COLUMBUS, Ohio–A new survey finds nine-in-10 Ohioans know their credit scores.
“The increase in personal credit score awareness among consumers can be attributed to a few factors,” the Ohio Credit Union League said in releasing the survey findings. “More companies today offer free credit score estimation, enabling Americans additional access to their credit performance. Data security incidents – such as the 2017 Equifax data breach…have also motivated consumers to check their reports more frequently for accuracy. Also inspiring consumers to check their credit is the report on frequency of credit report errors.”
The league said its survey found 89% of Ohioans said they know their credit score.
The OCUL said the survey found the Ohio results are close to those found in a 2018 Credit Health survey by Discover, in which 85% of U.S. consumers said they were aware of their credit standing, a statistic that increased 12 percentage points over the previous year.
Other Findings
The OCUL said it also found:
- 88% of respondents indicated they check their score annually and another 12% check it every two-to-three years. The majority – 94%– believe a good credit score is extremely important to maintain.
- The survey showed only a third of consumers know using more than 30% of a credit card’s credit line could hurt their credit score.
- Just 26% of Americans know that closing an old account could be a problem for their credit; and more than 20% of consumers believe checking their credit can hurt their score.
- Nearly half of consumers understand bad credit could deny them new credit or subject them to a higher interest rate, but many do not realize credit can affect their ability to access other financial products.