Does checking your credit score lower it?

Checking your own credit score or credit report does not lower it. When you check your own file, whether through a credit reference agency’s app, a comparison site, or your bank’s free score tool, it registers as a soft search. Soft searches are only visible to you, not to lenders, and they have no effect on your score, no matter how often you check.

Soft searches and hard searches, briefly

The confusion usually comes from mixing up two different types of credit check.

Our guide on soft and hard credit searches explained covers this distinction in more detail, including how mortgage lenders typically use each type at different stages of an application.

This confusion is understandable, since a soft search still shows up in the list of searches on your own report, and it can look similar to a hard search at a glance. The key difference is that a soft search is only ever visible to you, never to another lender checking your file, and it has no bearing on how your score is calculated.

Why the myth persists

Part of the reason people worry about checking their score is that it feels similar to applying for credit, and applying for credit genuinely can affect your file through a hard search. But looking at your own information is a different action entirely from asking a lender to assess you for new borrowing. Credit reference agencies and free checking services are required to make clear which type of search they use, and reputable ones always use soft searches for this purpose.

Why checking regularly is a good habit, not a risk

Because checking your own file is a soft search, there’s no downside to doing it often, and it’s genuinely useful. Regularly reviewing your report from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion helps you:

• Spot errors early, before they affect a mortgage application
• Track how old a default, CCJ or missed payment is, and when it will drop off
• Notice unfamiliar accounts or searches that could suggest fraud
• See your file the way a lender broadly would, before you apply

Our guide on how to check your credit report for free explains how to get your statutory reports from all three agencies.

It’s a good habit to check every few months rather than only when you’re worried about something, since it becomes easier to notice when something changes, a new account you didn’t open, a search you didn’t expect, or a date that looks wrong. Reviewing your file regularly this way costs nothing and, because it’s a soft search every time, there’s no reason to hold back from checking as often as feels useful.

Where hard searches do matter

Hard searches only happen when you (or someone acting for you) apply for actual credit, not when you check your own file. They’re visible to other lenders for a period, usually around 12 months, and several hard searches close together, from applying to multiple lenders or credit providers in a short time, can look like financial pressure and may affect how a lender scores you. This is different from simply checking your own score, and it’s why spreading out formal applications, rather than applying to several lenders at once, is generally sensible.

This is also why some people avoid checking their own score at all, worried that even looking might count against them somehow. It doesn’t, and avoiding your own file doesn’t protect your score in any way, it just means you find out later, sometimes only when a lender declines an application, rather than seeing a problem coming in advance.

Mortgage in principle checks

Many mortgage in principle checks use a soft search, but not all lenders work the same way, and some do use a hard search at this stage. It’s worth asking the lender or your adviser directly which type of check applies before you go ahead with a mortgage in principle, rather than assuming. Our guide on whether a mortgage in principle affects your credit score covers this in more depth.

What this means for remortgaging with adverse credit

If you’re dealing with a default, CCJ or other adverse marker, checking your own credit file regularly costs nothing and carries no risk, and it’s one of the most useful things you can do before speaking to an adviser about a bad credit remortgage. It lets you go into the conversation knowing exactly what a lender will see, rather than guessing.

Where you do need to be careful is with hard searches from actual applications. If you’ve had several credit applications recently, or you’ve been declined before and are unsure why, an adviser can often use eligibility checks that rely on soft searches to narrow down likely lenders before you commit to a full application and a hard search.

This is one of the more practical benefits of working with a specialist adviser rather than applying to several lenders yourself. They can often check likely eligibility using soft searches across a range of specialist lenders first, then move to a single formal application, with its one hard search, once you have a reasonable idea it’s likely to be considered. That approach protects your file from an unnecessary cluster of hard searches while you’re still working out which lender might actually take your circumstances into account.