How long do hard inquiries stay on your credit report?

Several factors make up your credit scores—the three-digit numbers that tell lenders how likely you are to make your payments on time. One thing that can affect your credit score is a hard inquiry. Also known as a hard pull, a hard inquiry happens when a lender pulls your credit to assess your creditworthiness. 

Learn more about hard inquiries, how long they stay on your credit report and how they can affect your credit.

What you’ll learn: 

• A hard inquiry can stay on your credit reports for up to two years, but some credit-scoring models only consider inquiries from the most recent 12 months.

• Lenders perform hard inquiries when you apply for loans or other major lines of credit.

• The impact of a hard inquiry may depend on your credit history.

When you apply for a new credit card, a home loan or another line of credit, the potential lender will request information about your credit history. This action is called a hard inquiry, and you’ll typically see it appear on one or more of your credit reports.

Generally, you’ll see two types of inquiries on your credit reports: soft inquiries and hard inquiries. Soft inquiries happen when you do things like check your own credit score or see whether you’re pre-approved for a new line of credit. 

Soft inquiries show up on your credit reports. But they don’t appear to lenders and don’t affect your credit scores. Hard inquiries are different because they’re visible in your reports to lenders and can affect your credit scores.

Hard inquiries fall off your credit reports after two years. But your credit scores may only be affected by them for a year, according to credit-scoring company FICO®. 

However, a potential lender may be looking at your credit reports a bit differently. “If you apply for a lot of credit over a short period of time, it may appear to lenders that you are dealing with financial setbacks,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says.

Hard inquiries make up about 10% of your total FICO credit scores and 11% of VantageScore credit scores.

A single hard inquiry typically only causes credit scores to drop by about five points, according to FICO. And if you have a good credit history, the impact may be even less. However, multiple hard inquiries in a short period can have a larger impact on your credit and signal financial distress.

Hard inquiries can stay on your credit reports for up to two years. But FICO says its scores consider only inquiries from the most recent 12 months. That means your FICO credit scores may not change after hard inquiries fall off your credit reports.

If you’re shopping around for a mortgage or car loan, it makes sense that you might be comparing rates with different lenders. Rate shopping within a certain time frame—generally 14 to 45 days, depending on the credit-scoring model—could be treated as a single hard inquiry. This could keep your score from dropping several times in quick succession.

If a hard inquiry is reported in error or the result of identity theft or fraud, you may be able to get it removed from your credit reports. You can learn more from the CFPB.

If you plan to apply for a loan or other credit soon, you may be looking for ways to improve your credit scores. Here are some strategies that could help:

The higher your credit scores, the less of an impact a hard inquiry might have. One way to improve your credit is by consistently paying your bills on time. Another is to keep your credit utilization ratio below 30%, like the CFPB recommends.

Monitoring your credit can help you spot and dispute any errors. You could keep up with your credit by reviewing your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus: TransUnion®, Experian® and Equifax®. You can also get free copies by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.

Using CreditWise from Capital One is another tool that can help. It lets you see your TransUnion credit report. Using CreditWise won’t hurt your credit scores, and it’s free for everyone, whether or not you’re a Capital One account holder.

Hard inquiries can remain on your credit reports for up to two years and temporarily lower your credit scores. But responsible credit use can help minimize any damage to your credit scores. By monitoring your credit, you’ll be better able to decide the right time to apply for a new credit card. You can even use the CreditWise Simulator to test how applying might affect your credit scores. 

Ready to explore credit card options? Capital One has cards for people at all credit levels. You can even see if you’re pre-approved without impacting your scores.