Applying for one or more personal loans can affect your credit score, as lenders must pull your full credit report before approving a loan in order to determine your creditworthiness. A full credit check, also known as a hard pull of your credit, can temporarily lower your credit score by a small amount. How you maintain the status of your personal loan also affects your credit score. If you make payments on time and in full it will help your credit score and if you don’t it will hurt your score.