topic Re: When do inquiries fall off? in General Credit Topics

When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:54:56 GMT

I have 2 on my EQ, August and September, are they due to expire 12 months from then? I'm assuming so but then again I don't know much :/

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Booner72 — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:48:05 GMT

Hi, Mickey - you might not know much now but just hang around here awhile. Inquiries are counted in your FICO score until they age to 12 months, then they are no longer factored into your score, but they're still there. They drop off your report after 24 months. Inquiries don't hurt scores very much in my experience. I have 13 inquiries whereas before I only had a few - my score is staying pretty stable. I never saw a drastic drop in my scores from inquiries alone - the new account dinging my AAoA (Average age of accounts) is where I felt it. At least I think so.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:17:22 GMT

Ahh I see so if I have 2 5-6 month credit cards and add in a brand new one it throws off that AAoA thus resulting in a lower score.

Also does Gardening mean no apping, no HPs? I think I plan to do that over a 3-4 month period while I GW some collections

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:15:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ahh I see so if I have 2 5-6 month credit cards and add in a brand new one it throws off that AAoA thus resulting in a lower score.

Also does Gardening mean no apping, no HPs? I think I plan to do that over a 3-4 month period while I GW some collections

Lets say you have two CC that are 6 months old and that's it on your credit reports, your AAoA's would be 0.5 but FICO rounds down AAoA's so that would mean you have 0 yrs AAoA's. Now my question to the experts, is this correct?? (2 TLs 6 months each= 12 months, divided by 2= 6 divided by 12= 0.5 yrs AAoA's and then FICO rounding down= 0 yrs AAoA's) <--is that correct?

I do know that FICO will not even be able to generate a score until you have 6 months of history, and you say that you want to write some GW letters, so that means you do have other TL's on your report/s, meaning your AAoA's will be higher than what I said in my first sentence, but I'd like to know if my calculations are correct in my first sentence (based on the scenerio of only having 2 TL's that are 6 months old) Would that mean 0 yrs AAoA's?

Yes gardening does in fact mean no apping or requesting CLI's that would result in HP's or new inquiries. You may want to garden a little longer and let those 2 CC's age a little bit more and see if you can have the derogs removed from your reports. (This is just my opinion) Are the two CC's you have now secured or unsecured?

Regarding inquiries hitting the year mark, I just had one hit the year mark on TU and I gained 4 points (from a 795 to 799 just an example for you) Everyone will experience differences, some may gain more, some may gain less to none. YMMV.

Best of Luck. And Welcome to the Forums

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:30:42 GMT

Hi thanks for responding,

Yes both my credit cards are unsecured, 1 HSBC and Cap1, I think it's also best to garden and get some of these baddies off my CR with some GW. Also My wife just received a Chase Freedom with a CL of 4k and added me as a joint holder. Will that result in a HP....I was hoping her good behavior will benefit my CR as well.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:50:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi thanks for responding,

Yes both my credit cards are unsecured, 1 HSBC and Cap1, I think it's also best to garden and get some of these baddies off my CR with some GW. Also My wife just received a Chase Freedom with a CL of 4k and added me as a joint holder. Will that result in a HP....I was hoping her good behavior will benefit my CR as well.

Just make sure Chase reports AU's (Authorized User) as you said "joint holder" same thing, because some CCC's do not report AU's, so be sure to call and ask a Chase CSR if AU's are reported, if you do not feel comfortable their response (meaning if the CSR's response sounds shaky) ask to speak with a supervisor/manager.

Hopefully someone will chime in with a solid answer about Chase reporting AU's.

By her adding you as an AU (since she just received the Chase) your AAoA's might go down a little as it's a new account, but the extra 4K in revolving credit with help you with util, and as long as she maintains a perfect payment history, her "good behavior" will benifit you in time. I do not believe I've ever read a post that said a CCC pulling hard to be added as AU, but nothing surprises me anymore.

I'm Wishing you all the Best.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

MarineVietVet — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:05:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Lets say you have two CC that are 6 months old and that's it on your credit reports, your AAoA's would be 0.5 but FICO rounds down AAoA's so that would mean you have 0 yrs AAoA's. Now my question to the experts, is this correct?? (2 TLs 6 months each= 12 months, divided by 2= 6 divided by 12= 0.5 yrs AAoA's and then FICO rounding down= 0 yrs AAoA's) <--is that correct?

I do know that FICO will not even be able to generate a score until you have 6 months of history, and you say that you want to write some GW letters, so that means you do have other TL's on your report/s, meaning your AAoA's will be higher than what I said in my first sentence, but I'd like to know if my calculations are correct in my first sentence (based on the scenerio of only having 2 TL's that are 6 months old) Would that mean 0 yrs AAoA's?

