Hard inquiries stay on your credit report for up to two years. However, they typically only affect your credit score for about one year. After that, while the inquiries remain visible to lenders for the full two-year period, they no longer impact your score
. The effect of a hard inquiry on your credit score is usually minor, often lowering it by fewer than five points, and this impact diminishes over time, usually disappearing within 12 months
. If you have multiple inquiries for the same type of loan (like mortgage, auto, or student loans) within a short window (14 to 45 days depending on the scoring model), they are typically counted as a single inquiry for scoring purposes, minimizing the impact on your credit score
. In summary:
- Hard inquiries remain on your credit report for 2 years.
- They affect your credit score for about 1 year.
- Multiple inquiries for the same loan type within a short period count as one inquiry.
- The score impact is usually small and temporary.
This means that after a year, the negative impact of a hard inquiry on your credit score should be negligible, though the inquiry itself will still be visible to lenders for another year
