topic Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries? in General Credit Topics

When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 09:18:40 GMT

I have a few inquiries due to fall off as of yesterday and though TU and EQ removed them, EX still has not. What's their policy? I thought they all had to remove them on the exact day 2 years later. Apparently not.

Can anyone help me catch a clue, please?

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 12:22:39 GMT

Interesting! My guess is that if they do not fall off in the next two business days, then EX will remove them by the 2nd of the following month (Sept 2 in this case).

Just as an FYI, all your inquiries lost all scoring impact when they turned 1 year old. So exactly when they fall off your report won't matter much.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 13:09:58 GMT

@Asilomar wrote:
I have a few inquiries due to fall off as of yesterday and though TU and EQ removed them, EX still has not. What's their policy? I thought they all had to remove them on the exact day 2 years later. Apparently not.

Can anyone help me catch a clue, please?

The inquiries will be deleted next month.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

mattmyFIC0 — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 14:18:25 GMT

EX seems to hold onto mine for 25 months while EQ and TU drop them at 24 or sometimes sooner.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

BigBS — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 14:33:44 GMT

EX drops inquiries the first Saturday of the month following 24 months, so some may actually stay for 25 months and some 24 months and a few days depending on the calendar. As was said the effect is generally gone after 12 months.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

iv — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 19:44:44 GMT

@Asilomar wrote:
I have a few inquiries due to fall off as of yesterday and though TU and EQ removed them, EX still has not. What's their policy? I thought they all had to remove them on the exact day 2 years later. Apparently not.

Can anyone help me catch a clue, please?

As mentioned by several others, 24 to 25 months is the practical standard for HP removal.

But I wanted to address the "had to" part.

While there are some specific timelines that CRAs are required to follow (such as the 7-7.5 year negative information removal) - inquiries do not have a similar legal timeline. The 2-year dropoff that the big CRAs follow is based on business practice, not law, and they could choose to change that at will. (Well, as long as their customers and partners didn't complain too much.)

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 23:24:20 GMT

@iv wrote:
@Asilomar wrote:
I have a few inquiries due to fall off as of yesterday and though TU and EQ removed them, EX still has not. What's their policy? I thought they all had to remove them on the exact day 2 years later. Apparently not.

Can anyone help me catch a clue, please?
As mentioned by several others, 24 to 25 months is the practical standard for HP removal.

But I wanted to address the "had to" part.

While there are some specific timelines that CRAs are required to follow (such as the 7-7.5 year negative information removal) - inquiries do not have a similar legal timeline. The 2-year dropoff that the big CRAs follow is based on business practice, not law, and they could choose to change that at will. (Well, as long as their customers and partners didn't complain too much.)

That is very interesting. I had no idea. Thank you for that.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 23:28:16 GMT

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

I'm aware that the scoring penalty goes away at 12 months but I'd assumed that creditors, for the purpose of credit worthiness/approval, still count (or at least the algorithm does) the total number of inquiries, regardless of age. Am I incorrect?

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Ardecko — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 00:16:29 GMT

Inquiries become non-scorable at one year. That means they no longer affect your score.

That doesn't mean they can't affect your approval odds. They are still visible to anyone who pulls your report for the full two years. Lenders are free to apply whatever additional qualifications they wish(within legal limits). Don't think it won't raise the eyebrows of a manual reviewer, though, if you have a gracious plenty.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Medic981 — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 03:12:39 GMT

@Asilomar wrote:

I'm aware that the scoring penalty goes away at 12 months but I'd assumed that creditors, for the purpose of credit worthiness/approval, still count (or at least the algorithm does) the total number of inquiries, regardless of age. Am I incorrect?

I am sensing that you are wanting to apply for a Chase 5/24 card. Is that correct?

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 06:32:56 GMT

Oh not at all. I need another credit card like I need a hole in the head. I'm just asking for general knowledge.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 07:24:19 GMT

@BigBS wrote:
EX drops inquiries the first Saturday of the month following 24 months, so some may actually stay for 25 months and some 24 months and a few days depending on the calendar. As was said the effect is generally gone after 12 months.

Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month following 24 months and they have still not dropped off. So this information didn't turn out to be accurate. At least not in this case. Perhaps Experian's policy has changed.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

iv — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 17:59:48 GMT

@Asilomar wrote:
@BigBS wrote:
EX drops inquiries the first Saturday of the month following 24 months, so some may actually stay for 25 months and some 24 months and a few days depending on the calendar. As was said the effect is generally gone after 12 months.

Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month following 24 months and they have still not dropped off. So this information didn't turn out to be accurate. At least not in this case. Perhaps Experian's policy has changed.

Did you pull a fresh Experian report today, or were you expecting an alert?

(Generally speaking, alerts don't trigger on the removal of items from a report, just on some types of updates and additions.)

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 19:40:31 GMT

I still have an inquiry hanging on at Experian that was two years old on August 20th. I just updated Experian and it is still there. I wish they did a better job.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

ScoreSizzle — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 19:49:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Interesting! My guess is that if they do not fall off in the next two business days, then EX will remove them by the 2nd of the following month (Sept 2 in this case).

Just as an FYI, all your inquiries lost all scoring impact when they turned 1 year old. So exactly when they fall off your report won't matter much.

What about a 30-day late that should fall off before the year is out? Does that help the score at all?

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 21:22:29 GMT

iv, I pulled a fresh report.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

iv — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 21:41:00 GMT

@Asilomar wrote:
iv, I pulled a fresh report.

Interesting. So they haven't yet run the purge for the month - I wonder if it's due to the first Saturday also being the first of the month, or being a holiday weekend... or that their schedule isn't as set in stone as some people believe.

Either way, it will be gone at some point this month, and (as I'm sure you know) hasn't been counting for FICO scoring for over a year.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 22:51:03 GMT

I know these inquiries don't effect my score but they can certainly effect the algorithms negatively (too many inquiries!) and of course upon visual inspection.

But it's all academic anyway because my interest in this topic is strictly educational; I'm always trying to learn something new. And in this case, particularly when it pertains to my own file, it's just one more topic I have a good grasp of.

I had a string of consecutive late payments on an old car loan and as I watched them fall away I had a good time learning each CRA's pattern. TU removes 2 months early at the end of the first week, EQ removes 3 months early right on the 1st, and EX... I don't know. Mysteriously EX removed the entire string when the first one aged out. I'm down to two and one will hit the '3 months early' mark in October. I already know what to expect from TU and EQ but I'll be interested to find out what EX does.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 23:02:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I still have an inquiry hanging on at Experian that was two years old on August 20th. I just updated Experian and it is still there. I wish they did a better job.

Thanks for the DP. So it's not just me. That means, as iv said above, that where Experian is concerned inquiry removal isn't as set in stone as people believe. Good to know.

Re: When Does Experian Remove Inquiries?

Asilomar — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 23:03:44 GMT

@ScoreSizzle wrote:

What about a 30-day late that should fall off before the year is out? Does that help the score at all?

No. Inquiries after 12 months of age no longer impact your score.