How to Do a Credit Score Check?

Different financial institutions use credit scores to analyze your creditworthiness. If you have a good credit score ranging from 670 to 850, you can avail yourself of various benefits like lower interest rates, higher credit limits, and faster loan approvals. However, if your credit card isn’t up to the mark, falling either in the bad or poor category, you may face challenges like high interest and even loan rejections. Now, you must be wondering how to do a credit score check.

How can you know if your credit score has started improving or needs more work? To help you in this regard, we are going to discuss some of the easiest ways to do a credit card check so you can evaluate your financial credibility. So, keep on reading!

Top Ways You Can Check Your Credit Score

The following are some of the top ways with which you can quickly do a credit score check:

Credit Score Checking Websites

You can rely on credit score check websites to learn your credit score. These websites typically utilize data like your name, date of birth, and social security number to retrieve your score from different credit bureaus.

For instance, websites like PFScores allow you to view your credit score for free. All you’ve to do is create your account and enter your details.

The platform will then take a 360° view of your savings, risk, and debt management to provide insights into how your spending and saving habits impact your overall credit score. What’s the best part? PFScores is totally safe, and you don’t have to worry about your data being at risk.

Credit Card Issuers

Another way you can get information about your credit score is through your credit card issuer. Your credit card company may mention the score on your monthly statement, or you can log into the account to get access to it. Some common examples of credit card companies that provide credit scores are:

Discover: Discover Financial Services, Inc. is a popular American financial company that manages the Discover Bank. It’s an online bank that offers you checking and saving accounts as well as some personal and home equity loans. If you are a Discover card holder, you can easily access your FICO credit score for free via the Discover Credit Scorecard. Even non-customers can do a credit score check, getting their 12-month credit history without harming their credit.
Capital One: Capital One Financial Corporation is also an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, and savings accounts. This platform offers you a tool named CreditWise that calculates your VantageScore credit score using TransUnion®. The best part about this is that any change to your Experian and TransUnion® credit reports is quickly reported so you can make efforts to manage your credit score.

Credit Reporting Agencies

Credit reporting agencies can also help you do a quick credit score check. Typically, these bureaus compile your credit history based on your credit accounts and use other information like social security numbers.

These reports are then given to lenders and creditors so they can judge your creditworthiness. You also get a free credit score report every year based on factors like payment history and amount owed, so you better get an idea of your credit situation.

Here are the top 3 credit reporting agencies:

TransUnion: TransUnion provides you with a comprehensive view of your credit history. The report contains personal information and other data like credit limits, bankruptcies, and hard and soft inquiries resulting from new account applications. This agency also provides tools like a score simulator that helps you see how different financial decisions impact your score and ID theft insurance that guards you against identity fraud.
Experian: Experian gives you information about your FICO score and insights into what factors disturb your credit score. With Experian credit scores, you may also get tips that help improve your score and secure better loan deals.
Equifax: Equifax also makes it easy for you to perform a credit score check. For instance, you can access your credit report along with other data like your name, address, whether you are registered to vote, and people who are connected to you financially, like co-borrowers. There are features like the Equifax ID Patrol™ that allow you to monitor your credit file and also stay protected from identity thefts.

Now that you are aware of how you can do a credit score check, you must be wondering when or how often you should do it. Let’s discuss it in detail.

How Often Should You Check Your Credit Reports?

It’s a good idea to do a credit score check once a year. However, you should know that a lot can change over the course of time, so quarterly (four times a year) checking sounds ideal. Staying updated regarding the score ensures that you are aware of your credit situation and can address potential issues before they escalate and damage your credit history.

The following are some instances where checking credit scores makes sense:

At least three months before you are making a big financial move, like buying a new house or car. This lets you see where your credit score may need improvement so your purchase becomes hassle-free.
You should check your credit score after opening a mortgage account or paying off huge debts like student loans to see whether there’s an improvement in the score.

Why Do a Credit Score Check?

Many people ask, “Why check my credit score?” If you are in the same boat, here are some compelling reasons:

Protection Against Theft and Fraud

Identity theft or fraud isn’t something uncommon, especially when it comes to your credit information. Statistics show that there were 284,000 reported cases of identity theft and 111,000 cases of credit card fraud in the second quarter of 2024 alone, which is huge.

