How to Check Your Credit Scores for Free (and Often) | 90 Day Blueprint to Improve your Credit Score

90 Day Blueprint to Improve your Credit Score from Make Startups Institute

4. How to Check Your Credit Scores for Free (and Often)

Pull Your Personal Credit Reports (The Legal Free Way)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets every consumer pull a complete file from all three bureaus once per year—free and with no score impact.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site approved by federal law for free reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Through April 2026, the site still offers weekly free downloads (a COVID-era policy the bureaus have kept in place).
Reports include full trade lines and public-record data but do not show your numeric FICO score.

Pro Tip: “Checking your own credit report is considered a soft inquiry and does not affect your credit scores.” — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Need the actual number? Scroll down the next section shows free score sources.

See Your Personal FICO (or VantageScore) for Free

Several banks and fintech apps now show updated scores at no cost.

Source	Score Type	Frequency	Eligibility
Discover Credit Scorecard	FICO 8	Monthly	Anyone (no Discover account needed)
Chase Credit Journey	VantageScore 3.0	Weekly	Anyone
American Express MyCredit Guide	VantageScore 3.0	Weekly	Anyone
Credit Karma	VantageScore 3.0	Daily	Anyone

Pro Tip: “You can check your credit scores as often as you like with no harm to your credit.” — Equifax FAQ

Module – Quick-Win Fixes — will leverage these tools to track score bumps after disputes and utilization cuts.

Pull Your Business Credit Reports for Free (or Nearly Free)

Business bureaus aren’t bound by the FCRA, but there are still cost-effective ways to see your file.

Nav.com Free Account – Shows a summary business grade (A–F), your Experian Intelliscore range, and any D-&-B alerts.
Experian Business Credit Advantage Trial – $0 for 7 days; cancel before billing to avoid the $179 annual fee.
D-&-B CreditSignal – Free forever; alerts you when your PAYDEX or D-&-B rating changes, though it hides the exact number.
U.S. Bank Business Leverage ® Card – Offers complimentary quarterly D-&-B report access for cardholders.

Pro Tip: “Nav is the simplest way to monitor changes in both personal and business credit from a single dashboard.” — Forbes Advisor, May 2025

Full vendor-setup links appear in Module – Build Positive History.

How Often Should Founders Check?

Stage	Personal Reports	Business Reports	Why It Matters
Pre-launch / Side-hustle	Monthly score check; full report every 4 months (rotate bureaus)	Quarterly via Nav or D-&-B CreditSignal	Catch ID theft and credit-utilization swings before applying for funding.
0–24 Months in Business	Monthly personal and business score checks	Monthly Nav + Semiannual full bureau pull	Thin-file period—errors or late vendor postings can tank early scores.
> 2 Years & Profitable	Quarterly	Quarterly	Focus shifts to building robust business scores; personal score still factors into large loans.

Reality Check: Credit bureaus can legally take up to 30 days to investigate a dispute, so monthly monitoring leaves time to fix issues before they derail a loan application.

A dispute-tracking worksheet is provided in Module – Quick-Win Fixes.

Common Monitoring Myths Debunked

Myth: “Checking my score too often will lower it.”
Fact: Self-checks are soft pulls; they never hurt scores.
Myth: “Business credit inquiries always show up on personal reports.”
Fact: Vendor and bureau pulls on your EIN don’t touch your Social Security file.
Myth: “I must pay for every bureau’s premium plan.”
Fact: Alerts from free tools catch 95 % of issues founders face; order full paid reports only before major financing rounds.

Pro Tip:: “Monitoring your business credit can alert you to fraudulent activity that might otherwise go unnoticed.” — Experian Business Resources

Score-alert automation tips surface in Module – Keep the Momentum.

Case Study: FitKid Apparel Catches a $12 K Collection Before It Hits Funding Round

Challenge
FitKid, a 10-month-old e-commerce startup, planned to pitch for a $150 K working-capital line. During a routine Nav check, the founder saw a new D-&-B alert: a $12 K collections account from a supplier they had never used.

Actions (2 weeks)

Pulled the full D-&-B report ($121) to confirm the error.
Filed a dispute through D-&-B’s iUpdate portal and supplied invoices proving no debt.
Set Experian Intelliscore and PAYDEX email alerts to “daily” until the issue cleared.

Results

Collection removed in 11 days.
PAYDEX returned to 80; Intelliscore rose 7 points.
Approval for a $150 K line at 11.25 % APR (loan officer confirmed denial would have been automatic if the collection had remained).

Takeaway: Weekly free monitoring caught fraud early, preserved the score, and kept funding on track—saving an estimated $18 K in higher interest the lender would have charged.

Final Thoughts

Free tools make it easy to keep both personal and business credit on your radar without dinging your scores or your wallet. Check often, act fast on errors, and you’ll enter every funding conversation with clean, up-to-date reports—turning credit insight into a competitive edge.

Module Author: Eric Parker

Article Details

Welcome to Week 1 of your 90-day plan. If you can’t see your credit data, you can’t fix it. Founders who pull both personal and business credit reports early catch errors, spot fraudulent accounts, and track score gains from each 90-day sprint we cover in this course. This lesson shows the zero-cost tools that put those reports in your hands—no trial fees, no score‐deduction myths—and explains exactly how often to check.

Category	90 Day Blueprint to Improve your Credit Score
Curriculum	all
Created	2025-07-03 03:08:47
Last Updated	2025-07-03 03:08:47
Published:	Make Startups Institute

90 Day Blueprint to Improve your Credit Score

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