The credit score you see when you log into your NerdWallet account could be updated as often as once a week, but it sometimes takes longer than that for new information about your credit accounts to be reflected in your credit score.

How credit score reporting and relay system works

Each month, credit card and loan issuers send information about your credit accounts to the major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian). As the credit bureaus receive this new information, your credit report is updated to reflect it. Your credit score, which is based on the information contained in your credit report, may change, too.

NerdWallet syncs with TransUnion, our credit score partner, once each week to get updated information about your credit profile. The credit score and report information you see in your NerdWallet account will change if account updates have been reported to TransUnion that week.

TransUnion can only send us updated information about your accounts if the bank has already sent its monthly report. Consequently, there's sometimes a lag of a few of weeks between when you make a change to your account (like making a credit card payment or opening or closing a credit account) and when this information is reflected on your credit report.

We recommend reviewing your credit report through NerdWallet every 30 days or so to check that the previous month's updates were made properly. You can check in as frequently as you like, but since banks only do their reporting about your accounts once each month, a few weeks may go by before you see anything new.

See this NerdWallet article for more information about how often your credit scores change.

You should also know...

• NerdWallet sends registered users an email if their credit score changes by 10 points or more, making it easy to keep an eye on your credit-building progress and catch unexpected changes quickly.