Hard inquiries on your credit — the kind that happen when you apply for a loan or credit card — can stay on your credit report for about 24 months. However, a hard inquiry typically won’t affect your credit score after 12 months.
What is a hard inquiry?
A hard inquiry, sometimes called a hard pull, is when a potential lender requests to check your credit as part of the application or approval process. Hard inquiries typically happen when you’re applying for a mortgage, credit card, auto loans or student loans. A single hard inquiry can drop your score by a few points and stay on your credit reports for two years, although the impact lessens over time.
On the other hand, a soft inquiry, or soft pull, has no impact on your score. Soft inquiries are the result of a few things, like when you check your own credit or when a lender takes a peek at your credit to see if you’d qualify for a new credit card. Some employers might even look at your credit as part of the application process.
» Ready to get started? Get your free credit score with NerdWallet
Earn up to $350 in rewards each year
With a Nerdwallet+ membership, it's easy to rack up rewards for the smart financial decisions you're already making.
How much does a hard inquiry affect your credit?
Applying for credit can knock a few points off your credit scores. For people with extensive credit histories, a single credit application — and hard inquiry — has no effect or a fairly minimal one.
If you're trying to build credit, every point counts, and pulling back on new applications for a few months should restore lost points.
Any credit score damage done by inquiries can be remedied with time. When you need credit, it’s a good idea to check to see if you are likely to qualify before you actually apply, because a hard inquiry will be recorded whether you are approved or not.
Particularly if you are taking out a mortgage, wait until after closing to apply for new credit.
FICO vs. VantageScore calculations
If you've lost points because you applied for alot of credit in a short time span, take heart. Credit applications are not a major factor in calculating your credit scores.
VantageScore describes recent credit behavior and inquiries as “less influential.” Applications for new credit account for 10% of FICO scores. But people who have short credit histories or few accounts may see a bigger change.
Exceptions if you're loan shopping
Making multiple inquiries in a short window of time counts as a single inquiry when you shop for a mortgage, student loan or auto loan. The amount of time you have to shop varies by the type of credit score. Newer versions of FICO scores typically give you a 45-day window for such inquiries. VantageScores have a shorter window for hard inquiries — 14 days.
You won’t get to choose the score or score version a lender uses, so it pays to do your comparison shopping quickly.
Space out credit applications to minimize impact
Multiple hard inquiries can put a serious dent in your credit, particularly if you are new to credit, and it’s an easy mistake to make. Take the following example: You’ve just rented an apartment, and the leasing agent checked your credit as part of the application process. Next, you apply for financing for furniture to fill your new space. Then you decide you want a card with travel rewards, so you apply for a couple of those. That could be four credit inquiries within a short period, and it could result in a lower score.
People with six or more recent inquiries are eight times as likely to file for bankruptcy as those with none, according to FICO. Scoring formulas reflect this reality.
How to remove a hard inquiry
Hard inquiries can't be removed from your credit report unless they are inaccurate. If that's the case, you can dispute a hard inquiry as you would any other error. In fact, when you review your credit reports, you should be on the lookout for hard inquiries that aren’t related to your recent financial behavior. These could be signs of identity theft and should be reported promptly.
If you can’t trace the reason for a hard inquiry or you believe it was done without your consent, you can dispute it online. If the credit bureau can’t confirm it as a legitimate inquiry, it’s required to remove it. Contact each credit bureau individually:
How to dispute your Equifax credit report
How to dispute your Experian credit report
How to dispute your TransUnion credit report
If you suspect fraud, you can have a fraud alert added to your credit reports, which flags applications in your name as requiring extra scrutiny. Alert any one credit reporting agency; it will share information with the other two.
Or, for the best protection, simply freeze your credit with all three bureaus to stop anyone from opening new credit in your name.
» Learn more: How to freeze your credit
How to boost your score after a hard inquiry
There are two important things you can do to offset the negative impact of a hard inquiry on your credit score during the following 12 months:
Paying your balances on time, every time. Try your best to pay the bill in full, too, to prevent debt and the accrual of costly interest.
Keep credit card balances no higher than 30% of your credit limit, and lower is better. Set alerts on your cards so you know when you’re approaching that threshold. Utilizing less of the credit available to you will keep your budget in check and build your score.
While there are other factors that impact your credit score, those two habits account for more than half of your total score.
Get more financial clarity with NerdWallet
Monitor your credit, track your spending and see all of your finances together in a single place.
