 TITLE: Why Did My Credit Score Improve? CONTENT: A Hard Inquiry Fell Off Your Credit Report\n------------------------------------------\nWhen you apply for a loan, line of credit or credit card, a lender or credit card issuer will pull your credit report to check your payment history, other debt obligations and experience managing credit.\nThis is called a hard inquiry, and a record of the credit check will make its way onto your credit report. That happens so that credit scoring models, as well as other lenders and credit card issuers, can see how often you've applied for credit in the past. If you have many applications to a variety of credit types, you may appear to be a bigger lending risk. Credit scoring models do recognize the importance of rate shopping for loans like mortgages and auto loans, however, and will count similar loan applications as one inquiry if they're submitted over a period of a couple weeks.\nHard credit inquiries stay on your credit report for up to two years. In most cases, they'll only negatively affect your credit for a year or less. A single inquiry's effect on your credit will be slight, if it's noticeable at all, and can be blunted by positive payment history and other responsible credit behavior. If your score increased recently, it might be because an old hard inquiry is no longer being factored into your score. END