07/15/2018
About 43 million Americans wrongly believe that carrying a balance on their credit cards will help improve their credit scores, a report released Monday shows.
The report by CreditCards.com found that 22 percent of U.S. consumers made this mistake, which forces cardholders to pay more in interest, often at high rates.
“It’s painful to know that so many millions of Americans are essentially attempting to pay their card issuers to improve their credit scores,” Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com senior industry analyst, said in a news release about the study. “The fact of the matter is that carrying a balance will never improve your credit. With interest rates at an all-time high, cardholders should aim to pay off their bills in full every month, and, more importantly, pay on time.”