Best Credit Cards for Building Credit of June 2021

Many Americans still have a fundamental misunderstanding of how credit scores work, a U.S. News survey found. More than 44% of respondents say carrying a balance on their credit card improves their credit score, when in fact it does the opposite.

While 40.7% of respondents say they had checked their credit report in the past three months (and 60% had checked in the past year), 31% don’t know the impact of having a bad credit score, like getting denied for a loan or needing to pay higher interest rates.

Other survey findings include:

Most respondents recognize that missing payments hurts their credit, but nearly one-third can’t identify at least one action out of several that would hurt their credit score.

By a wide margin, respondents note the easiest way to improve their credit score: making payments on time.

About half of respondents connect bad credit scores with consequences such as not qualifying for a loan or being charged higher interest rates.

More than three-quarters of respondents know the myth about combined credit scores isn’t true – when two people get married, their credit scores and reports stay separate.

Unfortunately, other credit myths are more durable. Close to half of respondents say they need to carry a balance on their credit card to improve their credit score, when in fact the opposite is true.

Most people are keeping up on their credit, but about a quarter don’t ever check their credit reports.

Respondents have obtained their credit knowledge in a variety of ways, with about one-third doing their own research.

Respondents acknowledge they still need to learn more about credit.

More than a third of respondents say they haven’t made any credit mistakes, but nearly 1 in 5 say they have been late on a bill.

The most straightforward way to avoid credit card debt is to pay your balance every month, and that’s what more than one-third of respondents say they do.