Credit Score Check

A credit score check is the retrieval of a numeric or categorized score that a scoring model has calculated from the information in a person's credit file. The file itself is maintained by the national credit reporting companies, which assemble data reported by lenders, collection agencies, and public records sources. A scoring model weighs that data — payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and the mix of account types — and returns a score. Because scoring models and their versions vary, and because each credit reporting company holds its own file, a single consumer can obtain several different scores from several different sources on the same day. A score can be obtained in several ways. A person may request a score directly from a credit reporting company or through a service that resells score data. Many banks, credit unions, and credit card issuers provide a score to their customers as an account feature. Nonprofit credit counseling organizations sometimes review scores with clients. Separately, a full credit report can be requested at no charge from each national credit reporting company through AnnualCreditReport.com. When a consumer requests their own score or report, the inquiry is generally recorded as a soft inquiry, which is visible to the consumer but not provided to lenders. When a lender obtains a score in connection with an application, that event is typically recorded as a hard inquiry and appears on the report for a period defined by the reporting company's policy. A credit score check is not the same thing as reviewing a credit report. A report lists the underlying accounts, balances, payment histories, and inquiries; a score is a summary value derived from that report at a particular moment. The score reflects the file as it stood when the model ran, so it can change as lenders report new balances, as accounts age, or as inquiries are added. Requesting a score does not itself change the contents of the file. Some score services bundle the score with marketing offers, so a person reviewing a score may also want to read the service's privacy disclosures and confirm which scoring model and version produced the number. People check scores to confirm that the file a lender would see contains the accounts and balances they expect, to identify unfamiliar accounts or inquiries, and to understand which factors a given model considers. If a report or score appears to rest on inaccurate information, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers the right to dispute the item with the credit reporting company and with the furnisher of the information. Guidance on disputes is published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and resources for accounts opened fraudulently are published by IdentityTheft.gov.

A consumer comparing auto loan offers pulls a score from their bank's app and another from a credit reporting company's website on the same afternoon. The two numbers differ because each source uses a different scoring model and version against the same underlying credit file.