     Christine Baker (Admin) | Monday, April 17, 2000 - 10:47 pm 
The Fair Isaac response to my request for updates:
"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 and 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.) |
| Kristi Feathers (Kfeath) | Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 07:09 am
Very good explanation Christine. I too requested information from Fair Issac and only received a "call us for that info" reply. And, when I called, they had nothing to say except, we cannot release that info to consumers, as it is too confusing for them to understand! Like we are all too dumb. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 07:26 am
In Nov. 98 I was apparently quite persistent and got a contact. I promised not to give out his E-mail/direct phone # and I don't bug him a lot.
The question of how inquiries are counted comes up so much, and especially with all these recent articles publishing misinformation about the inquiry counts I thought it was time for an update and repost.
We don't know how MUCH the inquiries affect the Credit Scores because that depends on the overall credit data on the report.
All I know is that I was declined for too many inquiries myself and I have seen this reason many times with my clients' Scores. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 07:29 am
I forgot to add that often auto inquiries are NOT identified as such and subsequently are NOT ignored as such. |
| Lynn Whealer (Lynnwhealer) | Tuesday, April 18, 2000 - 09:31 am
The AUTO inquiries are a true problem. I financed an auto 18 months ago and also 8 months ago. BOTH times, I was shotgunned by 3 inquiries, and ALL THREE, each time were listed on my credit report as "UNSPECIFIED PURPOSE". So, how the hell can the score code ignore an inquiry or consolidate it, if it is NOT tagged properly.
On top of that, two of those inquiries were from Ford Motor Credit and GMAC....gee do you think they just MIGHT be auto-finance related!!?? After calling Experian and Equifax about this, they just swear that the vast majority of auto inquiries show up as "unspecified".
Now, here's the kicker: On the last car, I made them run it through Premier Auto Finance, which gave me a rate of 7.5%...while the BEST bank rates (wells fargo, Bank of America, as reported in the financial sections were a full point or more above that. Now get this! Because I quilified for a better rate and chose Premier, NOW a reason code on my report says "Number of Finance Company Accounts". So, JUST BECAUSE this company is identified as a finance company, I get dinged, EVEN THOUGH I got a better deal than from the BEST rates availoable from the ELITE-SHINY-DESIREABLE big name lenders. Gee....I WONDER if there is a connection between the size/strength/money of GMAC-FOMOCO-BofA, etc. and the "punishment" that is attendant from taking a better rate from another lender. It smells like yesterday's diaper. Just one more example of the consumer being shafted by the money-boys IN COLLUSION with the credit bureaus. Absolutely NO doubt of it. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Friday, April 21, 2000 - 02:03 pm
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 14:07:23 -0700
From: "Michael C. Shanahan"
"To: admin@bayhouse.com
Subject: Re: Credit: Inquiry Count for Fair Isaac Credit Scoring
Only if you learn to spell"
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I sent my "huh?" reply, but didn't get a response. What's with Michael Shanahan? Another moron or just dimwitted? |
