College Students Know Little About Credit Cards, LendEDU Survey Reveals

News provided by

LendEDU

Apr 26, 2016, 10:00 ET


MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) April 26, 2016 -- LendEDU released the results of its April 2016 College Student Credit Card Survey. The survey was designed to better understand financial literacy and credit card usage among current college students.

Here are the results of the survey:

  • 38.46% of students surveyed currently had credit cards in their own names.

Questions 2 through 9 were asked only to individuals with credit cards.

  • 9.44% of students surveyed reported that they knew the current interest rates on their credit cards.
  • 20.56% of the students surveyed reported knowing the late payment charges on their credit cards.
  • 58.89% of the students surveyed reported knowing the balance limits on their credit cards.
  • 28.89% of the students surveyed reported knowing the over-balance fees charged on their credit cards.
  • 67.78% of the students surveyed reported having a credit card balance.
  • 93.33% of the students surveyed reported that they knew their current credit card balances within $100.
  • 71.11% of the students surveyed believed that paying their credit cards on-time would impact their credit scores.
  • 23.33% of the students surveyed reported that they currently have more than one credit card account.

Questions 10 through 12 were asked only to individuals without credit cards.

  • 43.75% of the students surveyed reported that they have considered opening up credit card accounts.
  • 71.53% of the students surveyed believed that credit cards are an important tool for building consumer credit.
  • 46.53% of the students surveyed considered themselves afraid of the possibility of accumulating credit card debt.

“Credit cards are an incredibly important tool for college students. At LendEDU, we wanted to see how well current college students understood credit cards. We couldn’t believe how little current college students knew about their own credit cards,” said Nate Matherson, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of LendEDU.

“My jaw dropped when I learned that less than 10% of college students with credit cards knew their current interest rates. It all comes back to personal finance education at the high school level. Our nation’s high schools need to do a better job equipping students with a basic financial understanding,” said Matherson.

About the April 2016 LendEDU College Student Credit Card Survey

The LendEDU team surveyed 468 undergraduate and graduate students at three different 4-year institutions (2 public, 1 private). The survey was conducted at two Bay Area institutions, and at one institution on the East Coast. The survey was administered by hand by the LendEDU team. All responses were self reported by the respondents.

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About LendEDU: Since 2014 LendEDU has delivered free financial aid resources to high school and college students. LendEDU is a marketplace for student loans and student loan refinancing. LendEDU helps graduates find the lowest student loan quotes with one application. The company is partnered with all of the leading student loan companies including SoFi, Citizens Bank, Sallie Mae, College Ave, Earnest, LendKey, Darien Rowayton Bank, among others.

LendEDU was founded by Nate Matherson and Matt Lenhard in August of 2014. LendEDU is a graduate of Y Combinator’s W16 class, the Iowa Startup Accelerator, and the Horn Program at the University of Delaware.

For more information, please contact:
Dave Rathmanner
Email: dave(dot)rathmanner(at)lendedu(dot)com
Phone: 302-584-0389

Dave Rathmanner, LendEDU, https://lendedu.com, +1 302-584-0389, [email protected]