*Response Updated 4/2020
Hi Tink954,
Thank you for your question. There a few options you can explore to check your own credit without any impact to your credit score. Checking your own credit differs from when a lender or other institution checks your credit for purposes of approving you for a line of credit, rental application, etc., which then creates what is known as a "hard inquiry." A hard inquiry can impact your credit, and having too many within a two year time period can impact your ability to be approved for an application. Checking your own credit is known as a "soft inquiry" and will not impact your score. It is a good idea to check your credit periodically, which includes looking at not only your credit score, but also your report. You can obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus by visiting annualcreditreport.com. You may also be able to obtain a free credit score through your bank or a credit monitoring service, just be sure it really is free.
Please note that you likely have more than one credit score. In fact, there are numerous scores, so the score you look at may not be the same one that the lender looks at when reviewing an application for credit. With that in mind, view the score you check as an educational score and monitor to make sure it is trending in the right direction over time.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
Thanks,
Mikel
