How Often Can I Check Credit Scores Without a Penalty?

When multiple companies make hard inquiries about your credit history, credit bureaus assume that you are planning to borrow more money. Because more borrowed money increases your liability as a consumer, credit bureaus could lower your score. However, there is typically no penalty for checking your own credit information, regardless of the number of inquiries you make.

Calculating Credit Scores

The three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, calculate credit scores based on the length of your credit history, whether you make your payments on time, the amount of money you owe, the type of credit you use and whether you have recently obtained or are planning to obtain new credit. To determine if you have new credit or are applying for new credit, the credit bureaus record inquiries that companies make about your creditworthiness.

Inquiries

A credit inquiry can be hard or soft. Only hard inquiries lower your credit score. Hard inquiries include mortgage loan applications, car loan applications, credit card applications, credit checks to obtain a lease and applications for student and personal loans. One hard inquiry typically decreases your credit score by five points or fewer. Additional inquiries within a short period might not have as much impact. Credit bureaus typically consider mortgage, auto and student loan inquiries obtained in a 30-day period to be the same as a single hard inquiry.

Checking Your Own Score

All major credit bureaus consider obtaining your own credit information to be a soft inquiry. Because soft inquiries don't indicate that the borrower is seeking new credit, they don't lower your credit score. Other soft inquiries include promotional inquiries made by companies offering new credit and inquiries made by your current employer or a potential employer. Information about soft inquiries is available only to you and doesn't appear on your credit report when another entity requests it.

Considerations

Checking your credit information periodically allows you to identify and correct errors. If you check your credit report and find an error, you can dispute the error by contacting the credit bureau in writing. The credit bureau must investigate the entry within 30 days. If the creditor can't validate the entry, it must remove the entry from your report.