Survey: Many Americans Believe Common Credit Card Myths

In a credit card literacy survey commissioned by CreditDonkey results show that while most Americans haven’t been duped by popular credit card myths, some people certainly have. How many people actually believe these falsehoods? The survey published by a credit card comparison and education site, shows that on certain topics, sizeable numbers of Americans believe that fiction is indeed fact.

On the bright side:

Almost 92 percent of those surveyed knew that debit cards cannot help build a credit history or rebuild a damaged credit score.

89.8 percent of those polled also knew that asking a credit card company to lower your credit limit doesn’t automatically improve your credit score.

On the dark side:

Almost 30 percent of respondents thought that credit card debt could no longer be eliminated through Chapter 7 bankruptcy or that the option hasn’t been available to individuals since 2005. In truth, individuals can still file for Chapter 7, but must pass a “means test” to qualify.

33.4 percent believed the myth that making the minimum payment on a credit card reduces the interest rate on the balance, or stops interest from accruing on the principal until the next billing cycle.

One pervasive myth—that self-checking your own credit report can hurt the score—generated the second-highest number of wrong answers in the survey: 36.1 percent of people thought this fallacy was a fact.

You can view details from the Credit Card Literacy Survey here