I also have an inquiry from 10/2010 that hasn't dropped off Experian. Apparently they seem to drop off around the first week of the following month. So anytime in the next few days we should see it fall off.

Thanks for your prompt and precise response.

My focus has increasingly turned to the two year window. I have no EQ or TU inquiries within this window and also no EX inquiries within the one year window. No new card credit within the two year window, just an installment loan outside the one year window. So if my card utilization is okay by the end of the summer next year and the installment loan has been paid down, I'm clean as a whistle. But then what do I have to look forward to?

Easy crusing, near the beach, with the radio playing and a girl under each arm!

The "two year window" for continued inclusion in credit reports is not regulated by the FCRA, and is purely an administrative decision by the CRAs, which they can choose to exclude earlier than two years, or even extend beyond that point.  It's primarily based on their need to purge their databases of mounds and mounds of information that has become of little value to their customers.

 

Similarly, the "one year window" for use of inquires in scoring is purely a business decision of FICO, based on their determination that they lose risk-predictive value after that point.    I would suppose that most creditors take a similar view when reviewing a consumer file.  While inquiries beyond one year may still be included in reports they receive, I suspect they are generally given little weight in their decision-maling.

For the record, the EX inquiry fell off just two days after I said it still hadn't.