A query about the hard inquiries on credit

[noelm]

I posted a question about GAP insurance yesterday and now I am asking about multiple hard inquiries on credit, as I am trying to shop around for better rate and duration.

Yesterday, when I was talking to a friend of mine. He suggested, I should extend my duration of auto loan (5 years, instead of 4 years) as I will probably earn more if I put the difference in IRA and/or in stock market. Its a gamble, I get it, but by extending a year on the auto payment, I am probably going to pay only $300 more (probably less, at 2% APR)
(This will also help me max out HSA account, which will be used for DS' Autism treatment next year.)

I asked the dealership to run the numbers again and I was suggested that it can produce multiple hard hits on my credit report, and some creditors do not look favorably to it. (Last hard credit inquiry was little over 2 years ago.) As I understand, all queries within a period of 14 days are considered as one query and do not ding the score as much (FWIW, my score is ~774, don't know which bureau, the local CU told me at the time of pre-approval on last Saturday).

What do the experts suggest? Should I ask him to run the numbers again or I better not? It may be difficult to be precise but in general, what should be done in such circumstances.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sesq]

Hard inquiries for car loans and mortgages get grouped. Not credit cards.

I sign up for CC by the boatload and routinely have more than 20 inquiries in the past 12 month on any given credit reporting agency. Inquiries is one of the lowest weighted factors. Unless you have a very young credit score or bad marks on your file inquiries don't matter. Frankly, as long as you pay your bills on time you shouldn't really give a hoot about it at all.

Check your file from time to time to watch for rogue collections (e.g. medical) is about all that is worth doing.