Credit Trends
Trends by Domain
Our lives are full of numbers: Phone numbers, social security numbers, birthday dates, lottery numbers, lucky numbers... the list goes on. But, no number says more about us than our old favorite, the credit score.
Our credit scores speaks of our creditworthiness, gives potential lenders a peek into our credit history and even predicts our financial future. However, recent correlations have been drawn between credit scores and other factors... saying more about us than we'd ever imagined. Here are a few examples:
According to the Insurance Information Institute, drivers with lower credit scores file 40% more claims than drivers at the higher end of the credit scale.
Forget "red" state, "blue" state... certain states also have higher credit scores than others. The Dakotas and Wisconsin lead the country while Texas and Nevada have the lowest average credit scores.
We found another intriguing credit score correlation, email address domains. Based on a sample of 20,000 credit scores, our data shows that there is a difference of average scores based on what email service users prefer. Interestingly, Gmail and Comcast users came out the top with a higher average, while AOL and Yahoo users had the lowest average credit scores.
What does it all mean? Not much. Certainly switching email providers will not increase or decrease your credit score. It's more the case that people with a certain score have a greater likeliness to use a particular email provider. Why this happens is probably due to some demographic skew which then carries to the email domain. But that's not the point, we just thought it was interesting.
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I use gmail, my score is pretty high as well. But I have used yahoo and hotmail in the past - the amount of garbage cluttered on those sites makes them unbearable!
It's very true that yahoo *tends to* attract less sophisticated computer users. I already knew this; not that it would keep me from using any e-mail address I would like (I have several) but noticing that someone has a comcast account immediately lends some degree of credibility, whereas a yahoo account inspires a slight bit of suspicion. It was interesting to see that my observation is confirmed by the chart.
I rarely view my account from a public computer and "knock on wood" have not been "victimized". I use strong password techniques and it would be difficult to "guess" my password.
Yahoo, as I said, is just so much more convenient.
could it be that people using less secure email such as yahoo and AOL fall victim to identity theft, which in turn lowers their score?
Interesting theory. We'll let other comment on it. My take is that is just goes to the demographics of the different user bases. Some are younger, and stronger in certain geographies. Those all have correlations to credit scores.
I purposely don't use my Cablevision e-mail. Yahoo is just a million and one times more convenient than anything else. I may not use cable forever, perhaps it will be FIOS, but I still won't use the provider's e-mail. Yahoo just makes more sense, as it is with you for life. Having said that, the study is "interesting", but I would hope that creditors would never hold email domains as "gospel". I have a 677 CK score and a 703 Fico (both Transunion). I am a proud Yahoo user. :-)
This IS an interesting comparison between email accounts. I believe Yahoo is the loweset, just because it has so many users that it would take many high credit scorers to even out the multitude of poor credit scorers. Plus, yahoo mail is much more advertised than gmail. People with lower credit scores tend to take the first offer give to them (maybe not the best rate) and were maybe hasty to get into a credit/debt situation that was not in their control. Most people tend to act this way, it is human nature to trust others who are in a "position" to offer them a loan (even though the "lender" is just another human being who is working for someone else, and even themselves, not that connected to the personal lending situation).
Aren't FICO scores really an "I love debt" score? The more debt you have, the better your score. Think about it, a MILLIONAIRE who is debt free would have a ZERO credit score. He could not get a good apartment if the company checked his credit score, but could write a check and BUY THE WHOLE COMPLEX.
Just a thought....don't get too hooked on this stuff. Pay off your debts, live on less than you make and refuse to participate in all of the hype and fear generated in this economy.
Your statement is partially correct. You don't need debt to have good credit. You need a responsible habit of paying bills on time to have a good credit score. Credit can be a great convenience if you used properly. We agree that getting "hooked" on debt is not a good thing.
Perhaps AOL's and Yahoo's marketting trolls for and attract those who aren't that computer/internet savvy culling them from the digihead braniacs! Not a fool proof theroy though since I have Yahoo.... hey, be nice!
Credit scores are probably also highly correlated with IQ. I'm guessing the higher IQ folks use gmail and vice versa.
19 and Gmail WOO!