Just 15 Percent of Reviewed U.S. Consumers Position Themselves in "A" Category As Far As Fiscal Knowledge is Concerned

ATLANTA, April 11. The majority of consumers reviewed do not position themselves at the top of the category when it comes to fiscal knowledge, as stated by a recent Equifax study the company undertook to correspond with National Financial Literacy Month in April. As stated by the results, one-third of the respondents classify themselves a "C" when studying their fiscal literacy understanding.

One in five reviewed consumers understand more about countrywide politics than their own credit accounts, 13 percent revealed they understood more about their preferred sports teams, 7 percent said they comprehended more about this season of their chosen TV series, and 6 percent comprehended more about the modern fashion tendencies.

But the bright spot is that the majority of consumers are taking measures to teach themselves when it comes to fiscal knowledge. When requested to choose the measures they've chosen to develop their fiscal knowledge within the previous year, 45 percent of the reviewed consumers stated they read news commentaries on financial websites, while 28 percent wanted assistance from family and friends.

While parents were the most prevalent basis of facts, the second most usual source was a private finance curriculum during high school or college. Ninety percent of review respondents perceived worth in teaching private finance, revealing they considered it should be an obligatory curriculum to graduate high school.

"At Equifax Global Consumer Solutions, we know that financial literacy is a key part of the foundation to establishing responsible credit behavior," revealed Dann Adams, president of Global Consumer Solutions at Equifax, adding, "Without a basic understanding of credit and your own behaviors, it can become challenging to do some of the basic fundamentals such as save for retirement, establish an emergency savings account, or move beyond living paycheck to paycheck.

"One of the survey's results we found encouraging is that many consumers understand the importance of paying bills on time, every time. When it comes to creating knowledge, and establishing the right kinds of credit behaviors, we can't emphasize this point enough," Adams further stated.

The survey furthermore discovered:

The majority of reviewed consumers appropriately chose the aspects that can influence credits scores. Precisely, 87 percent realized paying bills promptly is one aspect that influences a credit score.

Furthermore, 42 percent of reviewed consumers understood that most kinds of adverse facts can continue on a credit report for seven years. This is up somewhat from the 40 percent of reviewed consumers who understood this same facts in 2016.

 A bulk of reviewed consumers felt self-assured concerning their short- and long-term fiscal futures. Sixty-one out of a hundred showed they were self-assured or tremendously self-assured about their temporary fiscal futures, and 54 out of a hundred specified they were self-assured or tremendously self-assured about their long-term fiscal futures.

Respondents 60 years of age and over were most self-assured about their fiscal futures, while respondents aged 45 through 59 were least self-assured.

"As consumers age and financial needs change, the importance of staying educated about personal finance and credit is absolutely critical," stated Adams, adding, "We will continue to learn from these surveys and infuse financial wellness and literacy into our consumer-facing efforts at Equifax."

For the second yearly Equifax Global Consumer Solutions Financial Literacy Survey, Equifax undertook a blind review of over 1,000 American consumers in March 2017. The leeway for mistake for this study is plus or minus 5 percent.