system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 why credit inquries lower one's credit score

If one is simply looking up her or his credit score and is not making a purchase on credit, why does his or her credit score take a hit?
gpt
You may check your own credit rating as often as you'd like with no impact to your overall rating.

Creditors (without your knowledge, i.e., those credit card offers you get in the mail) may check your credit rating as often as they'd like without impacting your overall rating.

Creditors (acting on your behalf, as in you applied for some sort of credit) checking your credit rating **will** impact your overall rating.

The third situation has the potential of impacting your overall credit rating because this type of query is only done when you apply for credit.  The presumption is that if you have applied for additional credit, you are planning on borrowing for something.  The impact of the query is nominal and short lived if you don't borrow the money.  If you do borrow, then your score would be recalculated based on the other factors (overall credit vs debt, credit history, etc.).