Credit Building - How Long Should I Wait to See Results?

Building your credit up? Resist the urge to pull your report as often as possible, as results can take some time to start showing up.

I never check my report more than every six months. It's generally not worth the hassle any more often than that, and most credit building ventures can take up to that long before you start seeing any effect, and there are tons of other factors that can come into play, making you want to abandon something prematurely because you think it isn't working.

The only other time that I pull my credit score is before applying for any manner of loan or other financing. This lets me know what the person on the other end will be seeing, so they can't pull the whole "well, your score isn't that good..." line on me.

There are a number of services out there that let you get your credit score monthly, but that tends to make you more nervous than anything. If you're following good credit building practice, your score shouldn't be foremost on your mind. You should be thinking about being financially responsible, making sure that you're paying your bills on time, and any free time you have shouldn't be spent mulling over your credit score.

In short, wait about six months after you've started thinking about your score to start looking into any changes that may have happened to it, if anything just for peace of mind.

The only exception to this would be if you're clearing marks from your record that you don't believe should be there, in which case you should check back regularly to make sure that they have been removed promptly.