18 Jun How Often Are Credit Scores Updated?

If you’re working on bettering your credit score, you’re probably curious as to how often your credit score is updated. Your credit score usually updates once a month or at the end of each billing cycle. What updates depends on whether there have been any changes made to your payment history, such as payments made or debt review flags removed. For example, making minimum monthly payments may not cause your credit score to jump by much, whereas reducing your utilisation by a fair amount will.

How often your score is updated depends on what is reported and when to the bureaus by lenders. Some lenders don’t report to the bureaus at all. Meaning, that even if you completely pay them back, it will not reflect in your credit history. After you’ve paid off debt, the lender first needs to report to the bureaus that you are paid up before you see a change in your score, which happens every month. Once your balance is updated, you will likely see a positive change in your score.

How Can I Better My Credit Score?

You can improve your credit score by paying off all negative balances, removing inaccurate information, such as paid-off accounts in collections, and maintaining low balances. Maintaining a low balance concerning what you have available is called maintaining a low credit utilisation ratio, which is crucial for the health of your credit score. It shows lenders you are not overly reliant on credit to get by. Maintaining a good payment history is integral too, as it accounts for around 35% of your FICO score, and a large portion of your VantageScore.

What’s A Credit Score?

A credit score is a three-digit representation of your responsibility with credit. Depending on the bureau and what scoring model they use– FOCO, VantageScore, or an original model– your score can range from 300 to 800, or even 0 to 1000, as with XDS, our partner in credit reporting.

Your credit score is usually compiled of payment history, like whether you pay on time, default, or have derogatory marks against you (like judgments or debt review, for instance). Your credit utilisation ratio, which is how much credit you use compared to how much you have available, also influences your score. The lower your credit utilisation ratio, the better your credit score isl likely to be.

Will Checking My Credit Hurt My Score?

It depends on the sort of enquiry you perform. Credit Boost performs something called a soft enquiry, or self enquiry. This is a check that is compliant with South African law, as the National Credit Act requires that bureaus grant you one free check per year. On the other hand, when lenders perform enquiries, they are called hard enquiries. Too many of these within a short period can hurt your credit.

You should check your credit score regularly: before requesting loans, to check for fraud, and to keep on top of what you should work on bettering, such as accounts in arrears.

If you would like to get an updated credit history, use Credit Boost’s free online credit checker. You’ll have your credit score within minutes using solely your ID number and contact details.