It's been a bit over a year since I've purchased my credit report and scores from Equifax and Transunion, through myFico.com.  I've had a secured credit card for about 6 months so I'm curious to see how much, if at all, this has helped.  I've also paid off a collection for an auto loan and want to make sure that is reported correctly.

I'm a little confused because I thought when you ran your credit to get your FICO scores it counted as a 'hard pull', but recently I was reading it only counts as a 'soft pull' as long as you are pulling it yourself.  This is important because I'm always cautious with checking my own credit because I don't want to hurt it any more than it already is.  Is there a difference with checking my own credit through myFICO.com, annualcreditreports.com, or directly with each credit reporting agency?  Does it make a difference if I'm checking to see my FICO scores, or just getting the reports alone?

I'd also be interested to hear any personal recommendations.  As I mentioned, I could get my yearly free reports from annualcreditreport.com, but I am curious to see my scores - although honestly I doubt they will really be that much better than they were before so the scores isn't that important to me.  The last time I checked my FICO was around 550, so at best they might be somewhat less horrible