Every formal credit check leaves a fingerprint on your credit report.

Understand the implications when a credit check is run so that you can protect yourself.

Every day, companies will request a credit check for millions of Americans. That credit check will have a bearing on purchases, employment, insurance coverage and much more. If you have ever applied for a credit card, a mortgage a loan to buy a car, or a line of credit to make some other large purchase, then someone has run a credit check and requested a copy of your credit report. If the results of the credit check indicate that you have made late payments on bills or that you have a lot of debt, you may not qualify for the loan -- or you may get it but have to pay a higher interest rate. Because a credit check can have such an impact on so many areas of your life, you should make sure that your credit report is accurate and that you understand how it affects the credit you can get.

When a company runs a credit check they receive a credit report with a history of your credit dealings. While a credit check may not seem to reveal any problems to you, creditors may view the information differently. If you have casually been applying for credit cards to qualify for promotional offers, each application generates a hard inquiry. When a lender runs a credit check and finds these inquiries, it may wrongly imply that you're either in some financial situation where you need a lot of credit, or are planning to take on a large debt. Either can flag you as a high credit risk.

It is genuinely worthwhile to run a credit check on yourself and obtain and review a copy of your credit report. You are responsible for making sure that the information in the report is accurate. If you stay on top of your credit profile, a credit check should never reveal any unforeseen problems.

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