27% of Americans Think They'll Face Backlash for Checking Their Credit. Here's Why They're Wrong

You shouldn't hesitate to check your credit report when you feel it’s necessary.

You'll often hear that it's a good idea to check your credit report a few times a year. The reason? Your credit report is a snapshot of your credit history. It lists your open credit accounts and loans, and it shows how much of your available credit you're using at once and how many delinquent debts, if any, you have.

It's important to check your credit report every few months to make sure it's accurate. If your credit report shows you as being delinquent on a mortgage loan payment when that never actually happened, correcting that mistake could lead to a boosted credit score. 

Meanwhile, according to a recent survey by Capital One, 27% of respondents said they thought checking their credit reports would result in damage to their scores. But that's not true at all.

You won't be dinged for pulling your own credit

Any time you apply for a new credit card or loan, the lender is going to pull your credit report to see how much risk it's taking on by loaning you money or extending a line of credit. When that happens, it counts as a hard inquiry. And that could bring your credit score down.

That said, a single hard inquiry will generally only lower your credit score by about five to 10 points. So if you're applying for a personal loan and your lender pulls your credit report, your score of 770 might drop to 760 or 765. 

That's not a huge deal, since there's not a big difference between these numbers in terms of creditworthiness. Or, to put it another way, you're likely to be offered the same interest rate on a loan whether your score is a 760 versus a 765 versus a 770.

Where you could get into trouble is having multiple hard inquiries on your credit report within a short period of time. A single five- or 10-point drop isn't so bad, but if you have three hard inquiries in short order, your score could drop around 30 points, which isn't ideal.

But rest assured that when you access your own credit report to give it a look, it doesn't count as a hard inquiry. So you should feel free to review your credit report when you need to, such as when you're gearing up to apply for a large loan or are worried about fraud.

How often should you check your credit report?

Normally, you can get one free copy of your credit report from each reporting bureau a year. Since there are three reporting bureaus -- Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion -- this means that checking your credit report every four months is a good bet.

With that said, credit reports are currently available for free on a weekly basis through the end of 2023. So you could check yours more frequently this year without having to pay if you so choose. 

But usually, checking your credit report every four months is reasonable. That should give you a solid snapshot of your borrowing picture.