Personal Loans Affect Your Credit Score

Most lenders report your loan account details to the credit bureaus, which then include that information on your credit report. Everything from applying for a loan (which means a new inquiry on your credit report) to how timely you make payments affects your credit.

You can often minimize the new inquiries if you're shopping around for personal loan rates by applying within a limited period of time, or trying to get preapproved. Preapprovals don't always show up as hard inquiries that everyone can see on your credit report and they don't affect your score. 

The key to maintaining a good credit score is making your loan payments on time each month and consistently paying down your loan balance.