topic Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years? in General Credit Topics

Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:00:08 GMT

In December 2007 (not long after I filed CH7) I had attempted to open a checking account with Charles Schwab which resulted in them doing 2 hard inquiries on my Equifax and they denied me due to the bankruptcy.

Now (December 2008 - a year later) I have discovered those 2 inquiries seem to have fallen off. Not that I am complaining about it, but I just wonder if this is normal? I am a bit concerned that I have a split file or something.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:08:35 GMT

hi and welcome!

hard inquiries count for scoring for 1 year and are recorded for 2 years. any more in depth answer would be a violation of the myfico rules, sorry.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:18:28 GMT

I dont care about scoring. My concern is that these inquiries have disappeared after 1 year for no apparent reason. Do I need to be worried that there is something wrong with my report (split file, etc)?? It is next to impossible to speak to a person at Equifax so I dont know where else to turn???

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:23:06 GMT

it's almost certainly not a split file, calling eq won't likely help either.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:25:22 GMT

Soooooo, are you saying don't worry about it? Or I'm screwed? Or what?

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:29:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
hi and welcome!

hard inquiries count for scoring for 1 year and are recorded for 2 years. any more in depth answer would be a violation of the myfico rules, sorry.

what does it mean?

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:30:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Soooooo, are you saying don't worry about it? Or I'm screwed? Or what?

If I'm about to break any rules, I apologize in advance, but since Scott303 is still questioning...

If you're talking about the reports from myfico.com, you won't see the inquiries after 1 year because they no longer count in scoring.

If you pull your report from the actual CRA's, such as the free credit reports you can get every year, you will see all of the inquiries on their for the last 2 years.

So if your concern is that your myfico.com reports aren't showing inquiries after 1 year, I wouldn't worry about it, that's the way they are.

BTW, I don't think I broke any rules, cause I've seen this discussed before. If I am, I'm sorry!

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:33:14 GMT

I wouldn't be too worried. I'd be more concerned that they did 2 inquiries instead of one.

But sometimes items fall off for all sorts of reasons - was it recoded to soft inquiry?

IMHO inquiries do matter only when they are an invasion of privacy by unauthorized CAs fishing for something. Their impact on scores are negligible, Lenders don't care too much, provided you don't have scores of them.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:36:37 GMT

I also cannot figure out what rule was broken... Unless he/she thinks I am asking for advice on how to remove a legit inquiry??

This report is directly from Equifax. I cannot pull them online for some reason (not sure if it is due to the security freeze problem described in my other post). Anyway I called the automated line at Equifax (1-800-685-1111) to request the mailed copy. It is on this copy that I happened to notice the 2 inquiries from Charles Schwab are no longer there (I believe they were dated 12/22/2007 and 12/26/2007). Everything else seems to be correct. I should probably not worry about it, but I cant help but think there is some problem with my report because of this other issue I am having with the security freeze.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:37:37 GMT

I never paid attention to myFico reporting the hard inquiries only for 1 year - are you sure?

all other credit monitoring services report the whole two years (Chase, EQ, EX, TC, etc.)

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:39:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I never paid attention to myFico reporting the hard inquiries only for 1 year - are you sure?

all other credit monitoring services report the whole two years (Chase, EQ, EX, TC, etc.)

Oh, I'm sure. I don't pull from anywhere besides myFico, and all of my inquiries from 2007 are no longer on those reports that I pulled in Nov 2008. I had no inquiries from 12/07

Of course, it could just be my reports. But I choose to not worry about that.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:43:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I also cannot figure out what rule was broken... Unless he/she thinks I am asking for advice on how to remove a legit inquiry??

This report is directly from Equifax. I cannot pull them online for some reason (not sure if it is due to the security freeze problem described in my other post). Anyway I called the automated line at Equifax (1-800-685-1111) to request the mailed copy. It is on this copy that I happened to notice the 2 inquiries from Charles Schwab are no longer there (I believe they were dated 12/22/2007 and 12/26/2007). Everything else seems to be correct. I should probably not worry about it, but I cant help but think there is some problem with my report because of this other issue I am having with the security freeze.

I didn't see any request to remove legit inquiries, and frankly do not understand what ducky meant.

anyway, if are really really curious, and the inquiries are not included among the soft ones, and you are sure of the dates of those inquiries, then you can write a certified letter to Equifax asking why the two inquiries do not appear on your report dated xxxx and giving them 30 days to respond.

As the duration of inquiries on the reports is fixed by law (FCRA), the CRA are compelled to report them for such period, and not doing so would be a violation of federal law.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:49:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I never paid attention to myFico reporting the hard inquiries only for 1 year - are you sure?

all other credit monitoring services report the whole two years (Chase, EQ, EX, TC, etc.)
Oh, I'm sure. I don't pull from anywhere besides myFico, and all of my inquiries from 2007 are no longer on those reports that I pulled in Nov 2008. I had no inquiries from 12/07

Of course, it could just be my reports. But I choose to not worry about that.

thanks for pointing that out - I never paid attention to this "feature" of myFico

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:50:17 GMT

You're welcome!

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:52:41 GMT

I just double checked all my soft inquiries and do not see them there either. Also I do have 1 other hard inquiry more than 1 year old (but less than 2) still on my file, as well as numerous soft inquiries older than 1 year.

If I can find the previous report showing the 2 inquiries then I think I may take your advise and send them a dispute letter about it. I've gotta be the 1st person to ever dispute an inquiry that is missing, lol.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

GFer — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:02:29 GMT

That's not something that 'I' would dispute....LOL

(I only wish all mine from this year were 'missing'.)

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:39:22 GMT

you're not breaking any rules being viglent and paying attention, the problem is not yours and it's not hurting you. sorry, but this is a very taboo topic on myfico forums and if it drags on a mod will lock the thread in no time flat.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

llecs — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:43:50 GMT

Scott303 wrote:
I just double checked all my soft inquiries and do not see them there either. Also I do have 1 other hard inquiry more than 1 year old (but less than 2) still on my file, as well as numerous soft inquiries older than 1 year.

If I can find the previous report showing the 2 inquiries then I think I may take your advise and send them a dispute letter about it. I've gotta be the 1st person to ever dispute an inquiry that is missing, lol.

Ignore it. Some creditors will routinely review and delete inquiries. Doesn't happen often, but I had 2 (of 30-something) fall off EX within the past couple years. One inquiry that was removed was Amex. Can't remember the other. I'll just smile, nod, and move on.

Don't dispute anything. Bring up this issue with the CRA could possibly lead to a fraud alert.

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:57:48 GMT

i agree with llecs & others its probably helping u more than hurting u so i wouldnt try and open that can of worms

Re: Do "hard" inquiries ever fall off before 2 years?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:23:59 GMT

demed wrote:

As the duration of inquiries on the reports is fixed by law (FCRA), the CRA are compelled to report them for such period, and not doing so would be a violation of federal law.

While this is true, the duration that FCRA requires is 1 year unless the inquiry is employement related, then it is 2 years.

FCRA sets no maximum time the inquiries can remain, only a minimum time.

So, as long as the inquiries remained at least 1 year.....all is ok. Even if they didn't, I would not complain.