Thereâs no specific number of hard inquiries thatâs too many or too few. Although some hard inquiries might hurt your credit scores a little, credit scoring models also ignore many hard inquiries when consumers shop for a new loan.
Hard inquiries in your credit report might hurt your credit scores, but theres no specific rule for how many inquiries are too many. Depending on why the hard inquiries occurred and the type of credit score, some hard inquiries may not affect your score much at all.
Even when they do affect your scores, hard inquiries tend to be a minor scoring factor. Still, if you want to minimize the potential impact on your scores, its important to understand how, when and which hard inquiries will affect your scores.
Checking your credit score frequently is a smart financial move. However, many people worry that too many credit checks might lower their credit score. So how many times can you check your credit score without hurting your credit?
The good news is that checking your own credit score does not negatively impact your credit at all. You can check your credit score as often as you want without worrying about lowering your score. Here’s what you need to know about checking your credit score and how it affects your credit.
Checking Your Own Credit Score Does Not Lower It
When you check your own credit report and score, it results in a “soft inquiry” on your credit report. Soft inquiries do not affect your credit score in any way.
On the other hand, when a lender checks your credit report when you apply for new credit, it results in a “hard inquiry.” Too many hard inquiries in a short period of time can slightly lower your credit score.
However, checking your own credit only leads to soft inquiries that are invisible to lenders and have absolutely no impact on your score. So go ahead and check your credit as often as you’d like!
Monitor Your Credit Regularly
Since checking your credit score doesn’t hurt your credit, it’s a good idea to monitor your credit regularly. Here are some recommended frequencies for checking your credit
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At least once per year: Check your credit report and score about once per year to catch any errors or suspicious activity.
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Before major applications: Check your score a few months before applying for a mortgage, auto loan, or other major credit product. This gives you time to improve your score if needed.
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When monitoring improvement: If you’re actively trying to improve your credit, check your scores regularly to track your progress.
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After major credit events: Check your credit after events like applying for new credit or having an account sent to collections. These can impact your scores.
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When using credit monitoring: Many credit monitoring services can update you when there are significant changes in your credit report or score. This allows you to stay updated without having to check as frequently.
Regularly checking your credit score helps you monitor your credit health and catch any problems early. Since it doesn’t hurt your credit there’s no reason not to check it as often as you want!
Your Credit Score Fluctuates Constantly
It’s important to understand that your credit score is not set in stone. It fluctuates constantly in response to changes in your credit report.
Every time new information is added to your credit report, like a new credit card or loan, your credit score is recalculated. The age of your accounts, your credit utilization ratio, and other factors also cause your score to shift over time.
Even if you don’t have any new credit activity, your score can change slightly from month to month. So don’t be alarmed if you see small variations in your score when you check it frequently. Minor fluctuations are normal.
The scoring models also get updated periodically, which can cause your score to shift even if your credit report stays the same. It’s best to focus on the general trend of your credit score rather than small monthly changes.
How Frequent Inquiries Affect Your Credit
Now that we’ve established checking your own credit is safe, you might be wondering about inquiries made when applying for new credit. How often is too often?
The general guideline is to limit credit applications to no more than a few per year. However, FICO’s scoring models ignore multiple auto, mortgage, or student loan inquiries within a certain window:
- Auto and mortgage inquiries within 30 days
- Student loan inquiries within 45 days
So you can rate shop for the best loan terms without excess damage to your credit score. Just try to wrap up the applications within 30-45 days.
Too many hard inquiries beyond normal rate shopping can suggest credit risk to lenders and cause a small score drop. But isolated inquiries here and there for the occasional credit application are nothing to worry about.
Improve Your Credit Knowledge
The more you understand credit, the easier it is to achieve great credit. As you monitor your credit score over time, pay attention to what factors influence it positively or negatively.
Good credit practices like paying bills on time, keeping balances low, and minimizing inquiries will serve you well. Avoid mistakes like missed payments, excessive debt, and applying for more credit than you need.
