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Checking Your Credit Report Won’t Hurt Your Score

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Through December 31, 2023, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax will offer all U.S. consumers free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com to help you protect your financial health during the sudden and unprecedented hardship caused by COVID-19.

Dear Experian,

Is there any way I can check my credit report and score without it hurting my score? How much does it hurt me to order my credit score?

- KWS

Dear KWS,

Ordering your own credit report and credit score will not hurt your credit scores or have any effect on lending decisions. You can order them as many times as you like.

In fact, it's wise to check your credit reports often. Not only can doing so help you stay on top of any changes to your credit history, it can also help alert you to potential fraud much sooner.

You can request your free reports from all three national credit reporting agencies by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also order your free credit report and free credit score directly from Experian.

How Do Inquiries Impact My Credit Scores?

There are two types of inquiries on your credit report: hard inquiries and soft inquiries. Soft inquiries are usually initiated by others, including companies making promotional offers of credit or existing lenders conducting periodic reviews of your credit accounts. Soft inquiries also occur when you check your own credit report or score or when you use credit monitoring services from Experian and other companies. These inquiries do not impact your credit score, and are listed in a separate section in your credit report from the ones that do.

Hard inquiries occur when you apply for credit and a lender pulls your credit report and/or requests a score. These inquiries can be seen by your creditors and any other lenders who may check your report. When your credit report is scored, a hard inquiry could have a minor, short-term impact that diminishes over time. Some credit scoring models don't consider them at all after one year.

Why Do Inquiries Have an Impact on Credit Scores?

The primary reason hard inquiries influence credit scores is that they indicate you may have acquired new debt that does not yet appear on your report, which raises the level of risk you pose in the eyes of lenders and credit scoring models. Usually, the impact of the inquiry diminishes rapidly in just a few months. In that time, a new account may be added, offsetting the effect of the inquiry. Or, there may be no new account, meaning the inquiry represents no new lending risk.

Additionally, multiple credit card applications within a short period of time may have a compounding effect on your perceived credit risk and start to have a noticeable effect on your scores. Lenders want to be sure you are not in danger of overextending yourself before agreeing to extend additional credit.

Thanks for asking.
Jennifer White, Consumer Education Specialist

How Good Is Your Credit Score?

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580 credit score 581 credit score 582 credit score 583 credit score 584 credit score 585 credit score 586 credit score 587 credit score 588 credit score 589 credit score 590 credit score 591 credit score 592 credit score 593 credit score 594 credit score 595 credit score 596 credit score 597 credit score 598 credit score 599 credit score 600 credit score 601 credit score 602 credit score 603 credit score 604 credit score 605 credit score 606 credit score 607 credit score 608 credit score 609 credit score 610 credit score 611 credit score 612 credit score 613 credit score 614 credit score 615 credit score 616 credit score 617 credit score 618 credit score 619 credit score 620 credit score 621 credit score 622 credit score 623 credit score 624 credit score 625 credit score 626 credit score 627 credit score 628 credit score 629 credit score 630 credit score 631 credit score 632 credit score 633 credit score 634 credit score 635 credit score 636 credit score 637 credit score 638 credit score 639 credit score 640 credit score 641 credit score 642 credit score 643 credit score 644 credit score 645 credit score 646 credit score 647 credit score 648 credit score 649 credit score 650 credit score 651 credit score 652 credit score 653 credit score 654 credit score 655 credit score 656 credit score 657 credit score 658 credit score 659 credit score 660 credit score 661 credit score 662 credit score 663 credit score 664 credit score 665 credit score 666 credit score 667 credit score 668 credit score 669 credit score

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