Yes, you can check your credit files for free once per year at www.annualcreditreport.com. Some nationwide consumer reporting agencies (NCRAs) may allow you to access your report for free more frequently. Many of the services listed on our free credit score web page include summaries of the information in your credit file.

In some cases, your landlord may already have the ability to report your payments to the credit bureaus. If your landlord does not provide this service, visit VantageScore’s How to Build Your Credit page to find some third-party services that can help.

VantageScore is not a credit bureau and does not have access to your data, your credit files, or any other files that contain personal information about consumers.

Your credit score is calculated by one of the three NCRAs (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion), using a proprietary set of rules provided by VantageScore. The underlying data used to generate your credit score resides in a credit file maintained by these organizations. Click here to get a copy of your credit file.

Personal Information: Your name, name variations, current and former addresses, birthdate, and your Social Security Number (SSN).

Credit Account Information (also called Trade Lines): Information about your credit cards, student loans, auto loans, mortgages and other loans from banks and credit unions.

Public Records and Collections Information: Your credit file will include information on any bankruptcy filings during the last seven to 10 years. The file will also contain information on delinquent accounts that have gone into collections.

Inquiries: Your credit file shows the numer and frequency of lender inquiries. There are two types of lender inquiries—hard and soft.

• A hard inquiry occurs when a lender checks your credit as part of a loan application process. This action may cause your credit score to decline.
• A soft inquiry is when you check your own score, or a lender checks your credit score as part of an administrative process. These actions are visible to you and to the NCRAs, but should not impact your credit score.

There is no difference between a credit report and a credit file. Credit report and credit file are two terms for the data that has been reported to the credit bureaus so that lenders, and others, can see how you managed previous credit agreements.

The largest NCRAs in the U.S. are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each credit bureau collects information on 250+ million consumers. Data collected is used to create credit files that predict how well a person keeps up with payments and pays back debt.

Lenders that issue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-funded mortgages, which make up the vast majority of residential mortgages, have been required to use outdated legacy credit scores for the last few decades.

Recently though, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that VantageScore 4.0 will be required for these mortgages in the future. For more information, read FHFA Approves VantageScore® 4.0 for Use in GSE Mortgage Lending.

The timeline for transition to VantageScore 4.0 requires lenders to begin incorporating the score in the third quarter of 2024. Follow this dedicated mortgage page for updates on the implementation process.

Nearly everyone over the age of 18 who has received credit issued in their name will have a credit file. The NCRAs start a file for someone when they first receive credit inquiries, or when a lender reports that someone has received a credit facility from them. NCRAs also initiate a file when they receive a report from a collections agency or a public record for bankruptcy, judgement, or tax lien.

The NCRAs maintain the electronic data that constitute credit files. Each NCRA maintains credit files on 250+ million consumers.

VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 credit-scoring models exclude medical debt. Medical debts that are under $500 when first reported should not be recorded on your credit file, thanks to an agreement among the NCRAs.

VantageScore develops credit score models and does not have access to, or maintain consumer data, credit files, or other information that contain personally identifiable information about consumers.

Consumers’ credit scores are generated by NCRAs by applying a score model. VantageScore is one of their options for this process. If you have questions about your credit score, please contact the NCRA responsible for your particular report to gather more information. Our web pages “Tips About Credit” and “How Credit Scores Work” contain information on the types of behaviors that typically raise or lower your credit score.

VantageScore 3.0 and VantageScore 4.0 models generate a score for almost all adult consumers in the United States, without depending on their usage of traditional forms of consumer credit like credit cards, mortgages, or student loans. VantageScore provides an opportunity for creditworthy people without access to conventional credit, particularly in underserved communities, to get a credit score. This gives people the ability to establish a formal credit history, monitor their credit health on an ongoing basis, and learn about behaviors that might diminish or improve their credit score.

Establishing and maintaining a healthy credit history is important. It is a fundamental part of building a financial future. While lenders and other service providers, including landlords and cellular companies, rely on credit files to help make decisions about extending credit, credit scores are reliant on your actions.

See VantageScore’s Tips about Credit for information on what behaviors typically improve or worsen a credit score.

Your credit score is determined through the following factors:

Financial History: If you have mismanaged financial obligations in the past, your credit score could be negatively affected. Late payments, collections, repossessions, defaults, foreclosures, settlements, judgments, tax liens, and bankruptcies reflect negatively on your score. If you have a history of responsible managing your financial obligations, and if your negative credit information is older or less severe, your score is higher.

Debt: The type of debt you carry also affects the calculation of your credit score. Demonstrating that you can handle a range of different types of debt can raise your score. The two most common types of debt are revolving debt and installment debt.

1. Revolving debt lets you borrow against a pre-set credit limit, pay the balance, and then borrow up to the credit limit again. Credit cards and home equity lines of credit are examples of revolving debt. If credit balances are high in relationship to credit limits, credit scores may be lower.
2. Installment debt requires a fixed payment for a fixed number of months until the debt is refinanced or paid off. Auto loans, mortgages, student loans, and personal loans are examples of installment debt. Installment debt is factored into your credit score.

