Many Americans not financially literate
Carrboro Citizen
December 12, 2008
Maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that so many Americans are swimming in debt, locked into impossible subprime mortgages and otherwise suffering financially. A new survey, released today by the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy (CEEL), founds that an astounding number of Americans knew little about borrowing, interest rates, terminology and even basic math:
- 54% were unable to identify what a subprime mortgage was.
- 56% couldn’t identify FICO score as the most important factor in getting a loan.
- 65% of respondents failed to identify what would remain if you subtracted 25% from 8; 33% couldn’t identify what 1% of 50,000 was.
- 75% didn’t know that when in need of short-term emergency cash, bouncing a check costs more than wire transfers, credit card advances, and short-term payday loans.
- 50% had overdrawn their checking accounts at least once, and 33% had paid a bill late in the last 12 months. at one time, while a third of respondents have paid a bill late in the past year.
- 35% did not have a family/personal budget .
More details can be found at www.econ4u.org.
