Credit Karma (www.creditkarma.com), the consumer’s credit advocate, today released its mid-year U.S. Credit Score Climate Report. Nationally, consumer credit card debt decreased 10 percent during the first half of the year and 17 percent from a year ago, falling to $6,472. Consumers in 12 states decreased credit card debt greater than the national average, including:
- New Hampshire – down 17 percent
- Hawaii and Wisconsin – down 14 percent
- Alabama, New York and West Virginia – down 13 percent
- Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois – down 12 percent
- California, Massachusetts and Texas – down 11 percent
Credit scores remain unchanged since the beginning of the year at 667 and are down two points since June 2010.
Since January, the average consumer with an account:
- Increased student loans four percent to $29,910
- Increased auto loans five percent to $13,998
- Decreased home mortgage loans one percent to $172,286
- Decreased home equity four percent to $47,537
“Economists are optimistic about the second half of 2011 as gas prices continue to drop and home costs level off. The data supports this trend, reflected by stable credit scores this year and consumers reducing their credit card debt,” said Kin Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com.
Additionally, consumers in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia have credit scores of 650 or lower which is considered poor.
Other key findings include:
- The states with the highest credit scores include California (685), Massachusetts (683), New Jersey (683), New York (679), Utah (679) and Washington (679).
- Consumers in Colorado had the highest amount of credit card debt at $7,543, followed by New Jersey at $7,531 and Connecticut at $7,479.
- Mortgage debt increased the most in Iowa by three percent to $117,884 since January while Nevada decreased its mortgage debt by five percent to $195,080.
- Texas ($18,253), Louisiana ($17,581) and Oklahoma ($17,424) carry the most auto loan debt while Wisconsin ($12,516), Oregon ($13,136) and Minnesota ($13,313) have the least.
Methodology
Each month, the CreditKarma.com U.S. Consumer Credit Score Climate Report compares the current credit scores of its user base with previous scores pulled at least 30 days prior and no more than 90 days prior to the stated month. This month’s report includes a comparison of more than 211,849 CreditKarma.com user scores.
About Credit Karma
CreditKarma.com is a completely free credit management service that enables consumers to put their credit to work for their overall financial health by providing them with customized savings recommendations. CreditKarma.com�s goal is to help its more than 2 million users realize the everyday cost savings of having a good credit score by providing free credit scores, as well as a range of tools to help consumers improve their financial situation. For more information, visit www.creditkarma.com.