The results of a recent study conducted by Equifax shows that the majority of college students (ages 18-24) are actually pretty responsible when it comes to credit card management. However, it’s also pretty clear that young people don’t know everything about building and maintaining good credit. If you’re currently a college student in Ohio, now is a great time to get thoroughly educated about all things related to credit. Becoming credit savvy at a young age will give you a lot of advantages in life, and it all starts with getting to know your credit reports. Young Ohioans should read on to find out what their friends may not know about building credit.
Credit Strengths and Weaknesses of Ohio College Students
Here’s the good news first: Out of the students who participated in the Equifax survey, 70% reported having at least one credit card. Among these credit card holders, 72% said that they pay off their balances completely every month – 18% are lucky enough to have parents who pay off their balances. This leaves only 10% of surveyed college students with credit cards who carry a balance from month to month. Fortunately, 59% of balance-carriers reported that they have a plan to pay these balances off within the next year.
It also seems that today’s college students in Ohio and across the country understand that credit scores are important. Most surveyed students were able to identify several factors that affect credit scores. These include paying bills on time, debt load, the differences between loans and credit cards, credit history length, and what happens when new credit is acquired. On the other hand, quite a few college students missed the mark when it came to identifying factors that don’t have an impact on credit scores. Also, fewer than half of the students polled had ever checked their credit reports or credit scores.
As an Ohio college student, it would be a good idea to get into the habit of checking your credit reports and credit score on a regular basis. If you start doing this before graduation, you’ll know where you stand with your credit before diving into your professional life. This is also a great way to see how your credit score relates to your credit reports and where there might be room for improvement in your credit management skills.
You will also want to check for errors on your credit reports because these are a lot more common than you may think. In fact, about 80% of consumer credit reports contain errors of some type. Some of these mistakes are relatively harmless, but a lot of credit report inaccuracies can bring your credit score down. This means that your credit score might be lower than it should be, and that you’re potentially missing out on opportunities that you’ve actually earned – like getting a great interest rate on a car loan.
Whether in college or not, Ohio consumers shouldn’t have to miss out on anything. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com and request free copies of your credit reports from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. These are the major credit bureaus in the U.S., and you’re entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of them every twelve months. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you also have the right to accurate credit reports. So if you find any errors on any or all of your credit reports, you can dispute them and have them removed. An easy way to do this is to contact Credit Repair Lawyers of America and get help from a FREE credit repair lawyer.
The Free and Legal way to Get Better Credit
Don’t let errors on your credit reports bring your credit score down. At Credit Repair Lawyers of America, we’ve been cleaning up credit reports for consumers since 2008 for free. How do we do it? The law allows us to collect our fees and costs from the defendants in any successful action. This is why our clients pay nothing for the work we do.
Let’s start the conversation about what we can do for your credit. Set up your free consultation today by calling Attorney Gary Nitzkin at (888)293-2882 or sending him a message through our contact page.
