A Credit Score is determined by the information on your credit report. Every month, your credit score can change based on how you pay your bills, if you open new credit cards or take out new loans, or if you pay back old debts off in full.

Your credit score is determined by 5 main factors: First is your payment history, banks and finance companies want to see how you pay your monthly bills. Second is your current debt with loans and credit cards. To increase your score, try to keep your credit cards under 25% of your total limit.

The third factor is how long you have had credit or how long you have had credit cards and loans. Banks and lenders look at your past payment trends when deciding how you will do making payments to them. They also look at the type of credit that you have, which is the fourth factor. The last piece is the number of credit inquiries on your credit report.

If you apply for credit cards, these companies will check your credit report which is tracked on your credit report. These Credit inquires can hurt your credit score because they may show that you may have money problems or that you are planning to add loans. The more recent these credit report inquiries, the more they can hurt your credit score.

When checking your credit report yourself, on GoFreeCredit.com for example, will NOT hurt your credit score because it is not a commercial inquiry - just you checking your own credit report.