How Often Does A Credit Score Change

It’s completely normal for your credit scores to fluctuate. Information in your credit reports is updated as it is reported to credit bureaus. Any activity such as delay in payments of credit cards or EMI will be reported by the lenders to the credit bureaus and the credit bureaus will update it once in a month or once in every three months. 

The passage of time can also cause changes in credit scores. If you’re tracking your credit scores over time, you may notice the three-digit numbers may change, even if the credit score is generated by the same credit bureau or company.

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While you now understand that it’s completely normal for credit scores to fluctuate, you may have the following question, “how often does this happen?”

Broadly speaking, your credit scores are likely to change everytime the credit bureau receives new information about your credit profile. This can happen as frequently as once a month or take a longer time like once every three months or even six months, depending on your various credit activities. 

Your credit scores are a snapshot in time that changes based on your credit behaviors and the information in your credit reports, which is updated regularly. Credit scores are calculated based on information in your credit reports. That information is updated as new data is reported to credit bureaus by lenders, collection agencies, or other sources.

That data could include balance changes, the opening of new accounts, payments on existing accounts, or closed accounts falling off your credit report after a period of time has expired. 

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If you check one credit score in January and then again in March,  for instance, the credit score may have changed based on changes in account activity reported to the three nationwide credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- during that time.