Women Manage Credit Better Than Men, Study Says

Who says women aren’t good at math and money? People who can’t read, that’s who.

A new study from one of the major credit reporting bureaus, Experian, says, “Overall, women are better at managing their money and debt” — even though women working full time earn about 23 percent less than men.

Experian used 750,000 credit reports from its database in December for the analysis. Here’s some of what it found:

• Men have 4.3 percent more debt than women, and on average use 2 percent more of their available credit.
• The average debt is $26,227 for men and $25,095 for women. That includes credit cards, auto loans and personal loans.
• Mortgage loan amounts for men are 4.9 percent higher, and men have late mortgage payments 7 percent more often.
• Women in Washington, D.C., Georgia and Florida are most likely to have an independent, rather than joint, mortgage, compared with women in other states.
• The average credit score for women is 675, beating men by a single point.

Experian also broke down its data by state and metropolitan area. They’re worth you taking a look. For instance, women in Minnesota have the nation’s highest average credit score: 710, compared with 705 for Minnesota men, who have the highest average credit score among U.S. men.

Next best for both sexes is North Dakota, with 705 for women and 700 for men.

Men have higher average credit scores in just 16 states. And the biggest gap in average mortgage debt is in Connecticut, where men owe $229,510 and women owe $175,276.