How Long Until Hard Inquiries Fall Off Your Credit Report?

Hard inquiries fall off your credit report two years after the date they were recorded, and they come off automatically without any action on your part. The bigger relief comes sooner: a hard inquiry stops affecting your FICO score after 12 months, and a single inquiry usually costs fewer than five points to begin with.¹²

The Two-Year Timeline

All three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—keep a hard inquiry on your report for up to two years from the date the lender pulled your credit.¹ Once that window closes, the inquiry disappears from your file on its own. You don’t need to call the bureau, write a letter, or ask the lender to take it off.

If you want to see exactly when an inquiry was recorded so you can count forward, you can pull your credit report from each bureau once a week for free through AnnualCreditReport.com, a program the bureaus have made permanent.³ Every hard inquiry shows the creditor’s name and the date of the pull, so the exact fall-off date is easy to calculate.

When the Inquiry Stops Hurting Your Score

The two-year figure is how long lenders can still see the inquiry. The scoring impact ends much earlier.

FICO scores only count hard inquiries from the previous 12 months.² After a year, the inquiry is still visible on your report, but it no longer pulls your FICO score down. VantageScore can factor inquiries in for the full 24 months, though the practical drag usually fades within a few months.¹

How much damage are we talking about? For most people, a single hard inquiry lowers a FICO score by fewer than five points.⁴ VantageScore models tend to deduct roughly five to ten points.¹ New credit activity, which includes inquiries, accounts for only about 10 percent of your overall score—far less than payment history or how much of your available credit you’re using.⁵ One inquiry, on its own, is not the reason a score moves noticeably.

Rate Shopping Counts as One Inquiry

If several hard inquiries showed up because you were comparing loan offers, they may not be hurting you as separate hits at all. Scoring models bundle multiple inquiries for the same type of installment loan into a single inquiry when they land inside a set window.

For FICO, older versions use a 14-day window and newer versions use 45 days. VantageScore uses a rolling 14-day window.⁶ The protection covers mortgages, auto loans, and student loans.

Credit card applications are the boundary case here. They do not qualify for rate shopping treatment, so every card application is its own hard inquiry regardless of timing. If you’re comparing card offers, look for issuers with prequalification tools, which use soft inquiries and leave no mark on your score.

Can You Get a Hard Inquiry Removed Early?

Only if it wasn’t authorized. Legitimate inquiries—the ones tied to applications you actually submitted—cannot be taken off early, even if you were denied or wish you hadn’t applied. They stay for the full two years.¹

If an inquiry appears from a company you never contacted, that’s different. Businesses can only pull your credit for a permissible purpose under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as evaluating a credit application, underwriting insurance, screening you for employment with your written permission, reviewing an existing account, or complying with a court order.⁷ An inquiry without a permissible purpose can be disputed.

You can file a dispute online through each bureau’s portal or by mail; certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of delivery. The bureau then has 30 days to investigate, with up to 15 more days if you submit new information during the review. If the creditor cannot confirm a permissible purpose, the bureau must delete the inquiry, and you’ll get written results within five business days of the investigation closing along with an updated report.⁸ Be specific about which inquiry you’re challenging and state clearly that you did not authorize it—vague disputes can be dismissed as frivolous.

If Unknown Inquiries Suggest Fraud

A hard inquiry you don’t recognize can be the first sign that someone is trying to open accounts in your name. Two federal tools address that risk.

A credit freeze blocks new access to your credit file entirely. While it’s active, no lender can pull your report, so no new account can be opened. You lift the freeze temporarily when you want to apply for credit, then put it back. Placing, lifting, and removing a freeze is free under federal law, and it stays in place until you take it off.⁹

A fraud alert is less restrictive. It tells lenders to verify your identity before opening any new account. An initial fraud alert lasts one year and can be renewed. If you have an FTC identity theft report or a police report, you can place an extended fraud alert that lasts seven years. You only need to contact one of the three bureaus for either type; that bureau is required to notify the other two.⁹

Some bureaus market credit locks as an app-based alternative to freezes. Locks are not guaranteed to be free under federal law and may carry monthly fees, so a freeze offers the same blocking effect at no cost.¹⁰

1
Experian. How Long Do Hard Inquiries Stay on Your Credit Report
2
myFICO. The Timing of Hard Credit Inquiries: When and Why They Matter
3
Consumer Advice – FTC. Free Credit Reports
4
myFICO. Does Checking Your Credit Score Lower It
5
myFICO. How Are FICO Scores Calculated
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Will Shopping for an Auto Loan Affect My Credit
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
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Consumer Advice – FTC. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts
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Consumer Advice. Free Credit Freezes Are Here