The higher the score, the more responsible you appear as a borrower. Both companies use similar scoring models to determine your scores, so there should only be a slight discrepancy between a FICO score and a VantageScore. There are dozens of credit score iterations, and which one is used depends on the type of lender looking at it.
For example, the credit score an auto lender sees may be slightly different than the one a mortgage lender sees. You can check your credit score as often as you want. If you can catch a credit mistake early, you may be able to avoid problems like getting denied for a loan or apartment lease. When you check your own credit score, it has no impact because it only counts as a soft inquiry. There are two ways a company can pull your credit information: a soft inquiry and a hard inquiry.
A soft inquiry is most often used when a lender wants to preapprove you for a loan or credit card and has no visible impact on your score. Employer credit checks also show up as soft inquiries. Landlord credit checks are often considered hard inquiries, too. A hard inquiry will officially stay on your credit report for two years but will only affect your score for one year—typically between one and five points.
Viewing your credit score can alert you to potential problems, like a fraudulent account opened in your name or a bill you forgot about that went to collections. If you check your score regularly, you can deal with these problems as they come up.
There are a number of credit scoring sites you can use to check your credit score for free. You typically have to create an account to receive a credit score and be notified of any new accounts or score changes. Many banks and credit card providers have free credit score services , including these eight providers:. Instead, use a free monitoring tool, minimize your credit card use and pay all your bills on time. Those strategies will help you improve your score and qualify for lower interest rates.
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That's why we provide features like your Approval Odds and savings estimates. Of course, the offers on our platform don't represent all financial products out there, but our goal is to show you as many great options as we can. All of these factors help creditors decide whether to extend new credit to you or give you additional credit.
They commonly take place when you apply for a mortgage, loan or credit card, and you typically have to authorize them. A hard inquiry could lower your scores by a few points, or it may have a negligible effect on your scores.
And the damage to your credit scores usually decreases or disappears even before the inquiry drops off your credit reports for good hard credit checks generally stay on your credit reports for about two years. Multiple hard inquiries in a short period could lead lenders and credit card issuers to consider you a higher-risk customer, as it suggests you may be short on cash or getting ready to rack up a lot of debt.
Checking your own credit score is considered a soft inquiry and won't affect your credit. There are other types of soft inquiries that also don't affect your credit score, and several types of hard inquiries that might.
Here's what you need to know about soft and hard inquiries and why checking your credit score regularly is a good idea. A soft inquiry , sometimes referred to as a soft credit check, can occur for a few reasons, including:. Soft inquiries don't have an impact on your credit score because you're not officially applying for credit. So when you fill out a form to get prequalified for a mortgage, student loan, personal loan or credit card, there are no strings attached. Once you take the next step and apply, however, the lender will make a hard inquiry , which will show up on your credit report for others to see and can temporarily lower your credit score.
While checking your own credit score won't change it, there are plenty of other things that can affect your credit score negatively. Because there are so many variables that go into calculating your credit score, it's impossible to determine exactly how much damage a negative item may cause to your score.
But if you notice your credit score drop and are wondering why, look at these areas to find the likely reason. You can check your credit score as often as you want without hurting your credit, and it's a good idea to do so regularly. At the very minimum, it's a good idea to check before applying for credit, whether it's a home loan, auto loan, credit card or something else.
When you do this, you can help make sure there aren't any problems that could make it difficult to get approved for a new loan or credit account. By checking at least a few months in advance, it can also give you time to address anything that could be hurting your credit score. It's also a good idea to check your credit report at least once a year. While your credit score is a numerical snapshot of your overall credit health, your credit report provides the actual information used to calculate your score.
As you check your credit report, look out for anything you don't recognize. If you find something odd, contact the lender to make sure it's legitimate.
Sometimes, a lender may operate under a different name and report a name you're not familiar with to the credit bureaus; if you're applying for a car loan, the dealership may submit a credit application to multiple lenders. The impact from applying for credit will vary from person to person based on their unique credit histories. For most people, one additional credit inquiry will take less than five points off their FICO Scores. Inquiries can have a greater impact if you have few accounts or a short credit history.
Large numbers of inquiries also mean greater risk. Statistically, people with six inquiries or more on their credit reports can be up to eight times more likely to declare bankruptcy than people with no inquiries on their reports.
Much more important factors for your scores are how timely you pay your bills and your overall debt burden as indicated on your credit report. Research has indicated that FICO Scores are more predictive when they treat loans that commonly involve rate-shopping, such as mortgage, auto and student loans, in a different way. So, if you find a loan within 30 days, the inquiries won't affect your scores while you're rate shopping.
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