 TITLE: What Are Inquiries On Your Credit Report? - Experian CONTENT: What Is a Hard Inquiry?\n-----------------------\nA hard inquiry appears on your credit report when a lender checks your credit in response to an application for a new loan, credit card or line of credit.\nWhenever you seek new credit, there's the potential for a new debt, which may temporarily lower scores slightly until you can show that you are managing that new debt responsibly. Credit scoring models such as those from FICO® and VantageScore® sometimes account for that increase in risk by lowering your scores slightly; FICO® says hard inquiries typically dock scores by less than five points.\nHard inquiries remain on your credit report for up to two years, but as long as you keep up with your debt payments, credit scores often rebound from an inquiry within a few months. And, most credit scoring models no longer count a hard inquiry in score calculations at all after 12 months. END