How Long Do Hard Inquiries Stay on Your Credit Report
Hard inquiries generally remain on a credit report for about two years from the date they are made. However, most credit scoring models consider only inquiries from the previous 12 months when calculating scores, so the scoring effect typically fades sooner than the record itself.
A hard inquiry, sometimes called a hard pull, is a record that a lender or creditor accessed a consumer's credit report in connection with an application for credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting companies must maintain accurate information about who requested a report and when. Hard inquiries generally stay on a credit report for about two years from the date of the inquiry. After that period, they are typically removed by the credit reporting company as part of its standard reporting cycle. The inquiry record includes the name of the requester, the date, and the type of inquiry.
Not every access to a credit report is a hard inquiry. Soft inquiries occur when a consumer checks their own report, when a lender reviews an existing account, when an employer or insurer requests a report for permitted purposes, or when a company obtains information for a preapproved offer. Soft inquiries are not shared with other lenders and generally do not appear on reports that lenders see. Hard inquiries, by contrast, are visible to lenders and are the type that credit scoring models may evaluate. The distinction matters because only hard inquiries are typically considered in scoring.
Credit scoring models such as FICO and VantageScore treat inquiries as a minor category. Most models look only at hard inquiries made in the previous 12 months. This means that while an inquiry remains on the report for about two years, its influence on a score is generally limited to the first year. In addition, scoring models often group multiple inquiries for a single type of loan—such as auto, mortgage, or student loans—that occur within a short shopping window, often 14 to 45 days, and count them as one inquiry. This rate-shopping treatment is designed to allow consumers to compare loan offers without multiple penalties.
The effect of a single hard inquiry on a credit score is usually small, and its weight varies by scoring model and the rest of the credit file. Multiple inquiries within a short period can have a larger effect, though the inquiry category remains one of the least influential factors in most models. Inquiries that result from unauthorized access or identity theft can be disputed with the credit reporting company, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act provides a process for correcting inaccurate information. Consumers can obtain free reports from the nationwide credit reporting companies through AnnualCreditReport.com to review inquiry entries.