Where Your Credit Score Comes From
Your credit score is a three-digit number that lenders use to decide whether to lend you money and at what interest rate. It comes from your credit report — a record of your borrowing and payment history maintained by three companies called credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These bureaus collect information from lenders, creditors, and public records, then sell that information to other lenders who want to know how risky you are as a borrower.
You do not have one credit score. Different scoring models exist — the most common is the FICO score, which ranges from 300 to 850 — but lenders may also use VantageScore, industry-specific scores, or their own internal models. A mortgage lender might pull a different score than a credit card company. What matters is that all of them draw from the same underlying credit report, so the information in that report is what you can actually control.
Your score updates as your credit report changes. When you make a payment, miss a payment, open a new account, or pay down a balance, that information flows to the bureaus and your score shifts. This happens continuously, not on a fixed schedule, which is why your score can be different depending on when a lender checks it.
Key Takeaways
- You can view your credit report for free once per year from each of the three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only official source.
- Your credit score itself is not free from the bureaus, but many credit card companies, banks, and free services like Credit Karma show you a score estimate at no cost.
- Your score is built from five factors: payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), credit mix (10%), and new credit inquiries (10%).
- Checking your own credit report does not lower your score, but a hard inquiry from a lender does — soft inquiries (like checking your own score) have no impact.
How to Get Your Free Credit Report
The federal government requires each of the three credit bureaus to give you a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months. The only official place to request it is AnnualCreditReport.com. Do not use any other website — many sites that claim to offer free reports actually sign you up for paid monitoring services.
On AnnualCreditReport.com, you can request your report from all three bureaus at once or stagger them throughout the year. You will need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. The site will ask you security questions to verify your identity, then show you your report when ready or mail it to you within 15 days.
When your report arrives, read it carefully. Look for accounts you do not recognize, payments marked as late that you know you made on time, and any other errors. If you find a mistake, contact the bureau that issued the report in writing and explain the error. The bureau must investigate within 30 days and correct it if it is wrong. You can also dispute errors directly through the bureau's website, though a written letter creates a paper trail.
Where to See Your Credit Score for Free
Your credit report is free, but the bureaus charge for your actual score. However, many companies offer free score estimates to attract customers. These are not always the exact FICO score a lender will see, but they move in the same direction and give you a useful picture of where you stand.
Credit Karma and Credit Sesame are the most widely used free services. Both show you a VantageScore (a different scoring model than FICO, but similar in how it works) and update it weekly. Neither charges a fee or requires a credit card. Many credit card companies and banks also show you a free score in your online account — Chase, Capital One, Discover, and others all offer this.
If you want your actual FICO score, you can buy it directly from myfico.com for around $20, or you can get it free through some credit monitoring services (which often charge a monthly fee but offer a free trial). Many mortgage lenders will also pull your FICO score for free when you explore for a loan, so if you are shopping for a mortgage, you will see the real number.
What the Five Factors in Your Score Mean
Your credit score is built from five pieces of information in your credit report. Understanding what each one does helps you see where to focus if you want to improve your score.
Payment history (35% of your score): This is whether you pay your bills on time. A single late payment can lower your score significantly, and the impact gets worse the more recent it is. A late payment from two years ago hurts less than one from two months ago. Payments that are 30 days late, 60 days late, and 90+ days late are all recorded separately, and the later you are, the bigger the damage.
Amounts owed (30% of your score): This is how much of your available credit you are using. If you have a credit card with a $5,000 limit and a $4,500 balance, you are using 90% of that limit. Lenders see high usage as risky. The lower your usage, the better — most scoring models reward you for using less than 30% of your available credit. This is why closing old credit cards can actually hurt your score: it lowers your total available credit, which raises your usage percentage on the cards you keep.
Length of credit history (15% of your score): This is how long you have had credit accounts open. Older accounts help your score more than newer ones. This is why closing your oldest credit card is particularly damaging — you lose both the available credit and the age of that account.
Credit mix (10% of your score): This is having different types of credit — credit cards, car loans, mortgages, student loans. Lenders want to see that you can handle different kinds of debt. You do not need to have all types, but having more than one type helps slightly.
