Survey: Consumer Credit Score Savvy Still Poor

Consumer understanding of credit scores has improved over the past year, but it remains poor, according to a credit score survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America and Washington Mutual Bank. Less than one-third of Americans (31%) understand that credit scores indicate the risk of not repaying a loan, rather than factors like their knowledge of or attitude toward consumer credit, the organizations said. In August 2005, May 2007, and June 2008, Opinion Research Corp. conducted surveys of more than 1,000 representative adults on consumer knowledge of credit scores for the CFA and WaMu. Comparing responses in the 2007 and 2008 surveys revealed that a growing percentage of Americans understand several important facts about credit scores, they said. For example, 28% (up from 24% in 2007) knew that 700 was approximately the lowest credit score needed to qualify for a low-rate mortgage, and 59% (up from 55%) knew that landlords often use the scores in deciding whether one can rent housing. The CFA can be found online at http://www.consumerfed.org, and WaMu can be found at http://www.wamu.com.