Money Credit Freezes in America
The National Public Data breach is one of the biggest breaches in recent history, with 2.9 billion personal finance records on millions of Americans exposed. [1] USA Today, Don't get tricked: How to check if your Social Security number was part of data breach https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/08/25/check-social-security-number-data-breach/74944395007/ Many Americans may now be considering freezing their credit reports, preventing credit bureaus accessing their most recent financial transactions, to stop their personal finance data potentially being leaked in the future. However, a recent FinTechTakes article showed how hard it can be to freeze your credit report. [2] FinTechTakes, Why is it so hard to freeze your credit report? https://fintechtakes.com/articles/2024-08-23/credit-freezes/
But how clued up are people on things like credit reports, credit scores and credit freezes, and how much do people trust credit bureaus?
A survey of 1,984 American adults on behalf of Self Financial was conducted to better understand how financially literate the country is when it comes to credit freezes and credit reporting.
Key findings
- The majority, (71.4%) of those surveyed are aware of what a credit score is, while the remaining 26.6% don’t know.
- Most people, (81.4%) incorrectly thought their credit score would be included on a credit report.
- Over half, (54.6%) have signed up for a free credit report and regretted it.
- Nearly three-quarters, (74.4%) think credit bureaus intentionally make it hard to freeze your credit report.
- Over a quarter, (28.0%) of respondents don’t trust the credit system in America.
What is a credit report?
Before we discuss credit freezes it’s important to better understand what a credit report is.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) a credit report is classified as a statement that has information about your credit activity in addition to your current credit situation including historic loans and the status of your credit accounts.
People may have more than one credit report. Credit bureaus, also known as credit reporting companies or agencies, collect, store and report on financial data about you that is submitted to them by various creditors. Examples of creditors include lenders, credit card companies and other financial institutions. [3] Consumer Finance, What is a credit report? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-credit-report-en-309/
The information in a credit report is used to develop a credit score. [4] USA Gov, Understand, get, and improve your credit score https://www.usa.gov/credit-score Lenders then use your credit score to evaluate if you’re eligible for a loan and what interest rate they may offer you. In some types of credit like credit cards, they may also consider your most recent credit score to determine whether you can continue to meet the terms of your existing credit account.
Other companies might use your credit report to decide whether to ask for a deposit or higher rates, if they offer you insurance; rent you a house or apartment, or provide other services like cable TV, internet, utilities, and cell phone service.
What is included in a credit report?
So what kind of information can you expect to see on a credit report? Let’s find out.
The below data is included in a credit report:
- Personal Identifiable Information (PII) - Your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and employment information.
- Credit accounts - Information on the type of account, date opened, credit limit or loan amount, account balance, payment history and if you have made payments on time.
- Credit history - Your payment history, debts, and credit application activity.
- Credit inquiries - Details of any credit inquiries by lenders within the past two years.
- Bankruptcy public records and collections - Public record information from state and county courts relating to bankruptcy, in addition to debts that are overdue and have been sent to collections.
This data is sourced from MyFICO® [5] MyFico, What’s in my credit report? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-my-credit-report.
The majority of survey respondents knew which factors were included in a credit report, with the exception of credit scores and criminal convictions. However, a large number of respondents, (81.4%) stated that a credit score would be included on a credit report. In most cases, your credit report will not automatically include your credit score. [4] USA Gov, Understand, get, and improve your credit score https://www.usa.gov/credit-score
The majority, 61.5%, thought that criminal convictions would be included in a credit report, but again, this isn’t something that credit bureaus collect data on. [6] Experian, What is not included in your credit report? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-not-included-in-your-credit-report/
| What is included on a credit report? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Factor | Is this included on a credit report? | Percentage of respondents who knew this | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this |
| Factor Credit history | Is this included on a credit report? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 90.2% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 9.8% |
| Factor Personally Identifiable Information (PII) | Is this included on a credit report? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 88.7% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 11.3% |
| Factor Credit accounts | Is this included on a credit report? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 85.4% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 14.6% |
| Factor Credit inquiries | Is this included on a credit report? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 80.3% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 19.7% |
| Factor Bankruptcy public records and collections | Is this included on a credit report? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 79.3% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 20.7% |
| Factor Criminal records | Is this included on a credit report? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 61.5% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 38.5% |
| Factor Credit score | Is this included on a credit report? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 18.6% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 81.4% |
Data for this table and the bulleted points above are correct at the time of publication. Information on what is and isn’t included in a credit report was taken from sources including MyFico [5] MyFico, What’s in my credit report? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-my-credit-report, Experian [6] Experian, What is not included in your credit report? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-not-included-in-your-credit-report/, Equifax [7] Equifax, What's on your credit report? https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/report/articles/-/learn/what-is-a-credit-report-and-what-is-on-it/.
