I'm going to duck any further discussion of the merging issue which is really rather complicated and as noted by the poster just above doesn't really have much effect on your credit score for most anybody. If you want to know more there is a lot of info (some of it even correct) on the net.

The Illinois Attorney General's web sites says:

"How much do credit inquiries affect my credit score?
Typically, inquiries have a very small impact on your credit score. In a credit scoring model, there are other
stronger indicators of future payment performance, such as delinquencies and payment history, balances
owed, and the length of time you have used credit. Inquiries usually carry the most weight if you have a
limited credit history or if there are other existing issues such as late payments or high debt. Inquiries are
rarely, if ever, the only reason for poor credit scores or being declined for credit. You should, however, limit
the number of inquiries you authorize whenever possible.
Why do lenders and creditors even consider the number of inquiries on a report?
Inquires can be a good indicator of credit risk. Studies have shown that the more inquiries that appear on a
consumer’s file, the more likely it is that the consumer may not be able to pay his or her bills. Furthermore,
too many credit inquiries may indicate to a creditor that the consumer is “credit hungry” and may be in
financial trouble. Finally, and most significantly, the creditors may believe that many of the recent inquiries
have resulted in actual lines of credit that have not yet appeared on the consumer’s credit report, leading the
creditor to believe that the consumer’s debt-to-income ratio is much higher than actually reported." http://www.ag.state.il.us/consumers/..._inquiries.pdf

There is also a recent and interesting Consumer Federation of America study
http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/1217...port_Final.pdf