New Credit and Inquiries: How New Accounts Affect Credit Scores
New credit is the smallest factor in most FICO scoring models, at roughly 10 percent. It reflects how many accounts a consumer has recently opened and how many hard inquiries appear on the reports. A single hard inquiry is usually a minor event; several new accounts in a short window are weighed more heavily.
This guide is general educational information for U.S. readers. It is not financial advice and does not describe your individual credit file. Figures such as score ranges and timeline estimates are typical examples, not promises.
Key takeaways
- FICO gives the new credit factor an approximate weight of 10 percent, the smallest of its five factors.
- VantageScore uses its own factor weighting and does not publish fixed percentages.
- A hard inquiry typically remains on a credit report for two years.
- The three nationwide credit reporting agencies are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
- A new account can register in the new credit factor at opening and later count toward length of credit history.
- Soft inquiries, including a consumer's own report or score checks, are not included in score calculations by the major models.
New credit is the smallest of the five factors in most FICO scoring models, with an approximate weight of 10 percent. It reflects two things: how many accounts a consumer has recently opened, and how many hard inquiries appear on a credit report. A single hard inquiry is usually a minor event in a score calculation, while several new accounts opened in a short window carry more weight.
What "New Credit" Means in a Scoring Model
New credit is not a single piece of data. It is a category that scoring models use to group related items: newly opened accounts, the age of those accounts, the number of hard inquiries, and the time since the most recent account opening or inquiry. The category exists because a cluster of applications can indicate that a consumer's borrowing needs have changed.
The same data point can appear in more than one factor, depending on when the model reads it. A newly opened credit card registers in new credit on the day it is opened. As it ages, it also becomes part of length of credit history, where it feeds the average age of accounts. The account itself does not change; only the window the model is looking at changes.
FICO assigns new credit an approximate weight of 10 percent. VantageScore uses its own factor weighting and does not publish fixed percentages, so the same inquiry can carry different weight in a VantageScore calculation than in a FICO calculation. Both are built from the same underlying credit report data.
The Five FICO Factors and Their Approximate Weights
| Factor | Approximate weight | Sample data points |
|---|---|---|
| Payment history | 35% | On-time and late payments, collections, bankruptcies |
| Amounts owed | 30% | Balances, credit utilization, installment balances |
| Length of credit history | 15% | Age of oldest account, average age of accounts |
| New credit | 10% | Hard inquiries, recently opened accounts, time since newest account |
| Credit mix | 10% | Combination of revolving and installment accounts |
Those weights are approximate and describe FICO models generally; they are not a formula a consumer can apply to one report, because a model reads the file as a whole. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes credit reports and scores in similar terms, as a picture assembled from many report items.
Hard Inquiries and Soft Inquiries Are Not the Same
An inquiry is a record that someone requested a credit report or a credit score. Inquiries fall into two groups, and only one of them is part of the new credit factor.
- Hard inquiries are generated by an application for credit. A credit card application, an auto loan application, a mortgage application, and a student loan application generally produce one. In some states, a rental application or a utility or insurance application can produce one as well.
- Soft inquiries are generated by everything else. Checking a report or score at a consumer reporting site, a preapproved credit offer, an employer or background check conducted with permission, and an existing lender's periodic account review are common examples.
Soft inquiries are not included in score calculations by the major scoring models. They can still appear in the inquiry section of a report, which is one reason a report may list many inquiries for a consumer who has applied for very little.
The Hard Inquiry Effect on a Credit Score
A hard inquiry is recorded as a new item inside the new credit factor. Because new credit is the smallest factor in FICO models, an inquiry is one data point among many, and its effect depends on the rest of the file. A long, varied, recently active file and a thin file with several recent applications are not starting from the same position when the same inquiry lands.
Scoring models also treat a group of inquiries differently from a scattered set. Many models group inquiries that relate to a single type of loan, such as an auto loan or a mortgage, when they occur within a short shopping period, and count the group once. The treatment varies by model and version, so two lenders pulling scores on the same day can see different results from the same set of inquiries.