What is a credit score?
The CFPB states that a credit score is a prediction of your credit behavior, such as how likely you are to pay a loan back on time, based on information from your credit reports.
FICO scores range from 300 to 850 and the higher your score, the more likely that you will get approved for loans and better rates. [8] Experian, What is a good credit score? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/score-basics/what-is-a-good-credit-score/
As of April 2024, the average FICO® Score in the United States is 717. [9] FICO, Average U.S. FICO® Score stays at 717 even as consumers are faced with economic uncertainty https://www.fico.com/blogs/average-u-s-ficor-score-stays-717-even-consumers-are-faced-economic-uncertainty Discover more about credit scores in our recent FICO® Score in America study.
Companies use a mathematical formula called a scoring model to create your credit score using information from your credit report.
They will then use credit scores to make decisions about mortgage offers, credit card applications, and other credit products. It’s important to note that credit score factors alone do not determine if you will be approved. Other factors like capacity to repay, collateral and your capital may also be used to determine the interest rate and the credit limit you are eligible for. [10] American Express, The Five Cs of credit explained https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/credit-cards/credit-intel/5-cs-of-credit/
In our survey the majority of respondents, 71.4% correctly identified what a credit score was, a number that predicts how likely you are to repay a loan or other debt based on your credit history. [11] Consumer Finance, What is a credit score? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-credit-score-en-315/ The remaining 28.6% failed to correctly identify what a credit score is.
| What is a credit score? | |
|---|---|
| Answer | Percentage of respondents |
| A number that predicts how likely you are to repay a loan or other debt based on your credit history | 71.4% |
| A reflection of your income, savings, employment, or health expenses | 16.8% |
| A number which shows how much debt you've acquired over time | 8.8% |
| None of the above | 2.0% |
| A reflection of how many credit cards you've had over time | 1.0% |
What is included in a credit score?
So what is included in a credit score, and how informed were the survey respondents?
FICO [12] MyFico, What’s in your credit score? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-your-credit-score states that there are five factors evaluated to calculate a credit score. These are shown below.
- Payment history (35%)
- Amounts owed (30%)
- Length of credit history (15%)
- Types of credit (10%)
- New credit (10%)
When asked what factors impact your credit score the majority of people knew what could potentially impact it. However, 54.2% mistakenly thought that their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or marital status could impact their credit score when it does not.
A further 51.5% incorrectly thought that where they live might also affect their credit score. [13] MyFico, What’s not in your credit score? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-scores/whats-not-in-your-credit-score
| What impacts your credit score? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Factor | Does this make up your credit score? | Percentage of respondents who knew this | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this |
| Factor Payment history | Does this make up your credit score? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 94.4% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 5.6% |
| Factor Length of credit history | Does this make up your credit score? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 89.4% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 10.6% |
| Factor Credit usage | Does this make up your credit score? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 87.1% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 12.9% |
| Factor Recent activity | Does this make up your credit score? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 85.9% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 14.1% |
| Factor Types of accounts | Does this make up your credit score? Yes | Percentage of respondents who knew this 83.5% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 16.5% |
| Factor Race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or marital status | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 54.2% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 45.8% |
| Factor Where you live | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 51.5% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 48.5% |
| Factor Your bank or savings account | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 49.8% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 50.2% |
| Factor Your partner/people you live with | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 49.0% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 51.0% |
| Factor Soft credit checks or inquiries | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 47.9% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 52.1% |
| Factor Salary, occupation, title, employer, date employed or employment history | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 45.7% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 54.3% |
| Factor The interest rate being charged on a particular credit card or other account | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 41.7% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 58.3% |
| Factor Checking your own credit report | Does this make up your credit score? No | Percentage of respondents who knew this 39.1% | Percentage of respondents who didn't know this 60.9% |
Data for this table was taken from multiple sources including FICO [13] MyFico, What’s not in your credit score? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-scores/whats-not-in-your-credit-score and Experian [14] Experian, What is a good credit score? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/score-basics/what-is-a-good-credit-score/ .