VantageScore encourages you to shop around for your loans and obtain the lowest interest rates and best terms. Credit inquiries within a 14-day period are counted as a single inquiry. The impact to your VantageScore credit score from a single credit inquiry is likely to be minor and temporary.

The best way to make sure your credit file is accurate is to request a copy of your credit file from each of the NCRAs. You should review the information and confirm that it reflects your interactions with lenders and others who access your credit file, including utility providers, tenant screening services, and collections agencies.

Everyone in the U.S. has the right to access their credit reports at no cost from any NCRA if a lender makes an adverse decision using their data. You can check your Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit files for free once every 12 months at www.annualcreditreport.com. Some NCRAs may allow you to access your report for free more frequently. Some of the services listed on our free credit score web page will include summaries of the information in your credit file.

The annual credit report website is maintained by the three NCRAs (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion), and is the only site where you can get the free credit reports that federal law requires. Lenders and other independent companies may provide online services that allow you to access and monitor your credit reports.

Having a good payment history recorded on your credit file demonstrates that you pay bills on time, but there are many other factors that impact your score. Total credit usage, balance amounts, and credit availability all demonstrate your capacity to handle unexpected events without default and are influential to your score. Credit mix demonstrates you can handle many different product types and is also considered highly influential.

If you own a home outright, there’s no credit involved and no record in a credit file so it does not contribute to your credit score. However, a mortgage on a property recorded on your credit file can contribute favorably to your credit score when you maintain on-time payments. Having one or more mortgages on your credit file can demonstrate that you can manage consistent, typically large debt payments. You may see benefits to your credit score after you have paid off your mortgage, but this benefit will reduce over time.

You’ll need to contact the NCRA that generated your credit score for the specifics of your situation.

A lender is required by federal law to provide a consumer with a disclosure notice if their credit data is used in the review of a loan application and that application is either denied, or approved with less than optimal terms offered. Some lenders may voluntarily provide disclosure notices to all customers even if an application was approved with the best terms. The notice, which usually arrives in letter form, contains your credit score and explains the reasons behind your score. Consumer websites that display your score for educational purposes may also share reason codes to help you improve your credit score.

Consumers with high credit scores are often surprised to see reason codes presented to them. Disclosure notices are required to display four or five factors, which means that some insignificant reasons end up on the list and likely represent a fraction of a point on your score. In general, if reason codes seem to conflict, or even contradict each other, the best thing to do is work your way down the list, addressing the most significant factors first.

Keep Negative Credit Information from Getting Reported

If you miss a payment, lenders and credit card issuers will likely report it to credit bureaus after 30 days. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows late payments to stay on credit files for up to seven years.

A record of late payments, collections, defaults or negative public records indicate credit mismanagement and credit risk—and can lead to lower credit scores.

Consumers are advised to set up automatic payments or auto-draft payments to avoid negative credit reporting and credit score fallout.

Maintain Lower Credit Card Balances

If you use credit cards, be aware that your level of credit card debt is used to predict credit risk. Even if you make payments on time, outstanding balances will impact your credit score.

Revolving utilization is a credit scoring term that compares your credit cards’ balances with your credit card limits. This is also referred to as the balance-to-limit ratio or the credit-utilization ratio.

The ratio is calculated by dividing total credit card balances by total credit limits on open credit card accounts. For example, if your credit file says you have $5,000 in total credit card balances and $25,000 in total credit limits, your utilization ratio is 20% ($5,000 divided by $25,000).

The higher the ratio or percentage, the fewer credit score points you’ll earn for that credit scoring category. The lower the ratio, the more credit score points you’ll earn for that credit scoring category.

Shop for Credit Only When Necessary

It’s smart to be aware of the impact on your credit score when applying for a new credit card or loan. When you apply for credit, the lender pulls at least one credit file, which means you will have one hard inquiry. If you apply for a mortgage, it’s standard practice for the mortgage broker to pull all three credit files, which results in more hard inquiries that lower your scores.

When you open a new account, it’s likely to be reported to the NCRAs, which means a new “date opened” appears on your credit file, lowering the age of your accounts, and your scores.

Build Your Credit File and Increase Your Scores With:

Secured credit cards are like any other credit card, with one exception: You make a deposit with the issuing bank. The bank then issues a card with a credit limit equal or close to the deposit amount, which secures your card purchases.

If you choose a secured card, make sure it reports to the three credit bureaus. That way, you will receive the most benefit for properly managing it. After time has passed and the card has been managed successfully, ask the issuer to return your security deposit and convert the card to unsecured status.

Retail credit cards are self-descriptive. They are used at a particular store or chain like Macy’s or Gap. These cards are commonly reported to NCRAs, so they can help build or rebuild your credit if you manage them properly. Retail credit cards are often easier to qualify for than other types. It is important to make sure that the card you chose reports to the three credit bureaus.

