While it seems that the majority of American’s are familiar enough with credit scores to realize how important they can be for their financial lives many still have confusion about the different aspects of credit scores.
From a new article on CreditCardGuide the information obtained from a recent survey jointly released survey by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and VantageScore solutions revealed that when it comes to credit many American’s are misinformed. On a 22-question credit score quiz the consumers only scored an average of about 60% of the questions correctly.
It is interesting to note that different demographic groups scored differently on the quiz. For example, the people earning over $100,000.00 a year scored high with 66% of the answers correct. Younger people, ages 35-45 also scored well with 67% of the answers correct. Consumers in the lower income groups of $25000.00 a year or less performed poorly with only 58% of the answers correct. But the group that scored the lowest of all was consumers ages 65 and above with only 53% of the questions answered correctly.
It is interesting to note that if a consumer had recently received a copy of their own credit report they scored higher. Another reminder there for you to obtain the free yearly copy of your credit report today if you haven’t done so recently. Go to annualcreditreport.com, they won’t try to sell you anything and you will be able to get your credit report completely free, no charge whatsoever.
There were some interesting gaps in the credit knowledge among the groups. For example, more than six out of ten consumers actually thought that age and marital status were used to determine a person’s credit score (no, neither one of these things are considered). Only six in ten were aware of the fact that credit scores are often used by cell phone companies and landlords. Unfortunately, credit scores are also often used to determine rates for insurance and also for employment applications, which is really important to know.
Anyway you have the opportunity to take an interactive web quiz about your own knowledge of credit scores at CreditScoreQuiz.org. See how you do and then compare yourself with other people taking the quiz.
