I think I've heard that credit inquires(for seeking loans,etc.) of the 3 credit bureaus results in lowering the score and is cumulative. The more inquires such as home buying, auto purchase, major appliance or personal loans the lower the score goes each time. If this is true, does it also apply to personal requests for the free annual credit report?
128520
It will not be an inquiry if you request the report from the proper site.  Inquiries do lower the score, but usually only if the inquiries are all packed together (showing that you are desperate for money).  An occasional inquiry won't significantly lower your credit score.
124472
Everyone is entitled to a free credit report annually by each of the three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.  You will not get a score (This you can actually purchase for the price mentioned in the previous answer).  You can get your credit report at http://www.annualcreditreport.com\n\nYou could also go to http://www.freecreditreport.com however, that site is actually run by one of the credit agencies (Experian) and I understand that even though you can get your actual credit score (FICO) that way, you are actually signing up for a service where you pay $12.95/month and MUST cancel within 30 days-the trial period to avoid being billed.\n\nYou will need a credit card using that service however.\n\nKeep in mind that you can go into some banks and purchase a prepaid (pre-loaded) credit card (Visa or Mastercard) for $50 or $100 and use this card online, but there is a pretty hefty (for some) fee of $10-$15.  \n\nGood luck\n\nZZ
332233
Yes. This is a good tip (probaby the best use of 5 points on Yahoo! Answers I've seen yet!).\n\nThere are 3 credit bureaus. I'd recommend separating the 3 free credit reports over the year (rather than getting them all at once) to keep an eye on your credit. With so much identity theft out there, this is one great tool to try to stop it early if it happens to you.\n\nThanks!
175841
You are right, you do not want to keep having your credit pulled because it will make your score go down.  Are you looking for a personal loan?
66010
Everyone in the US is entitled to one copy of their credit report each year from each bureau for free.  There is nothing to sign up for, this is a gov't program - https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
10764
It's a complex algorithm that is kept private by the 3 major credit reporting agencies. But generally speaking, the biggest factors are:\n\n- paying bills on time (positive points)\n- the size of your accounts, the larger ones like mortgages are good, the smaller ones like Target are bad \n- how frequently creditors look into your report (negative points)\n- whether or not you have any judgements or bankruptcies (negative points)\n- keeping your balances below half of the limit (positive points)\n- the frequency of using your cards (if you don't use your credit cards over a long period of time, your score goes down)\n- last, but not least: you need to have at least a few accounts open, but not too many\n\nHope that helps.
128114
Call the credit report agency and they should be able to help you. An inquiry on your credit report once in awhile does not look bad. It's when you've got alot of inquiries all in a short amount of time that knocks your credit score down. That is because it looks like you are applying for too much credit all at once and it makes you a "risk". And this is just a thought about that unknown inquiry on your report- did you file you taxes and get the next day "tax anticipation loan"? Because they do pull your credit for that. Just an idea. Good luck
448190
I'm sorry to tell Renee that there is only one site that is absolutely free:  AnnualCreditReport.com.  It's the ONLY government approved site to get your free credit report from each of the bureaus.\nThey don't ask for your credit card # and does not require you to sign up for any services.  If you want your credit score, you will have to pay for that.\nIf you find any other site that offers a 'free credit report' ignore them.
94925
You can get your official score from each of the 3 reporting companies. \n\nDo not trust any free credit report sites except those officially authorized by the Federal Trade Commission which include the 3 main companies that compile your credit score (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). My source includes official government information regarding free credit reports and how to get one. It doesn't make sense to trust other credit reporting sites when you can get information officially from those that actually compile your credit score.\n\n"The law allows you to order one free copy of your report from each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies every 12 months."
156065
The above answers are wrong.  Please take the time to go to http://www.myfico.com\nThis is the home site for the people that developed the credit  card scoring system used by the agencies.  \n\nPart of your score involves credit history and your "debt to credit" ratio.  \n\nIf you cancel your credit card, it will have a negative effect on your score.  However, it's also not good to have a card that charges you annual fees, especially when you don't use it.  The drop in your score will be temporary, and should be restored in a few months.  I suggest getting whatever credit you need first, then cancel the card.\n\nYour relationship with the bank isn't monitored by the credit bureau unless you have taken out loans.  The loan info will be on your history and will not be removed when you switch banks.  So you are safe there.  My experience with credit unions is they have better interest rates on both savings and loans.  Isn't there a way that you can somehow maintain your relationship with them?
