Do you know how to check your credit score without affecting it? Well before I go into that, there is a question you first need to ask yourself and that is – will checking your credit score hurt it?
How to Check Credit Score Without Affecting It
Checking your credit scores on a regular basis as well as your credit reports is a good way to make sure that information is correct and accurate. But can checking your credit score cause damage to it? Many people at the moment are not sure regarding checking their credit reports or their credit scores out of the concern that it may impact their credit scores negatively.
Well, the good news here is that credit scores are not impacted just by checking your very own credit scores or credit reports. Checking your credit scores on a regular is one very important medium to ensure your personal and account information is correct and may also help to detect signs of potential identity theft.
The Impact of Soft and Hard Inquires On Credit Scores
When you request for a copy of your credit report or get to check credit scores, that is known as a “soft” inquiry. Other types of soft inquiries as you should know result from companies that send you promotional credit card offers as well as existing lending account reviews by companies with whom you have opened an account. Soft inquiries in question do not affect credit scores and are also not visible to potential lenders that may review your credit reports. They are in question visible to you and they will stay on your credit reports for 12 to 24 months, but however, depending on the type.
The other type of inquiry on the other hand is a “hard” inquiry. Those types of inquiries happen after you have applied for a loan or a credit card and then the potential lender reviews your credit history.
Hard inquiries as you should also know do affect credit scores, but if it is that you are making a big purchase such as buying a house or securing a mortgage, and even shopping around for the most competitive rates, generally multiple hard inquiries are treated as one hard inquiry for a given period of time, which is typically 14 to 45 days. That in question gives you ample time to check different lenders and then find the best loan terms for you. This very multiple-hard inquiry exception in question generally does not apply to credit cards.
How to Get Your Credit Reports
You should know that you are entitled to a free copy of your credit reports every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit bureaus just by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com. You also can create a myEquifax account in a bid to get six free Equifax credit reports every single year. and in addition, you can click “Get my free credit score” on your myEquifax dashboard to easily enroll in Equifax Core Credit for a free monthly Equifax credit report as well as a free monthly VantageScore 3.0 credit score, that is based on Equifax data. A VantageScore as you should know is one of many types of credit scores.
When you are checking on your credit report, it is very important to make sure that all of your personal information, such as your name and address, is accurate and that there is no information that you don’t recognize. And in addition to this, you should make sure that your account information is accurate and complete. Do the account balances, credit limits, as well as payment history look accurate? Is there account information listed on your report that you don’t believe is yours?
If you get to see account information that you believe is not accurate or incomplete on your credit reports, then you should do well to contact the lending company directly. You also can file a dispute with the credit bureau and then provide the credit report.
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