How Multiple Credit Card Applications Affect Your Credit Score
December 19, 2011  I have a lot of people ask me if their credit
score drops every time they apply for a new card. The answer is:
not by much. If it does drop, it will usually be just by a few
points (out of a total of 850, so not enough to make a big
difference).  The next question becomes: what happens if I apply
for several new credit cards at the same time? Here, it becomes
a little trickier. Generally, banks treat multiple credit
inquiries—that’s when a lender asks FICO for your credit score
when determining whether to extend you new lines of
credit—within a short period of time (my guess is it’s usually
just about 30 days) as a single credit inquiry. That’s certainly
true when a consumer is shopping around for auto, student or
mortgage loans.  Plus, only the inquiries that result from a
consumer seeking new credit count towards that consumer’s FICO
score.  Credit inquiries when it comes to applying for credit
cards are a different beast. In