Many people think that if you check your credit score, is affecting It by making it drop. But that’s not true check your credit score does not have an effect. Checking it regularly is actually helpful. It makes sure all your information is right, helps spot any fraud or identity theft, and tells you how you’re doing financially.
Does Checking Your Credit Score Affect It?
No, checking your own credit score or report won’t hurt it. It’s like a gentle check, called a soft inquiry, which doesn’t affect anything. Whether you do the check or a bank does it (like when they’re offering you a credit card), your credit score stays the same unless you’re actually applying for a loan or credit.
When you apply for credit and the lender looks at your credit report, it’s called a hard inquiry. These inquiries are listed on your credit report and might lower your credit score by a few points, usually less than five, according to FICO, a big credit-scoring company.
What You Can Use to Check Your Credit Score
When someone wants to check your credit reports or scores, it’s called an inquiry. But to your Check Credit Score Without Affecting It works with the soft inquiry. These inquiries are sorted into two types: “hard” inquiries, which can affect your credit scores, and “soft” inquiries, which usually don’t:
Soft Inquiry
If you want to check your own credit report or ask for your credit score, or if a service you approve checks it, it’s called a soft inquiry. This kind of check doesn’t affect your credit score at all.
Besides self-checks, soft inquiries can happen when lenders you already have accounts with check your credit for managing those accounts or when lenders check your credit to offer you credit products.
Hard Inquiry
A hard inquiry happens when a lender checks your credit report to decide if they’ll give you a loan. It might lower your credit score. When companies check your credit using systems like FICO® Score☉ and VantageScore®, your score might drop a bit, usually by less than five points. But don’t worry too much because this drop doesn’t last long. If you pay your debts on time, your score will usually go back up within a few months.
What can lower your credit score?
Checking your credit score won’t make it go down. But there are things other than just checking that can lower your score. Here’s what the VantageScore® 3.0 system, like Chase Credit Journey® uses, looks at:
- Payment history: This checks if you pay your bills on time. Late payments can hurt your score.
- Credit history: It looks at how long you’ve had your accounts open. Having accounts for a long time can be good for your score, depending on other things.
- Credit usage: This compares how much you owe with how much credit you have. It’s best to keep this under 30%.
- Total balances: It checks the amount you owe, both what you owe now and any past debts. Having lower balances is better.
- Recent credit: This shows how many new accounts you’ve opened. Each time you apply for credit, they do a hard check, and too many of these can lower your score.
- Available credit: This looks at how much credit you could use. Having more available credit compared to what you’ve used is better for your score.
FAQ
Why Do Inquiries Have an Impact on Credit Scores?
Lenders might worry if they see a hard inquiry on your credit report because it could mean you’ve borrowed money recently that hasn’t been recorded yet. This might lower your credit score a bit for a while. But if you make all your payments on time, your score usually goes back up after a few months, even if you’ve got new accounts.