Does opening a savings account affect credit scores?

Opening a savings account does not affect your credit score. Savings and checking accounts aren’t listed on credit reports, which means they don’t impact credit scores. But the more money you have saved, relative to your income and existing debt obligations, the more likely you are to be approved for a loan or line of credit. 

Lenders consider applicants’ overall ability to pay, which includes one’s income, assets and obligations. Savings certainly count as assets. But it doesn’t really matter whether the funds are in a savings account, checking account, money-market account, etc.

Having money saved up can also help protect your credit score during tough times. For example, job loss or emergency expenses don’t have to lead to missed bill payments and credit score damage if you have at least a few months’ pay stashed away.

Finally, it’s worth noting that while they won’t affect your credit score, savings account mistakes could make it harder to get a bank account in the future. This includes numerous overdrafts and/or bounced checks. You can check out WalletHub’s second chance banking page to learn more.

You can also check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub. And if you’re interested, here are the top five factors that do affect credit scores.

Nah, it's not really a line of credit, so it won't show up anywhere on your report. With that said, having money saved up sure helps in case of emergencies!