Credit Monitoring: 1 in 4 Americans Haven’t Checked Their Credit Score in the Last Year

Credit scores are an important indicator of a person’s financial health. A strong score makes it easier to make major purchases like houses and cars at favorable rates, while a poor score can hurt your chances of securing financing. Using credit monitoring to track what your credit score is, when it changes, and why it changes is crucial to establishing healthy credit habits and improving your score.

From credit monitoring services to banking notifications, there are countless ways for people to check and regularly track their credit score, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is taking advantage of them. We surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults to find out how many track their credit score, how often they check, how it has impacted their scores, and more.

Key findings

• People aren’t knowledgeable about credit scores: When asked for the factors that go into a credit score, fewer than 1 in 10 people (9%) could correctly identify every factor that goes into a score.
• 1 in 5 (21%) of Gen Z said they don’t know their credit score, the highest of any generation.
• Nearly 1 in 4 people (24%) haven’t checked their credit score in the last 12 months. Among those who haven’t, 1 in 6 said they don’t know how.
• Checking your credit pays off: 60% of respondents said their credit scores have improved after they began regularly checking their credit. 22% of people have found some type of fraud, error, or similar issue thanks to checking their credit.

1 in 4 Americans haven’t checked their credit score in the last year

In today’s digital world, monitoring your credit is easier and more accessible than ever before. In addition to the safe and free weekly credit reports that all consumers are entitled to, there are a variety of high-quality credit monitoring services and apps that allow users to keep more regular tabs on their credit.

While some of the best credit monitoring services come with a price tag, there are also free options available for budget-conscious consumers. Many of the top free credit monitoring services offer impressive features and functionality, even if they have fewer features than paid options.

Beyond those dedicated monitoring products, many modern banks and credit card accounts offer free, integrated credit score updates and monitoring to their customers. So, with so many ways to stay on top of credit scores and reports, how many people are taking advantage of those resources?

A little more than three-quarters of U.S. adults say they have checked their credit score at least once in the past 12 months.

Most people who aren’t checking credit scores misunderstand how credit monitoring works

While that 76% of people who checked their credit score in the last year represents the clear majority of the population, it still leaves nearly one out of every four people who have not checked their credit score for one reason or another.

The most common reason for not checking in on a credit score was that respondents didn’t want to pay for a dedicated credit monitoring service. While there are paid monitoring services out there, some of the best credit monitoring services actually have free plans and tiers that can help, and a number of credit cards and banks also offer free credit monitoring to their customers. This means that anyone who is scared off from credit monitoring by a potential price tag may have more free ways to check their credit score available to them than they thought.

Nearly a quarter of those who haven’t checked their score in the last year, 23%, are under the false impression that checking their credit score will lower it. This confusion comes down to the difference between what qualifies as a hard vs. a soft credit inquiry. When someone looks up their own credit report, that is what is called a “soft inquiry,” which does not impact their credit score. A “hard inquiry” is performed by a credit company when someone applies for a new line of credit. It will impact their score and stay on their record for 12 months.

How often do Americans check their credit?

Checking your credit score is good, and making a habit of checking it regularly can be even better, as you are more likely to quickly spot and dispute credit discrepancies and potential errors when your score changes in unusual or unexpected ways.

Among people who keep tabs on their credit score, 95% check their score multiple times per year, including 18% who check every week and 29% who check every few weeks. That means that nearly half of credit checkers are looking at their score at least once a month, with many checking even more frequently than that.

We also asked people how often they check their full credit report, which is used to determine their credit score, but is not the same thing. A credit report is a detailed accounting of someone’s borrowing and credit history, and the information contained within is used to calculate their credit score, though each of the three major credit bureaus uses its own formulas to assign a score.

More than three-quarters of those who monitor their credit, 78%, say they check their detailed credit report multiple times per year. That includes about one-third (31%) who say they check their report at least every few weeks.

When it comes to the how of credit monitoring, one option stands out above the rest. 72% of people said they use free monitoring that is included with their bank or credit card account, while the number two choice is a free credit monitoring subscription that they were given access to after their data was included in a past data breach, which a little more than a quarter of people (26%) say they use. The only other option that more than 20% of people utilize is the weekly free credit report that anyone can get from annualcreditreport.com.

People who monitor their credit have higher scores

Regularly tracking your credit can be very beneficial and help to improve the health of your credit score, especially if you catch fraud or an error of some kind in the process.

More than one-fifth of people, 22%, say that monitoring their credit has resulted in catching at least one instance of fraud, identity theft, or a reporting error in the past. The sooner these kinds of issues are identified and corrected, the better, especially when it comes to maintaining and improving a credit score.

On that front, 60% of people say that their credit score has improved slightly (37%) or greatly (23%) since they began monitoring it, while 35% say their score has stayed relatively consistent since they started tracking it. That means that just 5% of people who take the time to check on their credit score have seen that score fall, while 95% have at least stayed at the same level since they started checking, with the majority of that group actually improving their score.

Credit monitoring by generation

Since a person’s credit history doesn’t typically start until they start doing things like taking out loans or opening credit cards in young adulthood, relationships with credit and credit monitoring can look pretty different across generations. This is especially notable when comparing older Americans with decades of experience with credit, such as baby boomers, to the youngest adults in the country, those who are part of Gen Z.

On the whole, just 12% of U.S. adults say they do not know what their credit score is. When broken out by generation, both Gen X and millennial respondents match that 12% number, while just 8% of baby boomers say they don’t know what their credit score is.

When it comes to Gen Z, however, that number jumps to 21% who don’t know their current credit score —more than double the percentage of boomers who are in the dark on their credit score, and 9 percentage points higher than Gen X and Millennials.

How many people know what goes into their credit score?

While most people know they have a credit score, and the majority of the population knows how to check that score, how many know who actually creates those scores, as well as which factors those bureaus are using to calculate credit scores?

There are five elements that make up a credit score: payment history, the amount of money owed on existing lines of credit, length of credit history, new credit lines opened, and overall credit mix. While more than half of respondents correctly identified every one of those factors when presented with a mix of real and fake credit score elements, just 9% of people correctly chose all five without also choosing at least one phony factor.

That means that less than one in 10 U.S. adults have a truly firm grasp on what actually makes up their credit score, though most people have a solid partial understanding.

When it comes to identifying the three major credit bureaus in the United States, respondents performed significantly better, with two-thirds of people correctly identifying at least one of the three actual credit bureaus in the U.S., and a little less than half correctly choosing all three without selecting a fake option. The false options that were most commonly chosen were Credit Karma, which one-third of people thought was one of the three major credit bureaus, and FICO, which is the name for one of the two major formulas used to calculate credit scores, but not an actual reporting bureau itself.

Advice from the experts

Credit monitoring is an important part of keeping track of your credit score and maintaining a good credit history. We asked experts to give their insights on best credit practices.

How often should people check their credit report?

What is an underrated way people can increase their credit score?

Which factor should people mostly focus on when trying to repair their credit history?

^{Some responses may have been slightly edited for clarity and brevity.}

Tips for improving your credit score

• Demystify your credit score. Lenders and creditors use various Vantage and FICO score models to determine your credit. Improve your financial literacy by understanding your credit score.
• Learn about free credit scores. Learn where to request your free weekly credit report and how to avoid credit scams.
• Place fraud alerts on your credit report. Having your identity stolen can be scary, but taking the precaution of placing a fraud alert on your credit report can help you stay safe.

Methodology

All About Cookies surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults aged 18 or older using a survey platform. Responses were collected in March 2025.