ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Do you know your credit score? If you apply for a loan or a credit card, that score is key. But new research from WalletHub shows that many New Mexicans likely need some help with their scores.
WalletHub looked at credit data across the nation from 2022. They used data from TransUnion, a credit company, to rank cities around the U.S. by median credit score.
Albuquerque, it turns out, has a lower credit score than 58% of the 2,568 cities analyzed. The median credit score in the city: 700.
Credit scores range from 300 to 850. A higher number is better. At the top of the list of cities, places like San Francisco and Freemont, California, have scores of around 755 to 765. And New Brunswick, New Jersey has a median score of 816, the WalletHub study reveals.
At the bottom of the list, places like South Bend, Indiana, and Fort Worth, Texas have median scores between 448 and 524. New Orleans, San Diego, and Las Vegas, Nevada also ranked low.
Credit rankings: Lighter color is better | WalletHub
So, what can you do to boost your score? According to experts, making on-time payments for loans and credit cards is key.
“If you’ve outstanding late payments, bringing those accounts ‘current’ will increase your score, all things constant,” Vaneesha Dutra, an associate professor at Howard University said in a press release. “Also, maintaining a low credit utilization percentage, which refers to how much credit you are using relative to the total amount of credit extended to you, improves your score.”
