Checking Your Credit Report Won't Hurt Your Score - Experian (2024)

FAQs

Checking Your Credit Report Won't Hurt Your Score - Experian? ›

Checking your own credit report or score won't affect your credit scores. It's an example of a soft inquiry—a request for credit info that does not affect credit scores. Experian, TransUnion and Equifax now offer all U.S. consumers free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com.

Good news: Credit scores aren't impacted by checking your own credit reports or credit scores. In fact, regularly checking your credit reports and credit scores is an important way to ensure your personal and account information is correct, and may help detect signs of potential identity theft.

Credit scores from the three main bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) are considered accurate. The accuracy of the scores depends on the accuracy of the information provided to them by lenders and creditors. You can check your credit report to ensure the information is accurate.

Checking your own credit report is not an inquiry about new credit, so it has no effect on your score. In fact, reviewing your credit report regularly can help you make sure the information the credit reporting companies share with lenders is accurate and up-to-date.

What causes a bad credit score? Your credit score reflects how lenders see you. If you have a low credit score, there may be information on your credit report that lenders see negatively. For example, late payments may make lenders think you won't pay them on time, so your score will be lower to reflect this.

Checking your own credit report or score won't affect your credit scores. It's an example of a soft inquiry—a request for credit info that does not affect credit scores. Experian, TransUnion and Equifax now offer all U.S. consumers free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com.

Experian Boost only considers on-time payments. Late payments are ignored, and therefore cannot hurt your FICO^® Score.

Simply put, there is no “more accurate” score when it comes down to receiving your score from the major credit bureaus.

For a score with a range between 300 and 850, a credit score of 700 or above is generally considered good. A score of 800 or above on the same range is considered to be excellent. Most consumers have credit scores that fall between 600 and 750. In 2022, the average FICO^® Score^☉ in the U.S. reached 714.

Ultimately, whether it's worth paying for a premium Experian account or not will depend on how closely you need to monitor your credit record. Since a general overview of your credit score is free, if you only require a cursory look at your credit report then these premium features might not be worth the investment.

What is the best way to check your credit score? ›

Why does your credit score go down when you check it? Checking your own credit doesn't affect it. But your score could go down if someone else checks it. That would happen if you applied for a loan, credit card or perhaps an apartment.

Since hard inquiries affect your credit score and what is found may even affect approval, you might be wondering: How many inquiries is too many? The answer differs from lender to lender, but most consider six total inquiries on a report at one time to be too many to gain approval for an additional credit card or loan.

As someone with a 650 credit score, you are firmly in the “fair” territory of credit. You can usually qualify for financial products like a mortgage or car loan, but you will likely pay higher interest rates than someone with a better credit score. The "good" credit range starts at 690.

Highlights: While older models of credit scores used to go as high as 900, you can no longer achieve a 900 credit score. The highest score you can receive today is 850. Anything above 800 is considered an excellent credit score.

Why is my Experian credit score different from FICO? The credit scores you see when you check a service like Experian may differ from the FICO scores a lender sees when checking your credit. That's because the lender may be using a FICO score based on data from a different credit bureau.

Every year, you're entitled to one free credit report from each of the main credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You can access these reports for free at annualcreditreport.com, which is authorized by federal law.

A hard credit inquiry could lower your credit score by as much as 10 points, though in many cases, the damage probably won't be that significant. As FICO explains, “For most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO Scores.”

Use a credit score service or free credit scoring site.

You're entitled to a free copy of your credit reports every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit bureaus by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com. You can also create a myEquifax account to get six free Equifax credit reports each year.

Credit Karma: Best free credit score app

Credit Karma also explains what's affecting your credit score and how to improve it. It monitors your credit report and sends you alerts for major changes.