• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

FinanceJar

FinanceJar

Take the next step on your journey

  • Credit Scores
    • Credit Score Range
  • Credit Repair
  • Credit Reports
    • Credit Inquiries
  • Credit Cards
    • Credit Card Reviews
  • Debt
    • Debt Collection
    • List of Collection Agencies
  • Loans

Home Credit Scores Hard Inquiries: How Many Points Do They Take Off Your Credit Score?

Hard Inquiries: How Many Points Do They Take Off Your Credit Score?

Elevator that symbolizes hard inquiry lowering your credit

At a glance

Hard inquiries have a small impact on your credit score. Read on to learn how much they affect your score and why you might struggle to get a loan if there are too many hard inquiries on your credit report.

Get My Credit Report Check My Credit Score

Instantly access your report and discover your credit score from all three credit bureaus.
Checking your score won't hurt your credit.

Written by Samuel Osbourne

Reviewed by Robert Jellison

Sep 13, 2021

Fresh advice you can trust

We promise to always deliver the best financial advice that we can. That's our first priority, and we take it seriously. Our writers and editors follow strict editorial standards and operate independently from our advertisers and affiliates. Learn more about how we make money.

Table of Contents

  1. How much does a hard inquiry affect your credit score?
  2. How many hard inquiries are too many?

How much does a hard inquiry affect your credit score?

Hard inquiries affect your credit score, but they’re one of the least important factors. In FICO’s scoring models, hard inquiries (also known as hard pulls) are only one component in the New Credit category, which itself only accounts for 10% of your credit score. Factors like your payment history (which accounts for 35% of your score) and your credit utilization (30%) are much more influential.

Your FICO score will generally drop by a maximum of five points per hard inquiry, although you might lose more points if you have a shorter credit history or fewer accounts. 1 2

Similarly, a single hard inquiry can cause your VantageScore to drop by 5 to 10 points. 3

You’ll usually get a hard pull on your credit report when you apply for the following:

  • Credit cards
  • Secured and unsecured loans (like a car loan, student loan, personal loan, or mortgage)
  • Phone or utility contracts
  • Apartment rentals (if your landlord decides to check your credit; note that they can also choose to conduct a soft inquiry instead, which won’t hurt your score)
finance jar gold coin

Hard inquiries fall off your report after two years

When your prospective creditor checks your credit report, they can see every hard credit inquiry you’ve had in the last two years. However, FICO only factors hard inquiries that were added to your report in the last year into your credit score. 4
VantageScore states that hard inquiries stop affecting your credit score after three to six months. 3
5

Why do hard credit inquiries lower your score?

Hard credit inquiries lower your score because they mean you’re applying for new credit, which suggests you might be struggling financially. Statistically, you’re up to eight times more likely to file for bankruptcy if you have six or more hard inquiries on your credit report. 2

Fortunately, as soon as you demonstrate that you’re using your new credit responsibly (which means making payments according to your repayment schedule if it’s an installment loan and making all your minimum monthly payments on time if it’s a revolving credit account), your score will recover quickly.

How long it’ll take for your credit score to fully recover after a hard inquiry depends on various factors. You can expect it to take three to six months for your VantageScore credit score and no more than one year for your FICO credit score.

Removing a hard inquiry from your credit report

You usually can’t remove a hard inquiry unless the bureau added it to your report by mistake, so you’ll have to wait two years before the inquiry will fall off your report. However, as mentioned, your score will recover after a few months to a year.

finance jar gold coin

Hard inquiries hurt your credit score, but soft inquiries don’t

Unlike hard inquiries, soft inquiries don’t affect your credit score. Moreover, prospective creditors can see every hard inquiry you’ve had in the past two years when they access your credit report, but they can’t see soft inquiries (like employer background checks, pre-approved credit offers, or when you check your own credit).

How many hard inquiries are too many?

In general, you should aim to have as few hard inquiries as possible while still obtaining the credit you need. There’s no clear point at which you have too many hard inquiries—just be aware that each new hard pull will bring down your score, except if they occur within a short space of time.

Multiple hard inquiries count as one when you’re rate shopping

When you’re rate shopping for an auto loan, a student loan, or a mortgage, FICO will treat multiple hard inquiries that you trigger within a 45-day period as a single hard inquiry. 6 There’s also a 30-day grace period before hard inquiries of those types start to affect your score at all. 4

Similarly, VantageScore treats any hard inquiries that occur within a 14-day period as a single hard inquiry.

These exceptions only apply to hard inquiries of the same type, and they only apply to auto loans, student loans, and mortgages. They don’t apply to hard inquiries for other types of credit, such as credit cards.

This means that if you apply for five auto loans in a short period, those will be counted as one hard inquiry. However, if you apply for an auto loan, a mortgage, and a personal loan, those will be counted as three separate inquiries, and each will lower your score. Similarly, five hard inquiries for credit cards will be counted as five separate hard inquiries.

FICO and VantageScore have put this exception in place because they know that responsible borrowers often shop around before taking out loans, and doing so doesn’t signify that they present a risk to lenders.

Takeaway: Hard inquiries can take up to five points off your credit score

  • When you apply for a loan, your creditor will usually run your credit, which will cause a hard inquiry to appear on your credit report.
  • FICO normally disregards multiple hard inquiries made within a 30-day period. After that period, multiple inquiries made within 45 days (FICO) are treated as one inquiry. VantageScore treats multiple hard inquiries as one inquiry if they occur within a 14-day period.
  • Your credit score will recover from a hard inquiry after six months (VantageScore) to one year (FICO), and all hard inquiries will fall off your credit report after two years.
  • Unlike hard inquiries, soft inquiries don’t appear on your credit report (except copies that you’ve requested) and don’t affect your credit score because they’re not associated with applications for credit.

