When approaching lenders, many people often make the mistake of going in "blind.' Many do not look over their credit score beforehand because they fear that increasing their number of credit inquiries will worsen their credit rating.

This common misunderstanding can work in the opposite way, actually preventing a person from receiving credit. A problem arises when people only partially comprehend what goes into their credit score.

It is true that creditors are wary of increased inquiries. For example, when some creditors look at an application and see an extreme amount of inquiries within a short span of time, they instantly reject the applicant. From experience, they know that good credit risks usually do not have many credit inquiries.

While the average person may understand this concept, problems arise because people do not know the definition of an inquiry. When potential lenders look at your history of inquiries, they can only see inquiries made by other lenders and creditors. This does not include instances in which you yourself ask for a credit report. You can obtain as many reports as you want without it having any effect at all.

In fact, checking your credit history is vital for successfully applying for new credit. How else will you know if there are mistakes in your credit file?

Before visiting creditors, you should investigate your report and look for any errors. By doing so, errors can be fixed, and your credit score can be adjusted positively, increasing your chances with lenders. You can request credit reports from any of the three major crediting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union.

Next time you apply for credit, know that your own personal credit requests do not affect your credit rating, get your files, and fix any problems. If not, you may end up ruining a chance to receive credit when you otherwise would have gotten it.