You're sitting there, hitting "submit" on a car loan application or maybe a new rewards card, and that little pang of anxiety hits. We've all felt it. You know your credit score is about to take a ding, but nobody ever really tells you when that mark actually disappears. People talk about credit like it’s this permanent permanent record, like a middle school detention that follows you to college. It isn’t.
So, how long do credit inquiries stay on report files exactly?
The short answer is two years. But honestly, that's a bit of a simplification because the way those inquiries affect you changes long before they actually vanish. It’s a game of two different clocks. One clock is for the lenders who look at your history, and the other clock is for the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) or VantageScore algorithms that actually calculate your three-digit number.
The Hard Truth About Hard Inquiries
Let’s get the terminology out of the way first. When you’re asking about how long these things stick around, you’re almost certainly talking about "hard" inquiries. A soft inquiry—like when you check your own score on an app or a landlord does a background check—doesn't hurt you. It’s invisible to lenders.
Hard inquiries happen when you officially ask for money.
According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit reporting agencies like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion can keep most negative information on your report for seven years, but inquiries are a different beast. They have a shorter shelf life. Specifically, they stay on your credit report for 24 months.
Think of it like a scar. For the first few months, it’s red and noticeable. After a year, you have to look closely to see it. After two years, it’s like it never happened.
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Most people panic when they see their score drop five points after a mortgage application. It feels personal. It feels like a penalty for trying to live your life. But from the perspective of a lender, a hard inquiry is a "risk signal." If you apply for ten credit cards in two weeks, the system assumes you’re in a financial tailspin and desperate for cash. That’s why the ding exists.
Why the One-Year Mark is Actually More Important
Here is the part most "finance gurus" gloss over: an inquiry stays on your report for two years, but it usually only impacts your FICO score for one year.
This is a massive distinction.
If you applied for a loan 14 months ago, that inquiry is still sitting there on your Experian file. A human loan officer could see it if they scrolled down far enough. However, the mathematical formula that spits out your 720 or 680 score is likely ignoring it. FICO specifically designs its models to prioritize recent behavior. They figure that if you applied for a card 13 months ago and haven't gone bankrupt since, that old inquiry isn't really a predictor of whether you'll pay your bills today.
It's basically dead weight for the second year. It's there, but it's ghosting.
Rate Shopping and the "Buffer" Period
Life isn't always one application at a time. Sometimes you're shopping. You want the best mortgage rate, so you talk to three different banks. If each one of those counted as a separate hard inquiry, your score would be in the trash before you even picked a house.
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The credit bureaus aren't totally heartless. They use something called "deduplication" or "inquiry rolling."
If you are shopping for an auto loan, a student loan, or a mortgage, the scoring models usually treat multiple inquiries as a single event—provided they happen within a specific window. For older FICO versions, that window is 14 days. For newer versions and VantageScore, you might have up to 45 days.
This means you can hit up five different lenders for a car loan in a single week, and your score will only take the hit of one inquiry. This is a huge relief for anyone trying to be smart with their interest rates. Just be careful: this "shopping" grace period doesn't usually apply to credit cards. Every time you apply for a new Visa or Amex, that’s almost always a distinct hit.
Can You Get Them Off Early?
You’ll see a lot of "credit repair" companies claiming they can scrub inquiries off your report for a fee. Be skeptical. Very skeptical.
The only way to legally remove a hard inquiry before the two-year mark is if it’s unauthorized or fraudulent. If you see an inquiry from a bank you’ve never heard of, someone might be trying to steal your identity. In that case, you absolutely should dispute it. You can do this for free through the bureau websites.
But if you actually applied for that Apple Card and got denied? That inquiry is staying put. There is no "secret trick" to deleting a legitimate inquiry. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably trying to sell you a PDF you don't need.
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The Real-World Impact on Your Wallet
How much does a hard inquiry actually cost you in points? Usually, it’s less than five. For most people with a decent credit history, it’s a temporary blip. If you have a "thin file" (not much credit history), the impact might be slightly higher because each piece of data carries more weight.
Wait.
Don't let the small point drop scare you away from necessary financial moves. If shopping around for a mortgage saves you 0.5% on your interest rate, that's worth a temporary 5-point drop. Over 30 years, that lower rate saves you tens of thousands of dollars. The 5 points will be back in a few months anyway.
Focus on the big wins: paying on time and keeping your balances low. Those make up 65% of your score. Inquiries? They're only about 10%. They are the garnish on the plate, not the steak.
Actionable Steps for Managing Your Report
If you’re worried about your inquiry count, stop guessing and start tracking.
- Audit your reports yearly: Use AnnualCreditReport.com to get your official files. Check the "Inquiries" section. If you see something from a company you didn't contact, freeze your credit immediately.
- Space out your "big" applications: If you know you're buying a house in six months, stop applying for retail store cards or "buy now, pay later" schemes that require a hard pull. You want your report to look "quiet" when the mortgage underwriter sees it.
- Use pre-approval tools: Many lenders now offer "soft pull" pre-approvals. They’ll tell you if you’re likely to be accepted without actually hitting your score. Always look for the words "will not affect your credit score" before clicking submit.
- Time your shopping: If you're car hunting, do all your dealership visits within a 14-day window to ensure the inquiries are bundled together.
- Be patient: If you’ve had a flurry of applications recently, just wait. Every month that passes makes those inquiries less relevant to the scoring model. By month 12, the damage is usually gone, and by month 24, the record itself vanishes.
Ultimately, credit inquiries are a natural part of a functioning financial life. They aren't "bad"—they're just footprints. As long as you aren't leaving footprints everywhere you go, the path stays clean. Keep your eyes on the long-term trends of your score rather than sweating the minor fluctuations of a single application.