Jimmy, there are two ways that your credit report can be pulled. A hard pull, and a soft pull. A hard pull is when you allow a creditor to do it by you applying for a loan or credit card. That will definately whack your credit score by about 1 fico point. Not terrible, but I still wouldn't want that because it'll take two years for it to come off. A soft pull is when a potential creditor is trying to market their rates to you and offering you a credit card or loan without you initiating the contact. This will not ding your fico score at all. Another type of soft pull is when you join a paid monthly service like I did where you can pull all three reports once a month for your own personal use. That will not ding your fico score either.
So you see, I have lost nothing, and have only gained by staying on top of my reports every month.