     Christine Baker (Admin) | Wednesday, May 17, 2000 - 12:38 am 
5/2001: I just learned that the update below contained INCORRECT info: Inquiries incurred due to INSURANCE shopping will NOT lower your scores, they are ignored.
The Fair Isaac response to my request for updates in 4/2000:
"I can't think of any significant changes to the credit scoring process that have occurred since the change in inquiry treatment a couple of years ago."
Contacting Fair Isaac:
"Currently, the best way to contact us is through our website http://www.fairisaac.com/, click on "Contact Us," fill out the "Information Request," and you will receive a response either by email or by phone."
Counting Inquiries for the Fair Isaac FICO, Beacon and Emperica Credit Scores:
All 3 CRAs are now using the same program to calculate inquiries.
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:
Credit card, charge card, cell phone, bank loan, insurance 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 an insurance quote 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 insurance credit check 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 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.
I was also able to confirm that you will NOT improve your Scores by paying collections and charge offs. And it makes little difference whether you have one or more collections.
And of course, a collection last month lowers your Score much more than a collection 5 years ago (provided the correct date is reported on the credit report by the collection agency.) |