What is a credit freeze?
A credit freeze is an action you can take to manage access to your consumer credit reports at Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. [15] Experian, How to freeze your credit at all 3 credit bureaus https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/preventing-fraud/security-freeze/ The majority of respondents 35.5% incorrectly thought that a credit freeze limited the amount of transactions you can make per month.
However, 27.4% correctly stated what a credit freeze is. Just under a quarter of respondents, (24.0%) thought credit freezes stopped them from taking out any more credit cards. The remaining 13.1% said a credit freeze would stop anyone, including themselves, from accessing their credit report.
| What is a credit freeze? | |
|---|---|
| Answer | Percentage of respondents |
| It limits the amount of transactions you can make a month | 35.5% |
| It manages access to your consumer credit reports at Experian, TransUnion and Equifax | 27.4% |
| It stops you taking out any more credit cards | 24.0% |
| It stops anyone, including yourself accessing your credit report | 13.1% |
Over half, (54.6%) of respondents stated that they had signed up for a free credit report and regretted it.
When asked if they had ever requested a credit freeze 62.7% said that they had, while 37.3% hadn’t.
When asked 61.1% of respondents stated that they had successfully frozen their credit report in the past.
To understand why people had requested credit freezes we asked those who had done so what had caused this, asking them to select the reasons that applied to them. The most common reason from the multiple answers respondents could select was to prevent unauthorized access at 28.4%.
To protect myself from identity theft or fraud was the second most common reason at 20.1%, followed by to prevent creditors from accessing my credit report at 15.9%.
| Why did you want to freeze your credit report? | |
|---|---|
| Response | Percentage of respondents |
| To prevent unauthorized access | 28.4% |
| To protect myself from identity theft or fraud | 20.1% |
| To prevent creditors from accessing my credit report | 15.9% |
| I didn't want my personal credit data being sold for profit | 15.4% |
| I didn't want my personal credit data shared with third parties | 13.9% |
| It was no longer needed | 6.2% |
| Other | 0.2% |
Note: respondents could select more than one option.
The survey went on to ask respondents who had tried and failed to freeze their credit report, what had stopped the freeze from being put in place. The credit bureau making it difficult to put the freeze online was the most common answer at 33.1%, followed by the credit bureau making it difficult to put the freeze in place over the phone (25.4%).
| If you tried and failed to freeze your credit report what stopped the freeze being put in place? | |
|---|---|
| Reason | Percentage of respondents |
| Credit bureau made this difficult to put in place online | 33.1% |
| Credit bureau made this difficult to put in place over the phone | 25.4% |
| Credit bureau said this wasn’t possible to put in place online or over the phone | 20.1% |
| The credit bureau website didn't show this information readily | 14.8% |
| Other | 6.6% |
Note: respondents could select more than one option.
Just under three quarters, 74.4% stated that they think credit bureaus intentionally make it hard to freeze your credit report.
Keen to understand why some people had decided not to freeze their credit report we asked respondents to select the reasons that applied to them. Never considering freezing the report was shown to be the most common reason at 63.3%. The second most common reason was that people were not aware that they could freeze their credit report at 27.5%.
| If you haven't frozen your credit report why not? | |
|---|---|
| Reason | Percentage of respondents |
| I never considered freezing it | 63.3% |
| I didn't know I could freeze my credit report | 27.5% |
| Other | 9.2% |
Note: respondents could select more than one option.
What is a credit bureau?
A credit bureau gathers and organizes information about consumers to create consumer credit reports. They then sell these reports, along with credit scores, to creditors. [16] Experian, What is a credit bureau? What are credit bureaus and how do they work? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-a-credit-bureau/
As listed at the start of the report credit bureaus collect data on your credit history, credit, accounts, credit inquiries, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and bankruptcy public records and collections to include on a credit report.
