Credit scoring can be complex and takes into account a number of factors that could impact your overall creditworthiness. Your credit score includes the positive and negative factors affecting your credit. It gives you insight into what you are doing well and offers guidelines on how to improve your credit. With a credit score from one of our Providers, you can track your credit score progress over time and receive customized alerts when changes occur.

A soft inquiry is sometimes referred to as a soft credit check. Soft inquiries can occur for several reasons, including when you check your own credit score, or when a lender runs a credit check to preapprove or prequalify you for a loan. Soft inquiries do not impact your credit score because you are not officially applying for credit. However, once you accept the loan offer and apply, the lender will make a hard inquiry. Because hard inquiries are tied to the actual credit application, it will have an impact on your credit score.

Applying for new credit only accounts for about 10% of a credit score, so the affect is relatively modest. Exactly how much applying for new credit affects your score depends on your overall credit profile and your credit reports. For example, applying for new credit can have a greater effect on your overall credit score if you only have a few accounts open or a short credit history. To understand how opening a new line of credit can affect you, you can always request a “credit inquiry” or “credit check” to check your credit standing.

You can check your credit score as often as you want without hurting your credit. In fact, it’s a great idea to do so regularly and build good habits. At a minimum, it’s a good idea to check your credit score before applying for credit, whether it’s a personal loan, student loan, credit card or something else. By checking a few months in advance of applying for credit, it also gives you time to address anything that could be hurting your score.

Checking your own credit score is considered a soft inquiry and won’t affect your credit. Soft inquiries don’t have an impact on your credit score because you’re not officially applying for credit. So when you fill out a form to get prequalified for a personal loan, student loan, mortgage or credit card, you can be at ease knowing your credit will not be affected.

Credit monitoring is the monitoring of one’s credit history in order to detect any suspicious activity, including credit-related fraud and identity theft. Credit monitoring will not prevent fraud, identity theft, or unauthorized use of your credit. However, the credit monitoring offered by some of our Providers will alert you to important changes, such as credit inquiries, public records, delinquencies, negative information, employment changes, new accounts, and other changes to one’s credit history.