Does opening your first credit card hurt your credit score?

Yes, opening your first credit card can hurt your credit score temporarily, assuming you already have a score from using a loan or being an authorized user on someone else’s credit card account, for example. Credit card issuers usually do a hard inquiry when they review an application, and that can briefly hurt your score.

However, many people who are applying for their first credit card won’t have any credit history, which means they won’t have a credit score yet. When they get their first credit score after getting their first credit card, it will also factor in how the account is initially managed. On-time payments and reasonable credit utilization will help your credit score more than the initial hard inquiry hurts it.

You can get a better sense of how adding your first credit card is likely to affect your credit score by trying WalletHub’s free credit score simulator. Plus, if you’re looking to minimize any negative impact on your credit score, you could consider a credit card with no hard inquiry.

Good First Credit Card Options for 2023