124248
Most of the people answering in the credit section have no clue about FICO credit scoring.\n\nIf you have a "dormant" (your term) credit card that you have had for a long time and it is not reporting any late payment then having that account and not using it will be a positive factor for your score. The thought that you can have too many cards and that is risky isn't proven in the credit scoring model used by FICO. People who get into trouble usually carry balances on all their cards. If you have lots of accounts with zero balances that shows credit responsibility.\n\nFrom a practical standpoint having 3-6 revolving accounts(with near zero balances) and 1-2 installment accounts(car, mortgage) will be "optimal" for attaining an Excellent credit score (720+) If you have more revolving accounts then you might consider which ones you don't ever use and close them.\n\nGood Luck
223343
there are several factor affecting your credit score, one of them being the percentange of debt to credit. you want to keep your debt to credit at less than 30% so if you  had a 1000 limit on your card you would not want o spent more than 300 on that card or it will start to affect your credit score, also you want to pay more than your minimum balance, on time every month on all your cards.  Even if you max out your cards & pay them all off each month that can be a detriment to your credit score depending on when it was pulled (before the payment was processed for that month)  Another factor is how long your accounts have been open. the longer your good credit standing the better your score will be.  this is to discourage people from canceling thier old accounts.  Another factor that has an effect on the score is how many inquiries, meaning how many loans, cards, or lines of credit have you applied for in the last six months.  That isn't to say that you cant shop around for rates, you can file with a couple of mortgage brokers & banks looking for the best rate, as long as they are all grouped together within a few weeks, that should count as one inquiry.  Also if you have derogatory reports on there like slow credt payments, missed payments, bankruptcy etc.  These also have an effect on your score.\nHope this helps
588552
In addition to the answer before mine, you can also monitor your own credit by requesting your free annual report from each of the three credit reporting agencies.\n\nSince the article you were reading was warning about information loss related to possible identity theft, the person using the phrase "credit monitoring" was probably trying to tell the individuals whose information was lost, that they need to make sure no one else is using their identity by checking their credit report regularly.
468317
There are three main credit reporting agencies - you MUST dispute it with ALL 3!!!!!\n\nTransunion\nEquifax\nExperian\n\nEach has a certain part of the country as their specialty.  If you only clear it with one of them - if you ever moved it would haunt you again.  Most creditors report to all 3.  Now when you clear it with one they are SUPPOSED to contact the other 2.  but, double check.  You are allowed one free credit report every x months (x depends on the state and the credit reporting agency), if you filed a criminal report you get more free credit reports.
594926
There is no legal prohibition for the creditor of an outstanding debt obligation to do period checks on the status of your credit (i.e. inquire on your credit report).  Collection agencies do this quite often and the inquiries alone should not affect your credit score (the bad debt will though).  If you believe the underlying debt they are collecting is improper, then you should dispute it through the three credit bureaus - TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.
59383
You are somewhat correct.  The basically are all offering the same thing - but every now and then you will find one or two who are willing to give you a better rate than others.  \n\nWe just bought a new home and i went through this same thing.  I have a very good credit score so I knew i could get the rock bottom of the apr's out there so I looked around.  There were a few that seemed good - then i called a few more and found out that the ones I had previously thought were good weren't as good as I thought.  \n\nthey were offering me 5.75 with 1 point or 5.5 with 3 points.  this was on a 277,000 loan so that's a lot of mula.  \n\nI ended up going for Wells Fargo with NO POINTS  5.625 %  \n\nThat was a good one and very competetive.  \n\nThe other ones came from Lending tree - but I found Wells fargo on my own.  \n\nGood luck
541797
yes its changed. The so called credit score is not even used by most lenders now they have a modified version of the fico it being phased out for a while now. \n\nThe lenders changed it because of the ineffeciencies in the credit score and wildly reporting innacuracies from the three top guns. \n\nI would not sweat it the "credit score" is now pretty much meaningless.