How often do your credit scores update?
When and how often your credit scores update is based partly on your credit reports’ information. And your reports are updated when lenders share information about your accounts with the three major credit bureaus—Equifax®, Experian® and TransUnion®.
Keep reading to learn more about when your credit scores might change and get tips for improving your scores and monitoring your credit.
What you’ll learn:
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Credit scores may update when the three major credit bureaus receive new account information from creditors.
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Lenders typically update account information with bureaus every 30-45 days.
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How much your scores change may depend on factors like who reported the information and the type of credit-scoring model used.
How often do credit scores update?
When and how often your credit scores update depends on when your lender sends information to the credit bureaus, when those bureaus update their reports and when credit-scoring companies use those reports to update their scores.
Lenders usually report updated information every 30-45 days, so it’s possible you might receive an updated credit score each month. But every lender has its own reporting schedule and policies.
It’s also possible your scores may update more frequently—sometimes multiple times a month. This can vary depending on how many lenders you have and when they send their updates.
What day of the month do your credit scores update?
Generally speaking, there is no set date each month when you can expect your credit scores to be updated.
What is rapid rescoring?
There may be situations when you want to speed up the process of getting your credit scores updated. Rapid rescoring is a process lenders might use to add new repayment details to your credit reports.
The process is typically related to mortgages. By paying down credit card balances and having the changes reflected on credit reports, borrowers might improve their eligibility or get access to better loan terms.
Rapid rescoring has to be requested through a lender. Otherwise, you can expect the timeline for a credit score update to be the same as usual, even if you’ve taken steps to pay off debts.
How much can I expect my scores to vary?
It can be difficult to predict how—or by how much—your credit scores can change or vary. That’s because you have different credit scores. They come from multiple credit-scoring companies—like FICO® and VantageScore®—using different formulas to calculate scores. Each credit-scoring company has several different versions of its credit-scoring models, too.
Formulas might use information from just one credit report or a combination of different reports. Then, each formula might assign different levels of importance to that information.
How much your scores change depends on the information your lenders send to the credit bureaus. Examples of the types of information they share may include:
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When you’ve applied for a new account
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When you’ve opened or closed an account
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Your account balance
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Your credit limit or the amount of a loan
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When an account goes into collections
This information is directly related to the factors that affect your credit scores, such as your credit history, payment history, credit utilization ratio and credit mix.
Where can I find my most up-to-date credit scores?
There are a few places you can go to view your credit scores, including your credit card issuer, credit bureaus, credit-scoring companies, credit counselors and online tools.
CreditWise from Capital One lets you monitor your credit report and updates your credit score as often as daily for free anytime—without hurting your credit scores. Plus, it’s free for everyone, even if you aren’t a Capital One cardholder.
And you can use the CreditWise Simulator to learn how your score might go up or down if you do things like open a new credit card, pay off a balance or increase your credit limit.
You can also get free copies of your credit reports from all three of the major credit bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Credit score updates FAQ
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about updates to credit scores:
Why did my credit scores decrease after paying off debt?
It might seem counterintuitive that paying off debt could hurt your credit—but it can happen. For example, paying off an installment loan could decrease the diversity of your credit mix and/or the average age of your credit accounts, which can lower your credit scores.
What’s the highest your credit scores can jump in one month?
There isn’t a specific threshold for how high your credit scores might increase in a given month. The exact increase will vary based on the particular individual’s credit profile and the credit-scoring model used.
Key takeaways: How often do credit scores update?
Your credit scores change based on the information in your credit reports—among other factors. You can’t control how often they update. Whether you’re trying to maintain or improve your credit scores, it’s important to monitor your credit regularly. And CreditWise is one way to do that without hurting your credit scores. You can also get free copies of your credit reports by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.
Over time, monitoring your credit might give you a deeper understanding of the factors influencing your scores. You’ll have a better idea of where you stand financially. And you can use that information to take the next steps toward your financial goals.
