Will my credit score go down if I order my own credit report?

Q: I’ve heard that credit inquiries can hurt your credit score. If I get my own credit report, will that affect my score?

A: As a consumer, you are entitled by law to receive a copy of your own credit report once a year for free. You can find this free copy at annualcreditreport.com. This will not count as a credit inquiry and will not affect your score in any way.

Credit inquiries affect your score when a company or business applies for your credit and seeks to provide you with credit or financial services. For example, if you apply for a credit card, mortgage, or other loan, the company you apply to will apply for your credit. Each withdrawal of your credit is treated as a separate inquiry.

Multiple inquiries can have a negative effect on your credit. Scoring models see it in two ways. Either you get rejected everywhere and you get desperate, or you get approved everywhere and you get too much debt. Neither situation is good, so scores will be lowered as a warning to other lenders.

There are some exceptions to the multiple credit inquiry scenario. Credit inquiries for services like insurance don’t affect your score. Also, if you are shopping for a mortgage, multiple inquiries within a short period (usually about a week) will be treated as a single inquiry to allow for “rate shopping.”

One place to watch out for is car dealerships. If your credit isn’t perfect, they could very well “shotgun” or submit your credit application to multiple lenders at once, causing many inquiries at once. Be sure to ask the person you are applying to how your credit application will be handled.

In short, if you’re pulling your own credit to check to make sure identity theft hasn’t hit you, you don’t have to worry. If you’re looking to make a major purchase, like a mortgage, it’s highly recommended that you find a broker who can get your credit one time and then shop multiple lenders for you with that one credit inquiry.