Americans Struggle with Credit Score Knowledge

• When asked five questions about credit scores, the average American answered only two correctly.

The nation’s complicated credit scoring system isn’t just inaccessible for millions, it's also broadly confusing -- the typical American cannot answer a majority of five basic credit score questions correctly. 

When asked five questions about credit scores, the average American answered only two correctly, according to a recent survey by Zillow Population Science. And the struggle to understand credit scoring wasn’t limited to younger Americans that may have less experience building and utilizing credit. Only a quarter (25%) of members of Gen Z, the youngest generation, answered at least three questions correctly, lowest among all generations surveyed. But fewer than half of Americans in the older millennial (35%), Gen X (47%) and Baby Boomer/Silent Generation (41%) cohorts were able to answer at least three of the five credit questions correctly. 

The frequency with which respondents said they checked their credit also seemed to have little impact on knowledge. No matter if they said they checked their credit extremely often, very often, somewhat often, not very often or not at all, respondents still averaged just two correct responses to the quiz. 

Respondents were most likely to correctly identify that investments in the stock market typically do not not factor into their scores (67% answered correctly). About half (47%) accurately said that their credit score could affect their mortgage application until closing on a home. And only one in four could correctly rank the importance of payment history, amount of credit, and length of credit history on the calculation of their score (26%).

Methodology

Zillow Group Population Science collected a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 Americans. Fielded between February 11 and February 19, 2021, the survey asked participants questions about their comfort and likelihood to adopt new technologies in home shopping. The survey also  tested participants’ knowledge of credit scores. To achieve national representativeness, quotas for age, education, sex, region, race, income, and marital status limited oversampling of any given demographic group. In addition to quotas, Zillow used statistical raking to weight the sample to the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019 sample of adults.