How Mint May Affect Your Credit Score

Connecting your financial life to an app like Mint might feel like an action that would affect your credit score. However, using the app itself has no direct impact on your credit.

1. Initial Soft Inquiry: When you use Mint to view your credit score, it performs a soft inquiry. Unlike a hard inquiry from a lender, this type of check has no effect on your credit score.
2. Receiving Product Offers: Based on your financial profile, Mint’s marketplace may present personalized offers for credit cards or loans. Simply viewing these suggestions does not impact your credit.
3. Applying for New Credit: The first potential impact occurs if you decide to apply for a suggested product. The lender will conduct a hard inquiry on your credit report, which can cause a temporary, minor dip in your score.
4. Altering Your Credit Profile: If your application is approved, the new account appears on your credit report. This action can lower the average age of your accounts but also increase your total available credit, potentially improving your credit utilization ratio.
5. Ongoing Account Management: The most significant, long-term effect depends on how you manage the new account. Consistent, on-time payments can help build your credit, while late payments or high balances will have a negative impact.

How Much Will Mint Affect Your Credit Score?

When you use an app like Mint to check your credit score, several factors come into play. Here are the key things to consider regarding its potential impact on your credit.

• Soft Inquiries. Mint performs a soft inquiry to retrieve your credit score. Unlike hard inquiries from loan applications, these checks do not affect your credit score in any way.
• Active Monitoring. Regularly viewing your score helps you stay informed about your credit health. This allows you to quickly spot and address any potential issues or inaccuracies on your report.
• Financial Habits. Using Mint's budgeting tools can help improve your financial discipline. Better habits, such as consistent on-time payments, can positively influence your credit score over the long term.

How You Can Avoid Mint Affecting Your Credit Score

Understand Inquiry Types

Mint’s free credit score check is a soft inquiry, which does not affect your score. A hard inquiry, which can temporarily lower your score, only occurs if you apply for a new credit card or loan through one of Mint's partners on the platform.

Use for Monitoring, Not Applying

To completely avoid any credit score impact, use Mint solely for its primary purpose: monitoring your finances and credit health. Refrain from applying for financial products offered within the app to prevent lenders from performing a hard pull on your credit report.

Limit New Credit Applications

A good general practice is to limit how often you apply for new credit, whether through Mint or directly with a lender. Each application can trigger a hard inquiry, and multiple inquiries in a short time can negatively impact your credit score.

Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

No matter your starting point, improving your credit score is an achievable goal that can significantly impact your financial life. While it requires consistent effort, most people see meaningful changes within a few months by adopting positive financial habits.

• Make timely payments. Your payment history is the most significant factor in your score, so setting up automatic payments for all your bills is a great way to ensure you never miss a due date.
• Reduce your credit utilization. Aim to keep your credit card balances below 30% of your total available credit, as this ratio heavily influences your score. Paying down balances is one of the quickest ways to see an improvement.
• Monitor your credit reports. Regularly obtain your free credit reports from the three major bureaus—Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax—to check for and dispute any inaccuracies that could be dragging your score down.
• Limit new credit applications. Each application for new credit can result in a hard inquiry, which may temporarily lower your score. Space out applications and use prequalification tools whenever possible to avoid unnecessary inquiries.
• Diversify your credit mix. Lenders prefer to see that you can responsibly manage different types of debt. Having a healthy mix of revolving credit (like credit cards) and installment loans (like auto or personal loans) can positively impact your score over time.

The Bottom Line

Using Mint to monitor your finances and check your credit score will not negatively impact it. The platform uses a soft inquiry, which does not affect your credit rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does connecting bank accounts to Mint lower my credit score?

No, connecting your accounts is a "soft inquiry" for verification purposes. This type of inquiry does not affect your credit score in any way.

Can Mint's credit monitoring service hurt my credit?

Not at all. Checking your own credit score through services like Mint is considered a soft pull and has no negative impact on your credit history or score.

Will closing my Mint account affect my credit score?

Closing your Mint account will not impact your credit score. Your credit history is tied to your actual financial accounts, not the budgeting apps used to track them.