Why Yes, You Can Check Your Credit Scores Without Penalty

One of the hardest things about repairing and even building credit is that there’s a lot of conflicting information out there. There’s a lot of people that assume that they know best when it comes to your credit scores, and since you don’t want to mess anything up, you are more likely to listen to bad advice — even when you know it’s best. A lot of people actually feel kind of helpless when it comes to fixing their credit. They’re so used to believing that there’s just no way that they’re ever going to fix their credit, and that’s not really the case at all. You just need to get the right information the first time.

So let’s talk honesty here: yes, you really can check your credit score without penalty. There, we said it. We get a little irritated by this myth because the truth is that regular monitoring of your credit scores is actually quite important. The last thing that you really want to do is check your scores only once a year. if you’re only looking at your credit report once a year, that’s 364.25 days that identity thieves, junk debt buyers, and other villains have to mess up your credit. If you’re really thinking about getting proactive with your credit report, you’re going to need to make sure that you really do take the time to do more than just view your report every year once. You will need to monitor it at least every month. You don’t even have to work hard to monitor your credit report year round — you can join a credit monitoring service.

You will just need to make sure that you actually invest the money in getting your scores every month. This is where some people complain about actually spending good money every month to have the monitoring. However, think about the cost of not knowing. Would you rather go without knowing and then have to turn around and apply for credit? What about when you go to apply for a job? You might not realize this, but you will get to a point where you’re going to want another job and guess what — employers do perform credit checks. In addition, if you want a new apartment, you’re going to have to subject to a credit check. As you can see, credit is really becoming a big thing — and you’re going to pay through the nose if you don’t have good credit.

The credit bureaus do not count credit inquiries that you make — only the ones that creditors make. The inquiries made by employers are actually treated special — those do not count against you. It could get crazy if they did, especially in today’s uncertain economy.

Overall, there’s nothing to worry about pulling your own credit score. You’re in a lot more danger not pulling your credit score than if you actually pull it. Keep that in mind and you’ll be just fine!