Equifax Inc. Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts focuses on the most common misconceptions about consumer credit scores in the company's newly issued monthly Economic Trends Commentary entitled "Busting Credit Score Myths."
 
Cutts traces the history of scores and their use in loan underwriting, and considers the value of multiple competing scores to consumers and lenders. Using consumer credit, income, employment and wealth data from Equifax, she studies the migration of scores over time, the relationships between credit scores, income, and household wealth, and how financial shocks such as the loss of a job can affect consumer credit performance.
 
"In this era of Big Data, there is perhaps no other number that better captures the nature of the information age we live in than the consumer credit score," said Amy Crews Cutts, Equifax Chief Economist. "In this commentary, we've examined credit scores in an effort to shed some light on the most common myths that surround them."
 
Leveraging industry knowledge and data sources unique to Equifax, Cutts reveals the reality that there is more than just one credit score, that a particular score value isn't permanent, and that scores don't necessarily reflect your income. Lastly, she examines how, despite good habits and detailed plans, unforeseen things can happen to responsible people that might derail their financial lives.
 
To view the latest Economic Trends Commentary, "Busting Credit Score Myths" please click here.