Article Sources

  1. U.S. Small Business Administration. "Credit inquiries: what you should know about hard and soft pulls" Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  2. MyFICO. "Credit Checks: What are credit inquiries and how do they affect your FICO® Score?" Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  3. VantageScore. "Did You Know: You can get zero percent interest rates on some loans" Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  4. FICO. "Score a Better Future’ Increases FICO Score Understanding" Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  5. VantageScore. "8 Things That Won’t Hurt (Whew!) Your Credit" Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  6. VantageScore. "9 Myths About Credit Scores" Retrieved September 28, 2021.

Samuel Osbourne

Content Writer

View Author

Sam Osbourne is a content writer for FinanceJar. His writing covers credit scores, credit repair, and renters insurance. He’s worked across a mixture of genres, including blogs, essays, and fiction. Sam has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing.

Related Articles

Credit score gauge next to credit report
Credit Scores

May 12, 2022

Credit Score vs. Credit Report: What’s the Difference?

A credit report is a list of information about your credit and loan...

Mark Slack
Laptop showing Experian Boost screen
Credit Scores

January 5, 2022

What Is Experian Boost and How Does It Work?

Experian Boost is a free service that allows you to add payments...

Jesslyn Firman
Hand accepting payment with watch indicating that it's late
Credit Scores

December 21, 2021

Late Payments: How Do They Affect Your Credit Score?

If you’ve missed the due date for one of your bills, you might be...

Jessica Norris
Hand holding gears that represent how credit works
Credit Scores

November 30, 2021

Credit 101: What Is Credit and How Does It Work?

You probably know that lenders use your credit score to decide...

Jesslyn Firman
Piggy bank with credit score gauge on top of another piggy bank
Credit Cards

May 25, 2022

What Is Piggybacking Credit and Is It a Good Idea?

Piggybacking credit is when you improve your credit score by...

FinanceJar Team
Credit score gauge sitting on a credit counselor's desk
Debt

May 23, 2022

Does Credit Counseling Hurt Your Credit Score?

Credit counseling itself won’t affect your credit score, but some...

Jesslyn Firman
FinanceJar

Footer

Credit

  • Credit Scores
  • Credit Repair
  • Credit Reports
  • Credit Cards
  • Debt

Company

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Legal

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

How We Make Money

We make money from advertising. We place links on our website to our affiliates, and when you click those links, our affiliates compensate us for it. Our relationships with our affiliates may affect which products we feature on our site and where these products appear in our articles.

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn Pinterest

© 2022 – ONR Financial Networks LLC – All Rights Reserved.

Ready to see your credit report?

Instantly access your report and discover your credit score from all 3 credit bureaus.

Get My Report
  • Credit Scores
    • Credit Score Range
  • Credit Repair
  • Credit Reports
    • Credit Inquiries
  • Credit Cards
    • Credit Card Reviews
  • Debt
    • Debt Collection
    • List of Collection Agencies
  • Loans

What you’ll get

  • Assess

    Fill in your information and we will securely pull your TransUnion credit report.

  • Address

    We challenge inaccurate negative items with the bureaus and your creditors.

  • Advise

    We will give you advice for how you can improve your credit. Don’t want to wait? Call us now.

Don’t want to wait? Call us!

(888) 859-0871

Monday to Friday, 10AM - 7PM EST

FinanceJar

Get a FREE 5-minute credit consultation.

Get a credit improvement plan that works for you with 1 phone call.

What you’ll get

1
Assess

Fill in your information and we will securely pull your TransUnion credit report.

2
Address

We challenge inaccurate negative items with the bureaus and your creditors.

3
Advise

We will give you advice for how you can improve your credit. Don’t want to wait? Call us now.

This is completely secure and won’t hurt your credit score.

By clicking "Submit" I agree by electronic signature to: (1) be contacted about credit repair or credit repair marketing by a live agent, artificial or prerecorded voice and SMS text at my residential or cellular number, dialed manually or by autodialer, and by email (consent to be contacted is not a condition to purchase services); and (2) the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Don’t want to wait? Call (888) 859-0871 now

We hope this template helps you achieve your goals.

Would you please review us?

A review would mean a lot to us — and takes less than 20 seconds. Let us know what you think. Thanks!

Leave My Review
FinanceJar

Advertising Disclosure

Some of our articles feature links to our partners, who compensate us when you click them. This may affect the products and services that we showcase in our articles and how we place and order them. It does not affect our evaluations of them, which our writers and editors create independently, without considering our relationships with our partners.

FinanceJar

Editorial Standards

We promise to always deliver the best financial advice that we can. That’s our first priority, and we take it seriously.

To ensure that our articles and reviews are objective and unbiased, our writers and editors operate independently from our advertisers and affiliates. Our writers do not take FinanceJar’s relationship with its affiliates into consideration when writing their reviews and articles.

Everything we publish is as accurate and as complete as we can make it. All of our articles undergo several rounds of fact-checking before we publish them, and we do our best to keep them as no-nonsense and jargon-free as possible while still delivering the information that you need.

We know that taking financial advice from us requires a lot of trust on your part. We’re grateful for that trust, and we won’t abuse it.

FinanceJar

How We Make Money

FinanceJar partners with other companies in the credit and finance industry, such as credit card issuers and credit repair companies.

We make money through advertising. Our pages feature links to our partners’ websites. If you click on one of those links, we get paid.

The links to our partners are always clearly marked. You’ll always be able to tell what you’re clicking. We’ll never try to trick you into clicking anything you’re not genuinely interested in.

That’s the only way that we make money. We don’t accept compensation in exchange for reviews or articles, and we don’t directly sell any products or services ourselves. Our editorial team operates independently (with no influence from our affiliates or our advertising team) so as to avoid compromising the objectivity of our reviews.