But do people know what credit bureaus do? The answer is no, with 59.8% of respondents unable to correctly identify what a credit bureau does with 33.6% believing that they collect data on those aged under 18, which credit bureaus state that they don’t. [17] Experian, Does my child have a credit report? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/does-your-child-have-a-credit-report/
A further 15.2% thought information on their pets would be collected, which again is not something that credit bureaus collect data on, and 11.0% didn’t think any of the answers provided were correct in regards to what a credit bureau does.
The remaining 40.3% of respondents knew that credit bureaus collect and sell information on adults.
| What does a credit bureau do? | |
|---|---|
| Answer | Percentage of respondents |
| Collect and sell financial information on adults | 40.3% |
| Collect and sell financial information on under-18s | 33.6% |
| Collect and sell financial information on your pets | 15.2% |
| None of the above | 11.0% |
Following the data breach mentioned at the start of this report it is understandable if more people are concerned about the credit system in America. Over a quarter, 28.0% of respondents said that they don’t trust the credit system in America.
When respondents were asked to select which information they would be comfortable with credit bureaus having on them from a number of options, their credit information was shown to be the most common answer at 24.2%, followed by credit accounts at 23.6% and credit inquiries at 19.5%.
| Which data are you comfortable with credit bureaus having? | |
|---|---|
| Data | Percentage of respondents |
| Credit history | 24.2% |
| Credit accounts | 23.6% |
| Credit inquiries | 19.5% |
| Personally Identifiable Information (PII) | 18.5% |
| Bankruptcy public records and collections | 11.8% |
| None of the above | 2.3% |
Note: respondents could select more than one option.
Personal data (18.5%) and bankruptcy public records and collections (11.8%) were all shown to be data that people were least comfortable with being collected, with 2.3% respondents not wanting any of the data listed to be collected.
Methodology
A survey of 1,984 American adults on behalf of Self Financial was conducted between November 2024 and January 2025. The survey asked a number of different questions about credit freezes, credit reports, credit scores and credit bureaus to better understand how Americans feel about them. All data correct at the time of publication.
The demographics of those surveyed are shown below:
Age
- 18-26 9.5%
- 27-42 71.6%
- 43-58 13.8%
- 59-68 3.5%
- 69+ 1.6%
Gender
- Female 50.9%
- Male 47.7%
- Non-binary 1.0%
- Not disclosed 0.4%
Sources
- [1] USA Today, Don't get tricked: How to check if your Social Security number was part of data breach https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/08/25/check-social-security-number-data-breach/74944395007/
- [2] FinTechTakes, Why is it so hard to freeze your credit report? https://fintechtakes.com/articles/2024-08-23/credit-freezes/
- [3] Consumer Finance, What is a credit report? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-credit-report-en-309/
- [4] USA Gov, Understand, get, and improve your credit score https://www.usa.gov/credit-score
- [5] MyFico, What’s in my credit report? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-my-credit-report
- [6] Experian, What is not included in your credit report? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-not-included-in-your-credit-report/
- [7] Equifax, What's on your credit report? https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/report/articles/-/learn/what-is-a-credit-report-and-what-is-on-it/
- [8] Experian, What is a good credit score? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/score-basics/what-is-a-good-credit-score/
- [9] FICO, Average U.S. FICO® Score stays at 717 even as consumers are faced with economic uncertainty https://www.fico.com/blogs/average-u-s-ficor-score-stays-717-even-consumers-are-faced-economic-uncertainty
- [10] American Express, The Five Cs of credit explained https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/credit-cards/credit-intel/5-cs-of-credit/
- [11] Consumer Finance, What is a credit score? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-credit-score-en-315/
- [12] MyFico, What’s in your credit score? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-your-credit-score
- [13] MyFico, What’s not in your credit score? https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-scores/whats-not-in-your-credit-score
- [14] Experian, What is a good credit score? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/score-basics/what-is-a-good-credit-score/
- [15] Experian, How to freeze your credit at all 3 credit bureaus https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/preventing-fraud/security-freeze/
- [16] Experian, What is a credit bureau? What are credit bureaus and how do they work? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-a-credit-bureau/
- [17] Experian, Does my child have a credit report? https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/does-your-child-have-a-credit-report/
