It may never be any Cheaper Week 5

Posted on: June 25, 2012

Over the past year, consumer knowledge about credit scores improved significantly, including awareness of who collects information on which most scores are based, the importance of checking this information, what good scores are, how to raise them, and what service providers use these scores. But most consumers still do not know how costly low scores can be, when multiple inquiries hurt their scores, and the risks of purchasing credit repair services, according to findings of the second annual consumer knowledge about credit scores released today by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and VantageScore Solutions. In the numerous consumer knowledge surveys we have undertaken over the past several decades, I have never seen such improvement from one year to the next," said Stephen Brobeck, CFA's Executive Director. "However, credit reports and scores are so important to consumers that they should try to improve knowledge that remains deficient in several key areas," he added. “While we are obviously delighted at the improvement of consumer knowledge about credit scoring, we remain committed to ensuring our educational resources will keep pace with the surging demand for credit-related education by consumers, including and especially underserved groups,” said Barrett Burns, President and CEO of VantageScore Solutions. “The information in both the English and Spanish versions of CreditScoreQuiz.org is fresh and we will respond quickly to industry changes.” The CFA-VantageScore survey was administered to a representative sample of over 1000 adult Americans by phone in late April 2012 by ORC International. More than two-fifths of respondents (42%) said they had obtained or received at least one of their credit scores in the past year. Nearly half of this group said their source was a consumer or residential lender (45%) and/or a website using credit reports at the three main credit bureaus (49%). On almost all questions, those who had recently obtained a score or scores were more likely, than those who had not, to know the correct answers. Despite recent improvements in their knowledge about credit reports and scores, most consumers still lack important knowledge. For example, few know how costly low scores can be. Only 29 percent are aware that, on a $20,000, 60-month auto loan, a borrower with a low credit score is likely to pay at least $5000 more than a borrower with a high credit score. Source: Consumer Federation of America