How long does a hard inquiry affect your credit score?
A hard inquiry can cost a few points immediately, but per FICO's own published guidance the effect fades within a few months and stops counting toward your score entirely after 12 months — even though the inquiry itself stays visible on your credit report for 24 months.
A hard inquiry happens when you formally apply for credit (a card, a loan) and the lender pulls your full report — distinct from a soft inquiry (like a card issuer's pre-qualification check or checking your own score), which never affects your score at all. FICO's own published scoring guidance puts the typical hit at under 5 points for most files, with thinner credit histories seeing a somewhat larger impact than established ones. That impact isn't permanent on two counts: the inquiry stops factoring into your FICO score after 12 months, and it drops off your credit report entirely after 24 months. One nuance worth knowing: FICO models deduplicate multiple inquiries for the same type of loan within a short shopping window (commonly 14-45 days, depending on the FICO version) so rate-shopping for a mortgage or auto loan counts as one inquiry — that deduplication generally does not apply to credit card applications, so opening several cards in quick succession does rack up separate inquiries.
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