Yes gardening does in fact mean no apping or requesting CLI's that would result in HP's or new inquiries. You may want to garden a little longer and let those 2 CC's age a little bit more and see if you can have the derogs removed from your reports. (This is just my opinion) Are the two CC's you have now secured or unsecured?

Regarding inquiries hitting the year mark, I just had one hit the year mark on TU and I gained 4 points (from a 795 to 799 just an example for you) Everyone will experience differences, some may gain more, some may gain less to none. YMMV.

Best of Luck. And Welcome to the Forums

That's what I come up with but AAoA figures all types of accounts whether open or closed except collections and PR's.

To Mickey11: Do you have any other accounts reporting such as a car loan or mortgage?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:39:07 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Lets say you have two CC that are 6 months old and that's it on your credit reports, your AAoA's would be 0.5 but FICO rounds down AAoA's so that would mean you have 0 yrs AAoA's. Now my question to the experts, is this correct?? (2 TLs 6 months each= 12 months, divided by 2= 6 divided by 12= 0.5 yrs AAoA's and then FICO rounding down= 0 yrs AAoA's) <--is that correct?

I do know that FICO will not even be able to generate a score until you have 6 months of history, and you say that you want to write some GW letters, so that means you do have other TL's on your report/s, meaning your AAoA's will be higher than what I said in my first sentence, but I'd like to know if my calculations are correct in my first sentence (based on the scenerio of only having 2 TL's that are 6 months old) Would that mean 0 yrs AAoA's?

Yes gardening does in fact mean no apping or requesting CLI's that would result in HP's or new inquiries. You may want to garden a little longer and let those 2 CC's age a little bit more and see if you can have the derogs removed from your reports. (This is just my opinion) Are the two CC's you have now secured or unsecured?

Regarding inquiries hitting the year mark, I just had one hit the year mark on TU and I gained 4 points (from a 795 to 799 just an example for you) Everyone will experience differences, some may gain more, some may gain less to none. YMMV.

Best of Luck. And Welcome to the Forums
That's what I come up with but AAoA figures all types of accounts whether open or closed except collections and PR's.

To Mickey11: Do you have any other accounts reporting such as a car loan or mortgage?

So MVV, it is possible to have 0 yrs AAoA's based on the scenerio I posted below?

Lets just say the OP has only 2 TLs 6 months old each= 12 months, divided by 2= 6 divided by 12= 0.5 yrs AAoA's and then FICO rounding down= 0 yrs AAoA's

I know the math is correct but I am just curious if that scenerio would yeild 0 yrs AAoA's (I hope it's not too dumb of a question) or would FICO auto give the consumer 1 yr AAoA's?

If I were to guess I would say 0 yrs, I don't see FICO giving anything helpful for your score free

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

MarineVietVet — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:01:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

So MVV, it is possible to have 0 yrs AAoA's based on the scenerio I posted below?

Lets just say the OP has only 2 TLs 6 months old each= 12 months, divided by 2= 6 divided by 12= 0.5 yrs AAoA's and then FICO rounding down= 0 yrs AAoA's

I know the math is correct but I am just curious if that scenerio would yeild 0 yrs AAoA's (I hope it's not too dumb of a question) or would FICO auto give the consumer 1 yr AAoA's?

If I were to guess I would say 0 yrs, I don't see FICO giving anything helpful for your score free

I agree that it looks like the AAoA would be zero but I really don't know. But I'll ask around.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:43:07 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

So MVV, it is possible to have 0 yrs AAoA's based on the scenerio I posted below?

Lets just say the OP has only 2 TLs 6 months old each= 12 months, divided by 2= 6 divided by 12= 0.5 yrs AAoA's and then FICO rounding down= 0 yrs AAoA's

I know the math is correct but I am just curious if that scenerio would yeild 0 yrs AAoA's (I hope it's not too dumb of a question) or would FICO auto give the consumer 1 yr AAoA's?

If I were to guess I would say 0 yrs, I don't see FICO giving anything helpful for your score free
I agree that it looks like the AAoA would be zero but I really don't know. But I'll ask around.

Thank you MVV for the response, I am looking forward to learning the answer to this.

Just trying to gain as much knowledge as possible, even the little things like this.

Thank you again my Friend

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:45:26 GMT

I had a car loan for 4 years, paid on time until it was PIF. Currently have another reporting for a year on time with the payments.

Mustanglvr, we added me as a joint holder, I asked and he did sound shaky about the AU benefiting my CR, so I figure since I have good faith in my DW we went ahead and did it.

Side note: I need to learn how to quote on here! My iPad doesn't give me the option.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

RobertEG — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:38:26 GMT

On the original topic of when inquiries fall off, it is all based on policy and not statute.

