Many Millennials are Unaware of how to Build Credit Scores

It takes time to build credit scores, and can be much more difficult with little to no credit history (which affects many young people). That’s why it’s important for the younger generation to start checking their reports and become knowledgeable about building credit and establishing scores.

The younger “Millennial” generation is far behind older Americans in credit knowledge. A study by Consumer Federation of America and VantageScore Solutions finds that only half of Millennials (18-34 year-olds) have ever ordered a free copy of their credit report.

The Millennials surveyed had a lot of misconceptions about scoring too. For instance, many believed that age played a big role in credit scores. They also had false notions that the government keeps track of their credit.

The majority also didn’t realize the huge impact credit can have: only 15% knew about the consequences bad credit had on payments such as a car loans.

This comes as a shock because Millennials are generally much more tech-savvy than older generations. You’d think they would be aware that credit reports can be ordered online for free and with the wealth of knowledge available online they should know that checking these reports regularly can make such a positive impact. In fact, the people surveyed had much more knowledge about credit if they had seen their reports; even more so than people who knew their credit scores.

It takes time to build credit scores, and can be much more difficult with little to no credit history (which affects many young people). That’s why it’s important for the younger generation to start checking their reports and become knowledgeable about building credit and establishing scores.