Daniel Rosen explains that hard credit inquiries are smoke, not fire. A high number of inquiries signals repeated denials, which stem from late payments, collections, and maxed-out cards. Fixing those underlying issues matters; the inquiries themselves don't cause denials.
Inquiries are smoke, not fire. Think about what a hard inquiry actually is. It's a record that somebody applied for credit. So when you see 15 inquiries, what you're really looking at is 15 applications. And why does somebody apply 15 times? Because they keep getting denied. And why do they keep getting denied? Because of the The late payments, the collections, the maxed-out cards, that stuff that's sitting further down the report. See, the lenders saw the same file that you're looking at. The inquiries didn't cause the denials. The denials caused the inquiries.
