What are inquiries and do they affect my personal credit score?
Inquiries are requests for your credit information, including consumer requests for a credit report, lenders using credit information to review an account or a potential employer reviewing a prospective employees credit history. Inquiries made for marketing purposes do not affect your credit rating. However, inquiries initiated by the consumer, such as mortgage, auto loan and credit card applications, do affect your credit score; studies have shown that too many such inquiries are a red flag for credit risk. Inquiries do not weigh as heavily as past payment history or number of delinquent accounts.
