I think that the Consumer Federation of America was right on the money when they recently created a 20- question quiz for consumers to take that tests their credit score knowledge, asking questions such as which factors can and cannot affect credit scores, how much less a borrower with good credit will pay in interest than a borrower with less-than-ideal credit, and is age or marital status a factor when determining one’s credit score. I took the quiz myself, and even I learned a couple of things! I strongly encourage folks to take it to learn a bit more about how what factors go into determining credit, so that they can improve their credit. Elisabeth Leamy reported for ABC,
“The Consumer Federation of America, CFA, has created a fascinating, fantastic quiz about credit scores –what they are, what factors into them, what lowers them and so on. It’s worth taking, because as I have often preached here, credit costs money –big money—and there are two ways to cut that cost: use less credit and get credit for less. The way you get credit for less is by maintaining a high credit score and if you don’t understand how they work, that’s hard to do.
Spoiler alert! I encourage you to Take the quiz before reading any further, A) because it’s very well done and B) because I’m about to reveal some of the right and wrong answers below.
Some 22,623 people had taken the quiz by the time I did and the great news is that 21,570 of them passed it! They knew the basics, like the fact that credit scoring is used when you apply for any kind of loan –from a mortgage to a credit card– and that paying bills late lowers your score. On the other hand, getting 70 percent of the answers right counted as passing, and you’re going to need to know more than that about credit scores in order to have a tip-top one! There were some troubling misconceptions people had about credit scores that are worth discussing.”
To read more about which questions people got wrong and to take the quiz yourself, click here.
I think it’s super important for people to know what goes into a credit score, in order to know how to fix and maintain them. Your credit history is a bank or lender’s way of seeing how reliable of a borrower you are, and it’s worth your time and effort to brush up on that credit. The above-mentioned quiz is only 20 questions and takes just a couple minutes. No excuses! Let’s make 2012 the year that America’s collective credit score goes through the roof.