New credit inquiries (10% of your score): When you explore for a loan or credit card, the lender pulls your credit report. This is called a hard inquiry and it lowers your score by a few points. Multiple hard inquiries in a short time (like shopping for a mortgage) usually count as one inquiry if they happen within 14 to 45 days, depending on the scoring model. Checking your own score is a soft inquiry and does not lower your score at all.
Understanding Your Score Range
FICO scores range from 300 to 850. The higher your score, the less risky lenders think you are, and the better interest rates you will get. Here is roughly how lenders view different ranges, though each lender sets their own cutoffs:
| Score Range | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 300–579 | Poor. Most traditional lenders will decline you or charge very high interest rates. |
| 580–669 | Fair. You may be approved, but at higher interest rates. FHA mortgages start here. |
| 670–739 | Good. Most lenders will approve you at reasonable rates. |
| 740–799 | Very good. You will get favorable rates on most products. |
| 800–850 | Excellent. You get the best rates available. |
These ranges are guidelines, not rules. A mortgage lender might require a 620 score, while a credit card company might require a 700. Some lenders have their own scoring models that do not use FICO at all. The point is that higher is always better, but you do not need a perfect score to get approved — you just need to be above whatever threshold that particular lender uses.
Hard Inquiries vs. Soft Inquiries
When you check your own credit score, nothing happens to it. That is a soft inquiry. When a lender checks your credit because you applied for a loan or credit card, that is a hard inquiry, and it lowers your score by a few points — usually between 5 and 10 points per inquiry.
Hard inquiries stay on your credit report for two years, but they stop affecting your score after about 12 months. Multiple hard inquiries in a short window (usually 14 to 45 days) often count as a single inquiry for scoring purposes, which is why shopping around for a mortgage or car loan in a short time does not damage your score as much as it would if you applied one at a time over several months.
Soft inquiries include checking your own score, a lender pre-may have access to you without a formal process, and an employer running a background check. These show up on your credit report but do not lower your score. You can check your own credit as often as you want with no penalty.
What Happens If You Find Errors on Your Report
Credit reports contain mistakes. A payment might be reported as late when you paid on time. An account might be listed twice. A debt might be reported under the wrong name or address. These errors can lower your score unfairly and make it harder to get approved for credit.
If you find an error, contact the credit bureau that issued the report in writing. Include a copy of the error (a screenshot or printout from your report), explain what is wrong, and say what you believe the correct information should be. Send it certified mail so you have proof of delivery. The bureau must investigate within 30 days and either correct the error or explain why they believe it is accurate. If they correct it, they will send you an updated report.
You can also dispute errors through the bureau's website, though this creates less of a paper trail. Some bureaus offer online dispute forms that are faster but may not carry as much weight as a written letter. If the error is serious — like an account that is not yours — consider sending both a written letter and filing an online dispute to make sure it gets attention.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does checking my own credit score lower it?
No. When you check your own score, that is a soft inquiry and has no impact on your score. You can check it as often as you want. Only hard inquiries from lenders lower your score, and only by a few points.
Why is my credit score different on different websites?
Different scoring models exist. Credit Karma shows VantageScore, while your lender might use FICO. Even different FICO scores exist — FICO 8, FICO 9, FICO Auto, FICO Mortgage. They all use the same underlying credit report but weight the factors differently, so the number changes. This is normal and expected.
How long does a late payment stay on my credit report?
A late payment stays on your report for seven years from the date you missed the payment. It stops affecting your score significantly after about two years, but it remains visible to lenders for the full seven years. Paying off the debt does not remove it from your report, though it does show that you eventually paid.
Can I improve my credit score quickly?
No single action will raise your score dramatically. The fastest improvements come from paying down high credit card balances (which lowers your usage percentage) and making sure all payments are on time going forward. These changes show up in your score within one to two months. Older negative items like late payments fade more slowly over time.
What if a debt collector is reporting false information about me?
Dispute it with the credit bureau using the same process as any other error — send a written letter explaining what is false. You can also send a written dispute directly to the debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Keep copies of everything. If the bureau does not correct it, you may have grounds to sue the collector or the bureau for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.