The worst part is that many times, victims don’t even get to know that their personal information has been stolen. Criminals take your social security number (SSN) and open accounts in your name, making purchases.

However, regularly checking your credit score and reports helps you pinpoint such frauds. You can see accounts you didn’t open or unexpected credit inquiries, preventing financial loss.

Spot Errors

Another reason to do a credit score check is to spot errors in a timely manner. For instance, sometimes lenders may forget to update your paid-off loans or credit accounts properly.

Similarly, unauthorized accounts or incorrect personal information may appear on your credit report, lowering your credit score.

Nonetheless, regularly checking your credit score ensures you know of such mistakes and file disputes with the respective credit bureau to rectify them.

Ensure Payments are Timely Reported

Credit score check also ensures that all your payments, whether your utility bill or other loans are paid off on time every month.

Know that if your payment history is not updated, even past due dates, your credit score may fall into the negative or fair category.

You make sure that the hard work you are doing by paying bills timely is also reflected on your profile.

Analyze Where’s Room for Improvement

Do you know that the average FICO credit score in the US is 717? This is quite good and helps people easily secure some good loans at low interest rates.

Doing a credit score check tells you in which category you lie (good, excellent, poor, or fair). You get to know what factors influence your scores, such as payment history, length of credit, and credit limit utilized, so that you can make improvements.

Here are some tips that you can follow to improve your credit score:

Payment history is one of the major contributors to your credit score. Therefore, you must make all your payments on time, whether it’s a loan installment or utility bill. If you struggle to remember dates, you can set reminders on your phone or opt for autopay so you never miss a due date, keeping your credit score good.
You may not know this, but high credit card limit utilization also negatively impacts your credit score. So, keep your balances low, around 30% or below, to have a good credit score. If possible, don’t shy away from paying off your balances fully every month.
Every time you open a new account, the credit company runs a hard inquiry on your profile. These hard inquiries stay on your credit report for two years and can significantly impact your credit score.

How to See Credit Score Without SSN Number?

If you are an immigrant or student in the US without a social security number (SSN) and worried about how you can see your credit score, here are some tips:

Open a credit account with the help of a lender to have a credit score.
If you have ITIN, use it instead of SSN to track your credit history and score.
You can also reach out to any of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Provide them with your information, such as your name and other financial data, and they’ll fetch your credit score.

However, now you must be thinking about how you can build your credit score without an SSN. If so, here are some tips and tricks that you can follow:

Open a Bank Account

Opening a bank account is a good step to build your credit score. How? Well, once you have a bank account, your banking activity, such as making payments and maintaining your balance, reflects on your credit report. To create your bank account without an SSN, you can provide alternative information like a passport or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Get Credit Card

Card card issuers also help you establish your credit score as these companies keep track of your credit history and report them to the major bureaus. Personal information like your name, date of birth, address, and ITIN instead of SSN are used as identifiers to compile the credit report.

Request a Loan

While this may sound odd to you, requesting a loan from a lender is a great way to build your credit history and score. It’s because some financial institutions use information other than social security numbers to process loans. Once you take out a loan, it’s reported to financial bureaus that create your comprehensive credit report and also update credit scores.

Utility companies may also report your financial data to credit bureaus. So you must make timely utility bills, whether it’s gas or water, payments to create and improve your credit score.

FAQs

Does checking credit score hurt my credit?

No, checking your credit score doesn’t impact your overall credit since it’s considered a soft inquiry. However, in case of hard inquiry, which lenders commonly do to assess financial risk, it can lower your score temporarily. It even stays on your credit report for two years before getting dismissed naturally.

What information do you need for a credit score check?

You need to provide personal information like your birthday date, name, social security number, and address to get your credit score. However, depending on the website or bureau you choose to access scores, you may have to provide some additional information to verify your identity.

What’s the difference between a credit report and a credit score?

There’s a huge difference between a credit report and a credit score. The former is a detailed summary of your credit account that includes everything like payment history, credit limit used, and any inquiries. A credit score is a numerical representation of your financial credibility and helps lenders assess risk.

Conclusion

Doing a credit score check regularly is essential to ensure your credit information is up-to-date and free of errors. It also shows that your account is protected from data breaches and fraudulent activities. Wondering where you can check your credit score for free? PFScores is the best solution! Visit the website today, enter your information, and get a detailed report on your credit score and the factors influencing it.

How to Do a Credit Score Check?​