An authorized user strategy involves adding another person to a credit card account. The newly added user can use the card and benefits from association, but is not liable for the debt. A cardholder who adds an individual to a credit card that has been in circulation longer, has a high credit limit, and pays on time, is able to build or repair their own credit files faster.

A credit score is typically calculated based on the credit account information, public records, collections and inquiries in your credit file. Credit scores are used by lenders and service providers to determine your credit risk.

Scores usually range from 300 to 850: The higher the score, the more creditworthy a consumer is. Creditworthiness reflects the likelihood that an individual will pay their obligations 90 days or more past-due on a payment.

Credit scores are used mainly by financial institutions, including banks, credit-card issuers, personal loan lenders, auto loan lenders, credit unions, and mortgage companies.

In 2023, VantageScore was used by over 3,400 U.S. financial institutions that pulled 27 billion scores. Credit scores are also used by insurers, utility companies, rental companies and by financial websites that support consumer education.

Since 2006, VantageScore has developed four model versions numbered 1.0 to 4.0. Each model was developed with the goal of more accurately classifying consumers by their likelihood of default over the subsequent next 24 months. Defaults occur when a consumer is 90 days late on a credit agreement.

VantageScore models identify consumer behaviors that are more or less likely to result in a future failure to pay within the agreed time frame. Each model is a refinement of the previous version and is adapted to changes in consumer behavior, NCRA reporting standards and new data modeling techniques. The two most widely used models are VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0. Both models can score more consumers than conventional credit scores. VantageScore 4.0 is innovative in its use of trended credit data and advanced data science. VantageScore 4.0 is growing in usage among lenders, and it is expected to become part of the approval process for most new mortgages. Many lenders still use VantageScore 3.0 for credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. VantageScore 3.0 is also very popular with consumer websites, which rely on the model to guide consumers on ways to improve their overall creditworthiness.

Your VantageScore credit score is calculated by one of the three credit bureaus, and the underlying data used to generate the score is contained in a credit file maintained by them. Lenders contacting the bureau in real-time for new credit applications will get this live score based on information reported to date. For those lenders and financial websites managing established accounts, or displaying your score for education purposes, they are likely to have an agreed update cycle, commonly once a month.

In a 12-month period between January and December 2023, more than 3,400 companies used 27 billion VantageScore credit scores, according to a report conducted by Charles River Associates. Eight of the top 10 U.S. banks and 30 of the top 50 U.S. banks utilize VantageScore credit scores. Usage of VantageScore is widespread across loan types, but the 10 largest credit card issuers accounted for approximately 78% of the VantageScore credit scores used by all card issuers.

Read our latest market adoption study for more information.

In general, credit scores vary depending on:

• The Source NCRA: Each NCRA maintains different quality control practices for managing data in credit files.
• The Credit Scoring Model: VantageScore has released four credit scoring models since 2006 and other companies have numerous models available, including those geared towards specific industries. Lenders who use credit scores as part of their underwriting process, or to manage established accounts, understand this and do not use different scoring models interchangeably.
• The Timing: Your credit file can be updated daily as lenders report to the NCRAs over time, which means your score could vary over a few days as new accounts are added or closed, balances and lines of credit updated, and payments reported.
• Third Parties: If you are viewing a score provided by a third party, the score is unlikely to be in real time and will be updated periodically.

The impact of canceling credit cards varies depending on what is in your credit file. You need to factor in any credit card fees involved, as well as your ability to manage multiple cards. Credit utilization, the relationship between credit balances and credit limits, is a factor in score calculation, with a ratio over 30% likely to have a negative effect. For example, canceling a card will decrease your overall credit limit, which negatively impacts your score if you do not proportionately reduce your debt.

To understand how a buy-now-pay-later purchase may impact your VantageScore credit score, it is helpful to understand what a BNPL purchase is. Some retailers offer products or services that allow the consumer to “Buy Now Pay Later.” A BNPL purchase is a consumer loan that may be offered by a retailer, which allows a consumer to repay the total cost of a product or service in four (or fewer) installments. While many types of products refer to themselves as “Buy Now Pay Later,” this response specifically references those BNPL products that require repayment in four (or fewer) interest-free installments. These BNPL loans are also sometimes referred to as “Pay in Four” BNPL loans and generally require an initial down payment of 25%, followed by three additional installments due every two weeks.

A BNPL purchase may impact a consumer’s credit score if a retailer or company reports the consumer’s BNPL loan and repayment history to one of the three NCRAs. VantageScore credit scores are generated from data provided by the three NCRAs, which means that if a retailer reports your BNPL data to an NCRA, it may impact your credit score.

It is important to note that not all companies report BNPL data to the NCRAs, which means that BNPL data may not appear on your credit reporting files. For this reason, unreported BNPL loans typically will not impact your VantageScore credit score. It is important to know which type of BNPL product you are using to understand any potential impact on your credit score.

Incorporating BNPL data into credit scores could have significant benefits for both consumers and lenders. It’s important to know that if you miss a payment on your BNPL loan or your account goes into collections, it can negatively impact your credit score. Al with any form of credit, it’s important to use it wisely and repay on time.