Consumer knowledge of the potential impact from credit scoresremains low, and on some issues has declined in recent years,according to a study by the Consumer Federation of America andWashington Mutual.

“Consumers who have obtained their credit scores know more thanthose who have not,” said Stephen Brobeck, executive director ofthe CFA. “But overall, consumer understanding of credit scores ispoor and has not improved over the past two years.”

The percentage of consumers aware that homeowners insurersconsider credit scores when pricing coverage remained constantbetween 2005 and 2007 at 57 percent, “despite widespread presscoverage of the issue,” Mr. Brobeck noted.

The CFA last surveyed consumer knowledge of credit scores inAugust 2005, and the most recent study is the third the group hasconducted.

Mr. Brobeck said the group had found improvement in publicknowledge between the first and second studies, and had been hopingthe most recent study would again make for a “good news” pressconference. “We were hoping for improvement the third time, butthere wasn't and that's disappointing,” he said.

There were some gains in knowledge reflected in the study,albeit only slight ones.

o The percentage of consumers surveyed who knew the specificmeaning of a credit score–which is the indication of the risk of aconsumer not repaying a loan–rose from 27 percent to 29percent.

o Similarly, the percentage of consumers who knew the threenational credit bureaus–Experian, Equifax and TransUnion–rose from45 percent to 47 percent.

“The good news is that there has been improvement in someareas,” said Anthony Vuoto, president of credit card services forWashington Mutual. He added, however, that “there continues to beample room for improvement.”

While there were some gains in knowledge, there were alsoincreases in the number of consumers with mistaken beliefs aboutcredit scores.

o The percentage of consumers who incorrectly believed incomeinfluences their credit scores rose from 69 percent in the August2005 results to 74 percent.

o Those who believe their age is a factor in determining creditscores rose from 38 percent to 41 percent.

o Those who mistakenly believe education affects their scorerose from 25 percent to 32 percent.

Knowledge of who is using scores, outside of financialinstitutions, remained relatively steady, the study indicated.

The percentage of consumers who were aware that electricutilities make use of scores rose from 34 percent to 37 percentsince 2005, and those who were aware of the use of scores bylandlords rose from 54 percent to 55 percent.