquiry on day 29 or 30, and the others strategically in between, you could get hit with an ADDITIONAL ** 3 ** inquiries. Now your score is most likely significantly lowered.

Inquiries that do NOT count:

Your own inquiries with the credit bureaus, account review inquiries by your existing creditors, insurance inquiries and inquiries for pre-approval not initiated by you. (The "pre-approved" credit offers you might get in the mail and never asked for.)

Inquiries prior to 12 months from the date the score was obtained are ignored (they usually show on your credit report for 2 years.)

Your MORTGAGE credit report lists only the inquiries in the previous 90 days. However, while not visible to you, the additional inquiries going back one full year ARE counted for scoring.

-- Update 1/06: Someone told me last year that the deduplication period is now a lot longer. However, I have not yet been able to confirm that.

[ed5119]

Christine....are you telling me that only the inquiries for the past ONE year are used in scoring??

[Christine]

Yes, the previous year from the date of the score.

[Christine]

Quite some time ago a broker told me that the inquiry buffer had been increased to 90 days, but I have been unable to verify this.

More on INQUIRIES and why you need to review your mortgage credit report