Posted by Lending Club :: June 24, 2010 @ 8:15 pmAmericans still aren't making the most of hard-learned credit lessons: they continue to carry high interest credit card debt and do not know how to improve their credit scores, according to the results of a survey conducted online from May 20-24, 2010 by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Lending Club, the leading U.S. peer lending network.
Key findings:
- The majority of Americans know the rates they are paying on their credit card and their credit rating
- Despite this awareness, they continue to carry high interest credit card debt and many do not know how to improve their credit scores
- Of those who know the rates on their credit cards, 31 percent have an interest rate of 20 percent or more and 64 percent pay 14 percent or more
- 65 percent of credit card users have never tried to negotiate a better interest rate, though 93 percent know it's possible
- Gender gap: women are less likely to know their credit score and interest rate than men
Read the full Lending Club survey findings here
What's your take on these interesting findings? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
Download the complete survey results here (394 kb. Word doc)
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8 Comments
Hi Rob.. I've found personally that transferring balances with low
rate balance transfers is a lot easier than trying to negotiate
lower rates with your current creditor. It's sad that some people
just give up and are stick with the higher rates.
Interesting results. People are used to act in certain way and even
they know they could do better it's hard to give up old habits.
[...] Americans are still not learning from the mistakes of the
past two years according to a new survey by Harris Interactive that
was commissioned by Lending Club, the peer-to-peer lender. A lot of
people continue to ignore [...]
Nice stats there. Although interest rates are at a lifetime low,
the same can't be said about credit card rates where people are at
the mercy of whatever they get charged (and unbelievably know
they're getting ripped off but don't do anything to reduce the
rates they're paying). Not sure why, but I was surprised that women
are less likely to know their credit score than men.
Does Harris Interactive know that the best way to improve your
credit score is to reduce it to zero by paying off all your debt?
Probably not. There are still millions of people out there who
believe a high credit score is a good thing but more and more are
learning that this is wrong. If you are one of those who still
think 700 is stupendous please read "Total Money Makeover" by Dave
Ramsey so you can understand that 700 is stupid.
I have tried pushing balances from one card to another in the past
to take advantage of free or low initial APR. I don't think its the
best move unless you are really able to stay on top of things. Any
little mistake (single late payment) and your right back up to the
high interest rates. Much better to just negotiate with your
current card holder if possible.
Why should Americans know or even care about their credit rating or
score ? We just watched the last administration cut taxes twice and
start two wars then start the biggest bank bailout in history. Then
we watch this administration carry on the trend of spend spend
spend. Americans in general don't seem to care about credit and its
damaging affects on our lifestyles as we have no good role models
to learn from.
Hmm, interesting but sad facts...
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