A hard inquiry typically remains on a credit report for two years. Reports and scores are not the same record: the inquiry line stays visible for roughly that full period, while the period a scoring model considers it is shorter.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, is the federal law that governs what a credit reporting agency may include on a report. It was enacted in 1970 and amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act in 2003. The current text, 15 U.S.C. section 1681, is published by the Legal Information Institute.
How Long Items Stay on a Credit Report
| Item | Typical time on report |
|---|---|
| Hard inquiry | 2 years |
| Late payment | 7 years |
| Chapter 13 bankruptcy | 7 years |
| Chapter 7 bankruptcy | 10 years |
Most negative information, including late payments, stays on a credit report for seven years. That horizon is longer than the two years a hard inquiry is reported, which is one reason payment history and amounts owed carry more weight than new credit in FICO models.
How New Accounts Affect a Credit Score
How new accounts affect a credit score depends on which factor a model is reading at that moment. A new account enters the file in the new credit factor, then moves into length of credit history as it ages, and it can also shift the credit mix factor if the file did not previously contain that type of account. Those areas are covered in the guides on length of credit history and credit utilization.
A new revolving account also changes the amounts owed factor, because it adds both a credit limit and a balance to the file. The relationship between balances and limits is one of the largest inputs in most scoring models. A guide to how credit scores are calculated covers how the factors combine.
Checking Your Own Credit Does Not Create a Hard Inquiry
Under the FCRA, consumers have a right to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — every 12 months, and the three agencies currently provide free reports weekly through AnnualCreditReport.com. Requests made through that service are consumer-initiated and are treated as soft inquiries.
Monitoring services and score-checking tools work the same way. Reviewing a report and a score regularly creates a record of soft inquiries rather than hard ones. The pages on checking your credit and credit monitoring describe how those records are organized.
Disputes are a separate process from inquiries. Under the FCRA, a credit reporting agency generally must investigate a dispute within 30 days, and the period can extend to 45 days if the consumer provides additional information during the initial 30-day period. The credit reports hub covers what appears in each section of a report.
How New Credit and Credit Scores Fit Together
New credit is easiest to read as the smallest part of a larger picture. FICO models give payment history an approximate 35 percent weight and amounts owed an approximate 30 percent weight, so the two factors describing how existing obligations have been handled carry far more of the calculation than the factor describing new applications. The guides on payment history and credit score ranges cover those areas.
Score ranges are consistent across the major models: most credit scores, including FICO and VantageScore, use a range of 300 to 850. A comparison of the two models appears in the guide on FICO versus VantageScore, and the credit score hub collects the related pages.
This page is published for education only and is not financial advice.
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Frequently asked questions
Does a hard inquiry affect a credit score?
A hard inquiry is recorded inside the new credit factor, which carries an approximate 10 percent weight in FICO models. Because that is the smallest factor, a single inquiry is one data point among many, and how much it matters depends on the rest of the credit file — a long, active file and a thin file are not scored from the same starting position.
How long does a hard inquiry stay on a credit report?
A hard inquiry typically remains on a credit report for two years. The inquiry line stays visible on the report for that period, while the period a scoring model considers it is shorter.
Do multiple inquiries count as one inquiry?
Many scoring models group inquiries that relate to a single type of loan, such as an auto loan or a mortgage, when they occur within a short shopping period, and count the group once. The treatment varies by model and version, so two lenders pulling scores on the same day can see different results from the same set of inquiries.
Does checking my own credit report or score affect my score?
No. Consumer-initiated requests, including reports obtained through AnnualCreditReport.com and score checks at monitoring services, are treated as soft inquiries, and soft inquiries are not included in score calculations by the major scoring models. They may still be listed in the inquiry section of a report.
What percentage of a FICO score is new credit?
FICO gives new credit an approximate weight of 10 percent, the smallest of its five factors. Payment history is approximately 35 percent, amounts owed approximately 30 percent, and length of credit history and credit mix approximately 15 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Does VantageScore weight new credit the same way?
VantageScore uses its own factor weighting and does not publish fixed percentages. The same inquiry can therefore carry different weight in a VantageScore calculation than in a FICO calculation, even though both are built from the same credit report data.
Related guides
- How Credit Scores Are Calculated
- Length Of Credit History Explained
- Fico Vs Vantagescore
- Credit Utilization Explained