Removal of hard inquiries from the Experian Credit Report

[coldfusion]

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@Trudy wrote:

For Experian only it is the 1st Saturday of the new month (25th month) when they remove inquiries.  My 6/12/18 INQ was removed on 7/4.  The only time it will be removed the 2nd Saturday is when the 1st falls on a Saturday.  My 1/5/18 INQ fell off 2/8 instead of 2/1.

For those who had a 7/2018 INQ you should have already experienced the 2nd Saturday removal due to 8/1 being a Saturday.

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Thanks.  I remembered that they had a specific method to the madness  but not the specifics.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Recently I had somewhat weird experiences with removal of old hard inquiries from my Experian Credit report. I had two such hard inquiries dated early June 2018 from real estate brokers/companies when I was in the process of renting an apartment. In my Experian Credit Report they showed with the expiration date of June 3 and June 5, 2020 or something like that. But then those dates passed, my Experian Credit Report got renewed (I think around June 8 or something) but the inquiries still stayed on it. It then got renewed again a couple of weeks later and the inquiries were still there. I logged in at the very end of June and they were still there. I called Experian and after being transferred several times was told that in this situation for some reason I had to initiate a dispute to get the inquiries taken off. They didn't explain why. I initiated a dispite and the inquiries were taken off in less than 24 hours. 

Now, in August, the situation repeated. I had one more, the last one, hard inquiry, dated August 15, 2018, from Verizon Wireless, from getting an iPhone there. On the report it showed the removal date of August 15, 2020. On August 16, 2020 my Experian credit report got renewed and the inquiry was still there. I called, requested to initiate a dispute, and the inquiry was taken off within 8 hours or so. 

I am wondering why it was necessary for me to call them at all. I thought that after two years these hard inquiries are supposed to be removed automatically. Or does it actually take them more than two years to remove them automatically (if you don't call them)?

Just feels strange ... 

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it usually comes off at 2 years plus 1 month after the date of the inquiry. If it was June 2018, it will come off July 2020. August 2018 will be September 2020.

Straight from EX CR from Annual Credit ReportSS from EX app

Screenshot straight from my EX credit report from annual credit report vs. the EX app. This is why I only trust Annual Credit Report to have the most accurate information and drop off dates.

[KLEXH25]

I just got an inquiry yesterday and the Experian alert confirms that it stays on for 25 months:

[cashorcharge]

I am experiencing this same thing now.  According to their site, the 24 month timeframe was last week...I've been pulling it every day through their service and it's still there.  Finally, getting frustrated...called and sure enough...after a few phone transfers was told "it's not necessarily 24 months and sometimes it's 25."  I said, "The Removal Date is clear on your site...why tell me something different?"  

The rep failed to explain the "Saturday" logic and just said sometimes it takes longer.  After 45 minutes on the phone, I was defeated and hung up....then started to research this here.  Thanks @coldfusion & @Trudy for the clarification

[Anonymous]

Basically, my experience shows that if you want the inquiry to be removed from your report now and dont want to wait another month (or until whatecer date in October that Experian does the mass purge of expired inquiries), you have to call again and request to initiate a dispute on your report. Then the inquiry will be removed within several hours. 

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@cashorcharge wrote:

I am experiencing this same thing now.  According to their site, the 24 month timeframe was last week...I've been pulling it every day through their service and it's still there.  Finally, getting frustrated...called and sure enough...after a few phone transfers was told "it's not necessarily 24 months and sometimes it's 25."  I said, "The Removal Date is clear on your site...why tell me something different?"  

The rep failed to explain the "Saturday" logic and just said sometimes it takes longer.  After 45 minutes on the phone, I was defeated and hung up....then started to research this here.  Thanks @coldfusion & @Trudy for the clarification

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[Trudy]

FWIW - Although the absence of a 2yr old inquiry may appeal to a lender it does not impact scores beyond 1yr.  I guess it could impact those creditors I hear about with 5/24 rules if they still take it into account although > than 24m. 

After obsessing over a removal a while back I actually tested it (for peace of mind sake ) by pulling a 3B MyFICO report after the last removal which is always EX due to it's 25th month/Saturday rule.  Just 2 days before, I received my monthly sub report and paid 2 days later after EX removed (no other changes).  No change in any of the 28 scores.

[cashorcharge]

Thanks @Trudy and you're right...outside of the 12 month mark....scoring is no longer a factor and if a bank is really digging into my report to review and contemplate inq's over 12 months old...chances are they aren't likely to approve in general and this...over 12 or in this case, over 24 month inq isn't a big deal.  

For the longest time, before I understood how all this worked...and understood the nuances of scores, bureaus, SP vs HP, Util, DTI etc...I wasn't phased.  Nowadays, with scores just under your own as in your signature, I tend to watch this stuff like a hawk!  

[Trudy]

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@cashorcharge wrote:

Thanks @Trudy and you're right...outside of the 12 month mark....scoring is no longer a factor and if a bank is really digging into my report to review and contemplate inq's over 12 months old...chances are they aren't likely to approve in general and this...over 12 or in this case, over 24 month inq isn't a big deal.  

For the longest time, before I understood how all this worked...and understood the nuances of scores, bureaus, SP vs HP, Util, DTI etc...I wasn't phased.  Nowadays, with scores just under your own as in your signature, I tend to watch this stuff like a hawk!  

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I totally get it and by then I even accepted this and many things as fact but tested anyway...and also found other things to not be fact. With so many parameters, including scorecards, there seems to always be something new learned. 

This credit thang....can become obsessive, regardless of scores   Now, I'm more focused on providing DP and/or my experience to the community as none of us know everything and we're all continuing to learn about the elusive details of the algorithm(s) as it pertains to each individual credit file and credit bureau.

[Anonymous]

They really need to update the Inq section of their app. 

As shown above, the HP notification itself states 25 months and the ACR EX CR pull shows 25 months, but they app for some reason shows exactly 24 months from the HP. That is definitely a flaw in the sysytem and leads to much confusion, because they never drop them at the exact 24 month mark down to the day.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They really need to update the Inq section of their app. 

As shown above, the HP notification itself states 25 months and the ACR EX CR pull shows 25 months, but they app for some reason shows exactly 24 months from the HP. That is definitely a flaw in the sysytem and leads to much confusion, because they never drop them at the exact 24 month mark down to the day.

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I agree that they should do something in terms of providing additional clarification about when the hard inquiries are removed from the Experian Credit report. It's not just their app, when you login to their website, it also shows a definitive future removal date for an inquiry and it is exactly two years from the original inquiry posting date. 

At least they ought to add some fine print with an asterisk somewhere explaining what's going on in more detail, even if it is just a single footnote such as "The actual inquiry removal date from the credit report may vary and may be between 0 and 31 days from the date indicated here." Or some such thing. It would be even nicer if they could explicitly indicate that customers who want the inquiry removed immediately after the 24 months mark, may still do that by calling Experian and requesting to initiate a dispute on their credit report.