Credit Scores

• The average US credit score is 693. The New England region has the highest average at 713. The West South Central (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana) region has the lowest average at 673. (Source: Experian National Score Index)
• According to a 2006 Consumer Action study, 27% of Americans have never checked their credit. Up 4% from the same study in 2005. (Source: Capital One)
• 14% of the US population uses at least 50% of their available credit card limits, these users carry an average of 6.6 credit cards each. The national average credit scores for people with 50% utilization or higher is 645, compared to the overall national average of 674. (Source: Experian National Score Index)

Credit Reports

• The three major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - maintain 202 million credit files. 172 million of these are records that contain enough information to generate a credit score Another 33 million adults have credit bureau records that do not contain enough information to generate a credit score. 24 million Americans have no credit file. (Source: The Nilson Report)
• 61 million people have subprime credit scores (500-649). 99 million people have prime credit scores (651-749) and 12 million have superprime credit scores (750-800+) (Source: The Nilson Report)
• The average credit file contains 13 credit obligations, 9 are likely to be credit cards and 4 are likely to be installment loans. (Source: Fair Isaac)
• 25% of credit reports surveyed by the US PIRG contained serious errors that could result in the denial of credit. Altogether, 79% of credit reports surveyed contained an error or mistake of some kind. (Source: US PIRG)

Identity Theft

• The number of US adult victims of identity fraud decreased from 10.1 million in 2003 and 9.3 million in 2005 to 8.4 million in 2007. The mean fraud amount per fraud victim decreased from $6,278 in 2006 to $5,720 in 2007. (Source: Javelin Strategy & Research)
• 65.6% of US adults say they are worried about identity theft or fraud. 50.6% of US adults either have, or know someone who has, been a victim of identity theft. (Source: TransUnion)
• People who report that they are uneasy about identity theft are more likely (52%) to keep tabs on their credit report than people who are unconcerned (30%). Women (83%) are significantly more likely to securely destroy sensitive information than men (69%). (Source: Bankrate and GfK Roper)