QUESTION  If I run my credit reports, will that affect my credit negatively?

ANSWER No, definitely not. It's a frequent legend that running your own credit report or credit score will reduce your credit score in some fashion. This is a horrible mistake. In fact, individuals or borrowers can see their credit reports and run their credit scores as much as they please – even daily, weekly or each month if they desire to do that without any ramifications on their credit scores.

Analyzing your own credit records is deemed, in credit or business industry language, to be a "soft" pull. An inquiry by a consumer doesn't affect your credit scores. On the other hand, if you submit an application for a creit card or a car or home loan, that's considered and will be a "hard" pull, and "hard" inquiries are registered when your credit scores are tallied. These are the inquiries that can lower your credit scores by up to 35 points, but specifically how many points is based on the total inquiries on your credit report annually, plus all the other collective items being calculated to your final score.