Does It Hurt Your Credit to Get a Credit Report?

Credit affects just about everything we do. Whether you're applying for a job, a mortgage, a car loan or a credit card, there's a good chance your credit is going to be scrutinized. Given how important credit is, it makes sense to keep an eye on your credit report and credit score. Fortunately, checking your credit to get a credit report doesn't hurt your credit.

Credit Report Overview

There are three credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experion and Equifax. Each may contain slightly different information. In general, each report will have your identifying information, including any other names you've used, your lines of credit (both open and closed accounts), any credit inquiries and delinquencies. Your credit score is a number compiled from your credit report by the Fair Isaac Corporation, and reflects your overall use of credit. Your credit score isn't automatically included with your credit report.

Obtaining Your Credit Report

You're entitled to one free credit report each year from each of the three credit reporting agencies, per the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions, or FACT, Act. You can order your free report at AnnualCreditReport.com; this is the only site that provides the free reports you're entitled to by law. There are other sites that provide "free" credit reports, but obtaining the report involves signing up for a credit monitoring services for a trial period, and there is a cost to the monitoring service once your trial period ends. Your FICO score isn't included with your annual credit report, so if you want to know your score, you'll need to purchase it separately.

Inquiries

Inquiries can potentially hurt your credit. If you get your credit report through a legitimate source (the Annual Credit Report site, the official site of one of the credit reporting agencies or FICO), it will not count as an inquiry and affect your credit. The type of inquiries that can hurt your credit are multiple hard inquiries. A hard inquiry occurs when you apply for credit. Applications for credit cards, mortgages or car loans will all generate hard inquiries. FICO has measures in place to account for rate shopping for mortgages, car loans and student loans, so multiple inquiries won't hurt your score. For example, if you're shopping for a car loan and you apply at two banks and your dealership, the multiple inquiries count as one inquiry, as it's clear you're comparing rates. This only applies if you do the rate shopping within a 30 day period.

Hurting Your Credit

For the most part, credit reports won't hurt your credit. Attempting to open several new lines of credit can hurt your credit. Late payments also hurt your credit. Your credit report also reflects how much of your available credit you're using. Keeping your credit balances at or near your credit limit also hurts your credit. Bankruptcies are listed on your report, as well as court judgments, tax liens and settled accounts. When you review your credit report, carefully review the information, and write the reporting agency immediately if you see any mistakes. Use the information to see how you can improve your credit moving forward.