CRAs choose to delete inquiries from your file after two years, probably to purge their files of volumes of dated information that few propsective creditors are probably interested in. FICO chooses to discontinue scoring of inquiries after one year, again due to their dated value in risk analysis.

If either of those policies are not followed to the date, they would not be a violation of the FCRA, and thus not disputable.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

MarineVietVet — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:18:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I had a car loan for 4 years, paid on time until it was PIF. Currently have another reporting for a year on time with the payments.

Mustanglvr, we added me as a joint holder, I asked and he did sound shaky about the AU benefiting my CR, so I figure since I have good faith in my DW we went ahead and did it.

Side note: I need to learn how to quote on here! My iPad doesn't give me the option.

If you know when these were opened we can get a better idea of what your AAoA actually is. The exact month and year would be best but an educated guess would work. And may I assume that both are still reporting?

Also the exact time your 2 cards were opened would be helpful.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:05:32 GMT

My first car loan was opened in Jan 04' it reported through Apr 07' then PIF. All payments on time.

Then my current one was opened in Dec. 10' to now, all on time.

I have 2 cards of my own, 1 HSBC with a $300 and a Cap1 with a $500. The first opened in August 11' and the second in Oct. 11', however my wife just added me as an joint on her Chase freedom with 4k CL, I haven't received the paperwork for that so its not reporting.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

MarineVietVet — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:20:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My first car loan was opened in Jan 04' it reported through Apr 07' then PIF. All payments on time.

Then my current one was opened in Dec. 10' to now, all on time.

I have 2 cards of my own, 1 HSBC with a $300 and a Cap1 with a $500. The first opened in August 11' and the second in Oct. 11', however my wife just added me as an joint on her Chase freedom with 4k CL, I haven't received the paperwork for that so its not reporting.

As long as it is still on your reports it factors into AAoA. It doesn't matter if it's paid off and/or closed.

So assuming it's still there right now you have a total of 126 months credit history. Divide this by the number of accounts (4) = 31.5. Divide this by 12 and you get an AAoA of 2.625 years. Since FICO rounds down for AAoA you have an AAoA of 2 years.

You’ll need to figure the age of each account on each report because the reports seldom are exactly alike. If all three reports are identical you're in luck; otherwise, you'll need to run this for each report.

Do you know when the Chase card was opened?

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:27:17 GMT

We just opened the Chase card this past week 12.9.11 I believe, the accounts on are my TU/EQ....I won't be able to rerun my EX until this summer but they were on it last time I pulled them from annualcreditreport.com

Also, thanks for being so helpful!

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:35:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
We just opened the Chase card this past week 12.9.11 I believe, the accounts on are my TU/EQ....I won't be able to rerun my EX until this summer but they were on it last time I pulled them from annualcreditreport.com

Also, thanks for being so helpful!

Once the Chase reports, your AAoA's will have dropped to 2.1, but you will still be at 2 yrs AAoA's, so no harm there.

@Anonymous wrote:
Mustanglvr, we added me as a joint holder, I asked and he did sound shaky about the AU benefiting my CR, so I figure since I have good faith in my DW we went ahead and did it.

Side note: I need to learn how to quote on here! My iPad doesn't give me the option.

I'm sorry, maybe I should have been more clear what I felt you needed to ask the CSR.

I just thought it would be a good idea to call Chase and ask the CSR if he/she knew if your AU account would be reported to the credit bureaus, because some credit card companies do not report AU accounts. (Not if the CSR could tell you if it would help/hurt your reports/scores.)

It will definitely help your reports (especially now that we know it's not going to drop your AAoA's below 2 yrs) the reason it will help, is mainly with util, because of the additional 4K revolving credit you will have. I am not saying you will see a score increase once it starts reporting (if Chase does in fact report AU accounts) but if your revolving util is a bit high now, that additional 4K will lower your util, and could potentially lower your util to a point that your FICO scores could increase.

Regarding your iPad, I've read other members say they do not see the "Quote" tab or the "Smileys" on their iPads.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:06:11 GMT

Regarding your iPad, I've read other members say they do not see the "Quote" tab or the "Smileys" on their iPads.

ya..no option for quoting or smileys or font change come to think of it. It probably has something to do with the "no flash" policy of Apple's. No worries though - it's still the most awesome toy I've purchased in a LONG time

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:00:48 GMT

Im on my DROIDX now and do not have the quote or smileys either.

Re: When do inquiries fall off?

MarineVietVet — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:55:49 GMT

I finally have an answer to the question "Is it possible to have an AAoA of zero?"

From my myFICO reliable source: I take it you know that by doing the math you won't end up with zero, but you're wondering if the myFICO explanations that quote AAoA and round downward could show an AAoA of zero? No, the people who developed the logic for these explanations made sure that zero wasn't an option.

I can only take from this that you'll always have an AAoA of at least 1.