Credit Score Basics > How often is your credit score updated?

How often is your credit score updated?

A credit score is a three-digit number that lenders look at to figure out how likely you are to repay your debt on time.

Credit scores are not fixed numbers. They are updated often, based on how you pay your bills, how you use the credit available to you, and other information reported to the credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).

How often is my credit score updated?

Usually, your credit score updates once a month. This doesn't mean, however, that your activity within that month will automatically appear in the credit report and impact your credit score.

It depends on how fast lenders update your account information and send it to the CRAs. Usually, they do it every 30-45 days, which means that a missed payment this month, for example, could lower your credit score as late as two months away.

You should also remember that you technically have three credit scores, not one—an Experian credit score, an Equifax credit score, and a TransUnion credit score. Not all lenders report information to all three agencies.

This means that if your credit card provider, for example, only reports to Experian, then if you miss a payment, you might see that your Equifax and TransUnion scores do not change.

Finally, because different banks, lenders, and credit card providers share information with the CRAs on various dates, your credit score updates more than once a month. It all depends on how many lenders you have and when they report.

What day of the month does my credit score update?

There is no set date when your credit scores will be updated. It all depends on when your lender sends information to the credit reference agency.

Some lenders do this on a specific date. For example, credit card providers usually do this on a date called "statement date." You will find this on your latest credit card statement, but the exact date will vary from company to company.

What is rapid rescoring?

You might have heard online or on social media about "rapid rescoring". Rapid rescoring is a process lenders might use to quickly add new repayment details to your credit report.

Unfortunately for UK residents, this process does not technically exist in the UK—it only exists in the US.

In other words, you'll still need to wait for the lenders and CRAs to do their jobs.

How do I see my most up-to-date credit scores?

There are a few places you can go to view your credit scores:

• To check your Experian credit score, sign up to a free Experian account.
• To check your Equifax score, you can do the same on ClearScore.
• And for your TransUnion account, you can use Credit Karma.

All of these websites offer you free access to your credit score.

If you want to see more detail, however, both Experian and Equifax have paid plans (£14.99 and £14.95 a month, respectively) which give you access to your full credit report.

Or, if you want to check your credit scores and reports from all three credit reference agencies in one go, you can use CheckMyFile, which also charges £14.99 a month.

How often should I check my credit score?

You can check your credit scores as often as you like, but once a month is probably sufficient for a few reasons:

• Your own checks are soft checks, so they do not affect your credit score.
• The websites that let you check your credit score for free usually update it once a month.
• And most things (missed payments, new credit cards, etc.) take a few weeks to show up in your credit report anyway.

Checking your credit score once a month really is the best balance between obsessing about it and making sure that you're on top of your financial situation.

• Credit Score Factors
• Credit Reference Agencies