A common query that many users ask is if they’re going to lose some points after checking their credit score on Credit Karma. This is a common issue because some activities have a detrimental effect on your credit standing if done too often. The best thing that you need to know is that your credit score or any report you look at on Credit Karma does not reduce your score.
How Credit Karma Works
Credit Karma offers to show the TransUnion and Equifax credit reports and VantageScore credit scores for free. While they are primarily focused on providing their users with useful and relevant content, they earn money through advertising and recommending credit card or loan products. This way they can give you your credit information to you for free.
When you ask them to check your score on Credit Karma, they use what is referred to as ‘soft inquiry. ’ Soft pulls only review your credit details without any effect on your credit score. However, “hard inquiries” such as those made when applying for credit actually result in a few points being deducted from your score. The only difference is that soft pulls do not in any way have an impact on the credit score.
Why Checking Your Credit Score Does Not Reduce It
There are a few reasons why checking your credit score won't lower it:There are a few reasons why checking your credit score won't lower it:
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Soft pulls won’t affect it – Only hard inquiries when applying for credit may decrease scores for a short time. The credit checks made by yourself or by other people are not considered if they are soft ones.
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Credit Karma reviews the same bureau - Credit Karma pulls your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports. It is only when new inquiries are made to a different bureau that your score will be affected. If Credit Karma checked Experian too then it may affect your score with that bureau only.
- Frequency doesn’t matter – You could check your Credit Karma score every day without any harm. Surprisingly, it is actually quite prudent to check your credit frequently to detect any fraudulent use immediately. The scoring models don’t punish you for that.
When Your Credit Score May Lower
At times, simply logging into Credit Karma and checking your score might have coincided with score reduction, but it could not be the reason. For example:
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New accounts opened – This occurs when one applies for new credit cards or a loan, and the credit reporting agency conducts a hard pull. To many new accounts at once affect credit mix as well as inquiries, which, in turn, affects scores.
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Changes in utilization - The higher the credit card balances relative to credit limits, the lower the credit scores. However, some statement fluctuations do still happen even when the usage is responsible.
- Negative information – If there are mistakes on your credit history or someone opens a credit account in your name, then, of course, the score will be lower.
As to why credit scores may go down, the ones that come to mind are directly related to your actual reports and histories, not because you decided to check your credit score on Credit Karma or some other website. When you monitor regularly, you are able to check the changes and rectify any suspicious or invalid information as early as possible. It might help to sign up for credit monitoring too so that you’ll get notifications for these changes.
The Takeaway
Logging into Credit Karma and checking out your credit score as many times as you want does not in any way affect your credit score. Actually, it is advised to check the credit often to avoid becoming a victim of ID theft and to ensure the reports are accurate. Some of the actions that one should be careful about include applying for new credit and carrying high balances that are detrimental to the score. The only thing that you need to worry about is if all you are doing is looking at your score. You can check as much as you want!
