Does checking my credit score hurt it?

The distinction between soft and hard inquiries is critical and often misunderstood. Soft inquiries include checking your own score through Credit Karma, Experian, your credit card's free score tool, or AnnualCreditReport.com. None of these affect your score.

Hard inquiries happen when a lender pulls your full credit report to decide on a loan or credit card application. These appear on your credit report for 24 months but only meaningfully affect your score for the first 12. Multiple hard inquiries for the same loan type within 14-45 days typically count as one inquiry under FICO's rate-shopping logic.