 TITLE: What Is an Unsecured Personal Loan? CONTENT: How Unsecured Personal Loans Can Affect Your Credit\n---------------------------------------------------\nAs with other types of installment loans, applying for and taking out an unsecured personal loan can impact your credit in several ways:\n*   Applying for an unsecured loan will add a hard inquiry to your credit report, which could hurt your credit scores, even if your application is denied. Hard inquiries stay on your report for two years, but their impact on your scores decreases over time.\n*   If you're approved, the lender will typically report your new loan and payments to the credit bureaus. This can be a good or bad thing for your credit, depending on how you manage your payments.\n*   If you don't already have an installment loan in your credit history, the personal loan may add to your credit mix (your experience managing different types of credit accounts), which could improve your scores.\n*   As you repay the loan, your on-time payments could build a positive credit history and improve your scores. However, making late payments or letting your loan go delinquent will likely hurt your scores.\n*   If you use the personal loan to consolidate credit card debt, you can lower your credit utilization rate, or amount of available credit you're using, which may improve your scores. END