Learn More About Credit Score Updates

Introduction

One of the most common questions asked about credit scores is: How often does my credit score update?

Perhaps you’re working to improve your credit with a certain goal in mind. Or maybe you just checked your credit score on your bank’s app or website and were simply curious about when it would update next.

Either way, that time frame could be useful to know, and this is one of those questions that should have a simple answer.

So, how often does your credit score update? It updates continually, depending on some other factors.

It’s a simple answer, alright. And even if it’s not particularly satisfying, it does give us a starting point to better understand how your credit score may change over time.

Asking the Right Questions About Your Credit Score

Let’s start with another question: What is a credit score?

It’s a three-digit number that offers an at-a-glance assessment of how you’re managing your credit. It’s based on the information found in your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus.

Let’s say you apply for a credit card. The card’s issuer makes a hard inquiry into your credit ­— a request to view the information on your credit report — and that information is run through a credit-scoring model like FICO or VantageScore. This will generate a credit score based on what’s in your report in that particular moment.

Since your credit score is a snapshot of your credit at the specific time it was checked, it depends on when new information is added to your credit report.

With that in mind, now the real question is: How often does my credit report update?

Well, that’s entirely up to each individual creditor as to when they report your account activity to the credit bureaus.

Creditors reporting your account activity may not report to all three bureaus. So, each of your credit reports could be slightly different from the others.

Unfortunately, you can’t really say that your credit score or credit report will update every X days/weeks/months or on X date of the month.

But that doesn’t mean that you have to be entirely in the dark about how your credit changes over time. Let’s shift our questions to ask how creditors report activity and what activity they report.

Settling for Generalizations

Even if you can’t get an exact date for when your credit score or report changes, you can have a decent idea by considering a few rules of thumb that creditors tend to follow.

Many larger financial institutions tend to report your account activity at least once a month, usually at the end of your billing cycle. Of course, this is still up to the individual company.

And even after account information is received by the credit bureaus, the individual bureaus update your credit report on their own schedule. There may be a bit of a delay baked in as they process the information they receive.

And finally, when you apply for new credit and a lender does a hard inquiry into your credit report, that activity is typically reported immediately. In that case, your credit score could lower by around five points or less, basically in real time.

What Is More Important Than When

If it’s this hard to nail down the when, perhaps it’s a better idea to focus on what goes into your credit report, especially if you’re trying to raise your credit score.

Hard inquiries

When you apply for new credit, the lender usually performs a hard inquiry into your credit. A single hard inquiry can lower your credit score by a few points and will stay on your report for up to two years.

Delinquent or missed payments

There are a handful of factors used to calculate your credit score and your payment history can account for 35% of it. Making at least the minimum payment on time, every time is one of the best things you can do for your score. 

On the other hand, a single missed payment can significantly hurt your credit score.

A change in your credit utilization ratio (CUR)

Another major factor in determining your credit score, your credit utilization ratio reflects the portion of credit you are using in relation to how much total available credit you have.

For example, if someone has a single credit card with a $1,000 credit limit and they’ve charged $300, their CUR is 30%.

It’s actually not optimal to use all the credit you have available. In fact, experts recommend keeping this ratio below 30%.

You can reduce your balances to help this factor and if you receive a credit line increase, the extra available credit can also contribute to this. Of course, that’s only as long as you don’t increase your spending and end up using that extra available credit.

Bankruptcies

A bankruptcy is one of the most negative financial events that can appear on your credit report, remaining for a significant amount of time and likely taking work to rebuild from.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stay on your report for 7 years, while a Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays for 10.

Bottom Line

Unlike many other things in life, credit scores don’t really operate on a set schedule. They’re a snapshot of a moment in time.

But as long as you focus on the big picture, remain mindful of what appears on your credit report and work toward making positive progress on your credit, you don’t have to worry about when your score updates.

Now that you better understand credit scores, you may be interested in applying for a new credit card to use as a tool for building credit. You can see if you pre-qualify for one from Credit One Bank — it takes less than a minute and won’t harm your credit score.