By 
Checking your own credit score does not lower it. This is one of the most persistent myths in personal finance and it stops people from monitoring their credit. The confusion comes from a misunderstanding of the difference between soft inquiries and hard inquiries. Here is exactly what each one is and which one affects your score.
Soft Inquiries: Zero Score Impact
A soft inquiry is a credit check that does not affect your score. These happen when:
- You check your own credit score or report
- A lender pre-approves you for an offer you did not specifically apply for
- An employer runs a background check (with your permission)
- A credit card company reviews existing accounts for credit limit increases
- You use Credit Karma, Experian, or your bank’s free credit score tool
Soft inquiries appear on your credit report in a section visible only to you, not to lenders. They have absolutely no effect on your credit score, ever, under any circumstances.
Hard Inquiries: Small, Temporary Score Impact
A hard inquiry occurs when you apply for new credit and authorize a lender to pull your full credit report. These include:
- Credit card applications
- Mortgage applications
- Auto loan applications
- Personal loan applications
- Student loan applications (private)
- Apartment applications (some landlords run hard pulls)
A single hard inquiry typically drops your score by 5-10 points. The impact usually lasts about 12 months, and the inquiry itself stays on your report for 2 years.
Rate Shopping Exception
If you are shopping for a mortgage, auto loan, or student loan, FICO treats multiple hard inquiries within a 14-45 day window as a single inquiry. This allows you to compare rates from multiple lenders without each application counting separately. Apply with multiple lenders within a short window to take advantage of this.
This exception does NOT apply to credit cards. Each credit card application is a separate hard inquiry regardless of timing.
When Hard Inquiries Matter
A single hard inquiry from one application is nearly meaningless in the context of your overall score — 5-10 points is a rounding error. Hard inquiries become meaningful when:
- You apply for 5-6 cards in a few months (signals financial desperation to lenders)
- You are near a scoring threshold where even 10 points could push you below a qualification cutoff
- You have a thin credit file where any negative factor has outsized impact
For most people in most situations, applying for one or two credit products per year has no meaningful impact on credit score outcomes.
Check Your Credit Freely
Given that checking your own credit has zero impact, check it often. Free options:
- annualcreditreport.com — free full reports from all three bureaus weekly
- Credit Karma — free VantageScore from TransUnion and Equifax, updated weekly
- Experian free account — free FICO Score 8 from Experian monthly
- Your bank or credit card app — many show free FICO scores in dashboards
Regular monitoring catches errors and identity theft early. Neither of which you can address if you are not looking.
Sources: FICO hard inquiry impact data; Experian soft vs hard inquiry guidance; CFPB credit inquiry explanation. This article is for informational purposes only.