You can also speak to a credit counselor if you need help understanding your credit reports and scores. Non-profit counselors provide this service for free.
The more seasoned you become with credit monitoring and management, the higher your credit scores will climb. Be patient and focus on forming long-term positive credit habits.
The Bottom Line
Checking your own credit score does not affect your credit at all. You can check it as often as you like without causing any damage.
In fact, it’s smart to check your credit reports and scores regularly to monitor your credit health. Just be aware that frequent applications for new credit accounts can result in hard inquiries that may lower your score slightly.
But merely accessing your own credit reports and scores will only lead to soft inquiries that are invisible to lenders. So feel free to check your credit as often as you want without hurting your score!
What Is a Hard Inquiry?
A hard inquiry is a record of when someone checked your credit report before making a lending decision. These are sometimes called hard pulls because companies request and “pull” your credit report from one or more of the credit bureausâExperian, TransUnion and Equifax.
However, the credit bureaus only provide credit reports to companies that have a legally defined permissible purpose to review your credit report, such as in response to a credit application.
Here are a few quick facts about credit inquiries:
- They generally happen after you apply for credit. Hard inquiries may occur when you apply for a new credit account and the creditor checks your credit report. Hard inquiries can affect your scores even if the creditor denies your application.
- They only get added to the report thats checked. If a creditor checks your Experian credit report, a hard inquiry will be added to your Experian credit file. But you wont have new hard inquiries on your other two credit reports.
- Theyre a minor scoring factor. A hard inquiry might hurt your credit score, but it generally has a small impact and many peoples scores recover within a few months.
- Some hard inquiries wont hurt your scores. Credit scoring models consider rate shoppingâapplying for several of the same type of loan to find the best interest rateâpositive credit behavior, so your credit score wont take multiple hits if you apply within a short window. Instead, several inquiries will be grouped into one, reducing any damage. (More on this below.)
- Others will see them. People and companies that review your credit report can see all the hard inquiries in your credit file.
- They arent permanent. The credit bureaus remove hard inquiries from your credit reports after two years.
Credit checks that happen for non-lending purposes, such as when you check your own credit report, also get recorded in your credit file. However, theyre recorded as soft credit inquiries.
Soft inquiries dont affect your credit scores. You can see them when you check your own credit report, but soft inquiries generally dont appear in the credit reports that lenders receive.
How to Avoid Too Many Hard Inquiries
You can avoid having too many hard inquiries that hurt your credit scores by understanding how credit scores treat hard inquiries and strategically applying for credit.
- Rate shop during a 14-day period. Try to group your applications when youre shopping for a new auto, home or private student loan (federal student loan applications dont lead to hard inquiries). Keeping the applications and resulting hard inquiries in a 14-day period could limit the impact on all your credit scores.
- Get preapproved for personal loans and credit cards. FICO® Scores dont deduplicate hard inquiries for personal loans and cards. However, some lenders and card issuers offer preapprovals, which can tell you if youll likely get approved with a soft credit checkâthe type that doesnt affect your credit scores.
Also, dont overthink the occasional hard inquiry. Building good credit is only helpful if you use it, and you shouldnt be afraid to apply for a new credit card with great benefits or take out an important loan.
Additionally, you can focus on the other, more important scoring factors. For example, paying your bills on time and decreasing your credit utilization ratio by paying down credit card balances could help your credit scores more than sporadic hard inquiries hurt them.
How long Hard Inquiry Stays on YOUR Credit Report (& how long a Hard Pull affects YOUR credit score)
FAQ
How often can you check your credit score without it going down?
Checking your own credit will never hurt your scores, and you can check your credit reports and scores as often as you want. But checking your credit every day, or even checking it weekly or monthly, isn’t always necessary.
Is it bad to have two hard inquiries within 30 days?
Is it bad to check your credit score frequently?
While hard inquiries from lenders may impact your score, checking your own CIBIL score does not affect it in any way. In fact, regular monitoring can help you stay in control of your financial health and take corrective actions when needed.
How many times can your credit be checked before it affects your score?