How Often Does Your Credit Score Change?
Your credit score isn't static. Learn how often it updates, what financial activity causes changes, and how to monitor its ongoing evolution.
A credit score is a three-digit number that reflects an individual’s creditworthiness, serving as a key indicator for lenders when evaluating loan applications and setting interest rates. This score is not a fixed figure but a dynamic representation of financial behavior that evolves over time. Understanding how and why these scores fluctuate is important for consumers, as it directly impacts their access to credit and other financial products.
How Credit Scores Are Updated
Credit scores can change frequently, sometimes even multiple times within a month. This variability stems from how creditors report account activity to the major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Lenders, including banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions, typically transmit updated information about consumer accounts to these bureaus monthly. This reporting usually aligns with the end of a borrower’s billing cycle or statement closing date.
While information is generally reported monthly, often within a 30- to 45-day cycle, the exact timing can differ among creditors. For instance, one credit card issuer might report on the 15th of the month, while another reports on the 30th. Once new data, such as a recent payment or an updated balance, is received by the credit bureaus, scoring models like FICO and VantageScore recalculate the score. This continuous influx of data means there isn’t a single “update day” for all scores; instead, changes occur as new data is processed and integrated into your credit report.
Key Factors Triggering Score Changes
Various financial actions influence credit score changes. Payment history holds the most weight in credit score calculations, accounting for about 35% of a FICO Score and up to 40% for VantageScore models. Consistently making on-time payments generally has a positive impact. Conversely, a single payment reported as 30 days or more overdue can significantly harm a score, with the negative impact increasing the longer a payment is missed.
Credit utilization, the amount of credit used compared to total available credit, is another factor, making up approximately 30% of a FICO Score. Maintaining low utilization, ideally below 30% of the available limit, is generally favorable. The length of credit history, which considers the age of accounts and the average age of all accounts, typically accounts for 15% of a FICO Score and 15-20% of a VantageScore. Longer credit histories with responsible management tend to result in higher scores, while opening new accounts can temporarily lower the average age of accounts.
New credit, including recent applications and newly opened accounts, contributes around 10% to a FICO Score. Each time an individual applies for new credit, a “hard inquiry” is recorded on their credit report, which can cause a small, temporary dip. However, multiple inquiries for the same type of loan, such as a mortgage, auto loan, or student loan, within a short period (typically 14 to 45 days) are often treated as a single inquiry by scoring models to allow for rate shopping.
The credit mix, representing the variety of credit accounts like revolving credit (e.g., credit cards) and installment loans (e.g., mortgages or auto loans), also influences about 10% of the score. While a diverse mix can be beneficial, it is generally less impactful than payment history or credit utilization. Public records such as bankruptcies can impact credit scores and remain on reports for up to 7 to 10 years. Civil judgments and tax liens have largely been removed from credit reports since 2018.
Monitoring Your Credit Score
Consumers can monitor their credit scores and reports to understand their financial standing. Federal law provides access to a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—once every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com. These reports detail the underlying information that influences the credit score, allowing individuals to review account activity and identify potential inaccuracies.
Beyond these annual reports, many credit card companies, banks, and free credit monitoring services offer consumers regular access to their credit scores at no cost. Examples include Credit Karma, Experian, and MyFICO. When an individual checks their own credit score through these platforms, it typically results in a “soft inquiry.” Unlike a “hard inquiry” that occurs when applying for new credit, a soft inquiry does not negatively affect the credit score. Regular monitoring allows individuals to track how their financial actions influence their score and to promptly detect any suspicious activity or errors that could impact their credit health.