If your friend was looking at his own credit report for example buying it online, this is a "soft" inquiry. This has NO effect on his overall score. However if he was applying for credit and someone (the granter) was to make an inquiry.. this is a "hard" inquiry and does effect his score in a negative way.

Pay off your credit cards in full if possible... This tells the creditors that you are in a better financial situation.

So my inquires do not affect my score? I had a friend say that his credit score was dropping becuase he was looking at it every 2 months.

Is it worth it to subscribe to a monitoring service?

True, typically too many inquiries do drop your score by a few points each.

Viewing your own credit file, however, is like a "soft hit" in this respect, you can see the inquiry on your history, but others cannot and it does not lower your credit score.

I thought that too many inquiries drop your score? Or maybe im wrong...

At this point I'm getting my reports every three months (that's the free "by mail" versions) from Transunion, Equifax and Northern Credit/Experian, but once a year should be adequate if you're not disputing anything.

No?

Is it wise to ask for credit reports from both Equifax and Transunion?? It sounds liek they are not always on the same page.

And should i request them once year, or more then that?

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/fico/calc.asp

This is a fico score estimator supplied by Fair and Isaac... the creators of the Fico Score. You can plug and play the numbers yourself. Generally 40 is OK, lower is better.

Paying them off can show a significant score improvement...

Im thinkign ahead about what i will use my tax refund on, and i have a few questions.

I have 2 credit cards, totalling about $1500, tat are pretty much maxed out. My credit score is 631.

Ive heard that keeping your balances below 40% is best for your score. What kind of point improvement would I see? Either paying them off totally, or just so they ar each below 40%.

I know its hard to ball park the point, but am I looking at 10 points, or 50? Or more?