Can Looking At Your Credit Score Lower It?

How Exactly Does a Credit Score Get Affected If You Look At It

Your credit score is an essential component of your credit life. It can influence the interest rates on loan rental applications, insurance, and much more. Of course, you would prefer to keep an eye on your credit score so that it would be as close to the mark as possible. Nevertheless, one question that consumers seem to ask frequently is, “Can viewing my credit score decrease it?”

The short answer to the question is no, you do not damage your credit score when you check it yourself.

Here is a look at why it is worthwhile to want to view your credit report more closely.

Soft inquiries do not affect your score in any way with the credit bureau.

The credit inquiries can be classified into two types which include the soft credit inquiries and the hard credit inquiries. Hard inquiries are those occasions when you applied for credit, and the lenders made requests to the credit bureaus. Such as credit card applications, mortgage loans, auto loans, and the like. Hard inquiries marginally affect your score, which could be damaging permanently credit scores.

Soft inquiries are only requests for information. They happen when you get your credit reports either from the credit bureaus or when you sign up for free credit monitoring. When you check your credit reports and your credit scores, it only creates soft inquiries that only you can see, not the lenders. These inquiries do not have any impact on your credit score.

The Positions of the Three Major Credit Bureaus

All three Credit Reporting Agencies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, agree that self-checking does not hurt one’s credit score. Here are their official stances:

Experian: “While doing ng credit check on your own does not lower your credit score…When you obtain a copy of your credit report directly from Experian, you generate only a ‘soft inquiry’ that does not impune your score. ”

Equifax: Looking at your credit report does not affect your credit score since it is considered to be a soft credit check as opposed to a hard credit check. "

TransUnion: It is important to note that you cannot change your credit score by simply checking it.

Stay Vigilant Against Fraud

By actively monitoring your credit report, you can detect fraud and errors and address them as soon as possible. Being credit vigilant is useful as it safeguards one’s score and personal identification details.

FTC has conducted a study that revealed that about 20 percent of consumers have found errors that need to be corrected in their credit reports. These may include accounts opened fraudulently, with the wrong account status, limits, balance, or payment history, swapped personal details, etc. It is important to note that such errors can greatly impact credit ratings.

You can request three free credit reports every twelve months from each of the three credit bureaus atAnnualCreditReport.comt. com. There’s a great strategy to go about requesting your credit reports, and that is to do it agency by agency, spread out over every 4 months with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. This enables you to go through reports at any time of the year without leaving the document for quite some time.

Dispute Errors Promptly

If you have any negative entries on your credit reports, you should also dispute them with the credit bureaus as soon as you see them. The law requires that the agencies investigate the disputed items within 30 days.

Many of the credit report errors are initiated by financial institutions that reportincorrectg information. It lies in the hands of these lenders to verify that the various disputed data are accurate. If they are unable to substantiate the information, the credit bureaus have to follow the Fair Credit Reporting Act and delete the items. This prevents distortion of information as you prepare your reports.

Managing your credit is a sense of security. You will be confident that the reports you submit do not contain expensive errors that can negatively affect your creditworthiness and credit history.

Can I Still Get A Loan?

It would be rather disconcerting to see your credit score decrease after reviewing your credit report. But the act of watching the information itself did not result in a decrease.

Here are some explanations for why your score can fluctuate after you check it:

The scoring model changed. The two most popular credit scores are FICO and VantageScore. They often alter their scoring models and this leads to changes in consumers’ scores.

Your reports uare pdated. There may be new information on your credit file and this alters the data used to compute your scores.

Your credit changed. Have you made changes in the last 12 months, such as opening a new account, a delayed payment, a lower credit limit, etc.? The credit reports include key changes that affect your score.

It is crucial to consider the fact that monitoring services do not give real-time scores. The scores that third-party sites display are sometimes different from those that lenders pull, and these sites do not refresh in real time.

On many occasions, the fluctuation in your score and your decision to request a report could be unrelated events. It is not a direct consequence of viewing your reports.

Consider the Pros of Monitoring Your Credit Score

Rejecting credit report checks to avoid score declines means that you are bound to experience more unsavory financial outcomes. Fraud detection and error reporting are more important than score changes, which is the reason why cheating is caught and mistakes are reported early. A single mistake undetected can lead to loan rejections, increased interest rates, and other challenging financial problems.

Meanwhile, monitoring your credit comes with many upside benefits, like:

• Preventing your identity and cash from being stolen

• The importance of making certain that you meet the requirements for the most favorable loan terms

• Encouraging you to maintain proper health standards

• Enabling you to justify any fluctuation in scores to the lenders

• Providing up-to-date information when looking for an apartment to rent

It is important to not that burying your head in the sand does not make credit reporting errors or fraud cease to exist. It just gives them more time to compile before they come to light at less favorable times.

As much as credit monitoring tools are helpful, it is essential to use them responsibly.

When thoroughly scrutinized, credit information is as valuable in helping you understand your financial status. Monitoring it helps in the early detection of any unusual activity that may suggest identity theft. Consumers should always develop a good practice of checking their credit reports and scores frequently.

Many websites provide users with completely free credit reports and scores today. The caveat is to use these monitoring tools properly to ensure that there are no hard inquiries that are not necessary. When using report sources, ensure that they only make soft inquiries that do not affect your credit score. And be wise in timing your reviews for supervision.

A good credit score is not developed overnight but rather it requires a lot of effort and consistency. As long as pyou roperly conduct credit checks, your progress is not hindered when using the correct measures. Supervising the reports you have ensures that you portray your borrowing credit profile without harming your credit status.

Don't let bad credit hold you back—contact us at (888) 803-7889 now!