Soft credit inquiries, which do not indicate a need for credit---such as an employer checking your credit or a preapproved credit card offer---never hurt your credit score no matter how many are on your record. Hard credit inquiries, ones you initiate, usually have a minimal affect on your credit score. An excessive amount of hard inquiries, however, have the potential to hurt your credit.
Identification
A single hard inquiry will not ding your credit score more than five points, according to NHACA Financial Investing. Hard inquiries ding your score because FICO score models show that needing to add any line of credit to your financial portfolio presents an increased risk of you defaulting on a loan.
Potential
The more lines of credit you open in a short period of time---usually less than a month---the greater hard inquiries hurt your score, according to the Fair Isaac Corporation. Statistics from the Fair Isaac Corporation show that opening six or more credit lines increases your risk of declaring bankruptcy eightfold. The rest of your credit history determines how much an inquiry or inquiries hurt your score.
Time Frame
Inquiries stay on your credit history for two years, but only affect your FICO credit score---the standard in the lending industry---for the first year on your credit profile, according to Bankrate.com. Alternative credit scoring models, such as the VantageScore, factor in hard inquiries whenever they are on your credit history.
Tip
Pulling a hard inquiry on your own credit profile will not lower your score, according to TransUnion's True Credit. If you plan to open a new account, put in all applications within two weeks---multiple inquiries for the same type of credit are beneficial because it looks like shopping for the best rate. A hard inquiry at the time as a negative mark, such as a late payment, compounds the impact of a hard inquiry.
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