If you’re looking to qualify for a new credit card or home or auto loan, you likely want to make sure your credit is in the best shape possible. But knowing when the right time to apply might rely on when your credit score changes. And that could happen at any time.
“The short answer is it happens each time it’s calculated—whenever an inquiry is made into your credit report,” writes Experian. But that doesn’t mean your score is changing from second to second.
Most creditors report balances each month. Theoretically, this could mean that your credit score is different from Wednesday to Thursday, if your creditors reported information on Wednesday that positively or negatively influenced it. But usually, it’s a month-to-month change.
Whenever “new information is provided to Experian, your FICO Score using Experian data can go up or down,” credit bureau Experian explains, and this is true for the other two main bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion, as well. “You could even have two different FICO Scores within the same day if information was added to your profile during that day to impact it enough to register a change.” Additionally, just because information was reported to Experian on Wednesday, for example, doesn’t mean it was also reported to Equifax and TransUnion on that day.
The biggest changes takes months or even years to make. Building up your credit takes time, but bad marks—like, say, late payments, debt collections, charged-off accounts, etc.—can take seven years to fall off your report. Once that time is up, however, the credit agencies should erase the bad marks immediately.
Apps that provide your score, like Credit Karma, may not have the most updated information at all times, either, which is something to be aware of if you’re using them to determine your credit worthiness for a certain product. “Since we don’t receive credit report information from creditors directly, we don’t know when a specific creditor will update your information,” notes Credit Karma. “But by checking in regularly, you can keep track of updates—and keep your eye out for errors at the same time.”
Ultimately, it’s the length of your credit history and record of on-time payments that will matter most—not weekly or monthly fluctuations. It’s more important to pay attention to those categories than your score at any one time.