It is absolutely insane the nutsy amount of credit information you can extract from the internet if you’re just surfing around!
From credit repair and credit card tidbits to just plain crazy credit facts you can find, like Crazy Credit Fact #22, Corpus Christi, Texas, residents have America’s worst credit scores! Or that if you live in Nevada you are 8 times more likely to file bankruptcy than if you live in Alaska?
These certainly are in the category of “things that make you go hmmmm”! They can make you all glossy eyed kind of like looking at Phyllis Diller. Don’t tell me you don’t know her! See the pic to the left? Uh huh..
Anyways, I found these to be both interesting as well as entertaining. I hope you enjoy…
25 Crazy Credit Facts
1) The average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,788 Some of you are better than average here!! Sorry, a little joke.
2) 609.8 million credit cards are held by U.S. consumers (Source Fed Reserve Bank of Boston Feb 2010)
3) Average APR on new credit card offer: 14.35 percent (Source: CreditCards.comWeekly Rate report, Aug. 25, 2010.)
4) U.S. credit card default rate: 13.01 percent. (Source: Fitch Ratings, April 2010) Delinquency trending up.
5) Visa credit: 270.1 million cards out there, down 11 percent (Source: Visa.com)
6) Visa debit: 382 million out, up 18 percent (Source: Visa.com)
7) MasterCard credit: 203 million cards out, down 22 percent (Source: MasterCard.com) Both Visa and master card are way down in issuing new credit a sign of much tighter lending policies
8) MasterCard debit: 125 million, up 1 percent (Source: MasterCard.com)
9) American Express credit: 48.9 million, down 9 percent (Source: AmericanExpress.com)
10) Discover credit: 54.4 million, down 6 percent (Source: Discover.com)
11) Eighty percent of consumers currently own a debit card, compared to 78 percent who own a credit card and 17 who own a prepaid card. (Source: “The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice,” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
12) In 2006, the United States Census Bureau determined that there were nearly 1.5 billion credit cards in use in the U.S. A stack of all those credit cards would reach more than 70 miles into space — and be almost as tall as 13 Mount Everests. (Source: NY Times, Feb. 23, 2009) Yeah, that’s more than a few!
13) Eighty-four percent of the student population overall have credit cards, an increase of approximately 11 percent since the fall of 2004. (Source: Sallie Mae, “How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards,” April 2009)
14) 76 percent of undergraduates have credit cards, and the average undergrad has $2,200 in credit card. Additionally, they will amass almost $20,000 in student debt. (Source: Nellie Mae, “Undergraduate Students and Credit Cards in 2004: An Analysis of Usage Rates and Trends”) This is a scary number! Keep in mind this is average, almost 8% have over $7100 in credit card debt
15) Credit card usage fell dramatically from 2007 to 2008, with only 64 percent of consumers indicating they used a credit card in the month preceding the September 2008 survey, compared to 87 percent of consumers in 2007 — a 23 percentage point decline. (Source: Javelin, “Credit Card Spending Declines” study, March 2009)
16) Residents of Jackson, Miss., use the highest percentage of their credit limit. (Source: Men’s Health magazine’s personal debt survey, July 2008)
17) Lincoln, Neb., residents use the lowest percentage of their credit limit. (Source: Men’s Health magazine’s personal debt survey, July 2008)
18) Total bankruptcy filings in 2009 reached 1.4 million in 2009, up from 1.09 million in 2008. The vast majority were personal bankruptcies — Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Business bankruptcies made up 6 percent of all filings. (Source: AACER, the American Bankruptcy Institute, January 2010) This is a 28% jump in one year!
19) Nevada surpassed Tennessee atop the listing of bankruptcies per capita, with more than 11 bankruptcies filed for every 1,000 residents. Tennessee and Georgia took the second and third slots behind the Silver State. Compared to 2009 third-quarter data, the biggest mover was Arizona, which rose six spots from No. 21 to No. 15. At the other end of the scale is Alaska, which had only 1.4 bankruptcy per capita, meaning the average Nevadan was eight times more likely to file bankruptcy than the average Alaskan. (Source: AACER, the American Bankruptcy Institute, January 2010)
20) From Q3 2008 to Q1 2009, the average TransUnion credit score fell 6 points to 651, the credit bureau says. Scores fell even further in the some economically challenged states: California fell 10 points and Arizona, 11. (Source: USAToday.com, April 2009) In one quarter and this trend continues!
21) On average, today’s consumer has a total of 13 credit obligations on record at a credit bureau. These include credit cards (such as department store charge cards, gas cards, and bank cards) and installment loans (auto loans, mortgage loans, student loans, etc.). Not included are savings and checking accounts (typically not reported to a credit bureau). Of these 13 credit obligations, nine are likely to be credit cards and four are likely to be installment loans. (Source: myfico.com)
22) Corpus Christi, Texas, residents have America’s worst credit scores. (Source: Men’s Health magazine’s personal debt survey, July 2008)
23) Sioux Falls, S.D., boasts America’s best credit scores. (Source: Men’s Health magazine’s personal debt survey, July 2008)
24) Miami residents are the biggest overspenders, one study says. The 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas were ranked in terms of percent of median yearly household income owed to credit card companies and Miami residents owed 22.61 percent. Tampa (17.1 percent) and Los Angeles (16.81 percent) came in second and third, respectively. (Source: Forbes.com, Equifax and US Census Bureau, April 2009)
25) What credit score do I need to get a mortgage loan? This is one of the most common questions we have received from home buyers over the years. New data released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed some interesting trends about credit scores and mortgage loans.
According to the report, 84% of mortgage loans purchased by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae came from borrowers with credit scores of 660 or above. The data pertained to single-family mortgage loans acquired by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae between 2001 and 2008. Fannie and Freddie are the government-sponsored enterprises that purchase mortgage loans from direct lenders and sell them to investors.
Only 5% of “Enterprise-acquired” mortgages came from borrowers with credit scores below 620. What does this mean?
Credit Scores are king! If your credit scores are low it’s time to do something about it!
If you’ve come across some Crazy Credit Facts reply with a comment and share the fun, some days I just can’t get enough of these crazy little tidbits!
Be Bold!
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
What a great resource!
Specifically regarding credit scores needed for home loans:
Conventional home loans (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac) have the tightest credit standards for obtaining a home loan. Currently both Agencies charge a “delivery fee”, which is basically an upcharge in rate or fees to offset for credit scores below 740. That’s right I said 740! The amount of the charge is dependent also on the loan to value ratio. For example a home buyer with a 650 Fico score that is making a 10% down payment would have a “delivery fee” of 2.75%…meaning that they would get a higher rate to offset these charges or they would pay that much more in closing costs. These fees are even higher for borrowers that have equity in their homes and want to “cash out”.
Government sponsored loans such as FHA, VA, and USDA have less stringent requiements…the average credit score required by the secondary markets is 640. Frequent exceptions are made with credit scores down to 620, but anything under that is very difficult and at best very rare to even get approved without significant compensating factors and usually a higher interest rate.
The moral of the story is that your CREDIT SCORE is critical. The bottom of the barrell is pretty much 640 these days.
If you have additional questions please feel free to call me at 816-651-8070.
Richard L. Fraser
Sr. Loan Advisor
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