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Providing more evidence of a housing recovery, Q1 2013 mortgage originations increased 16 percent year over year to $471 billion. The Midwest region delivered the strongest annual gain, with a 29 percent increase over the previous year.

A recent survey that polled Americans on credit scores found that while nearly half of respondents (49 percent) check their credit scores at least once per year, the rest check once every two years or less, including a worrisome 22 percent who never check. The most common reasons for checking a credit score include purchasing a home (31 percent) or an automobile (32 percent).

VantageScore Solutions’ analysts recently examined how many accounts consumers with prime credit scores typically have in their credit file. Consumers who generally qualify for loans have an average of 13 loans in their credit files, and typically the oldest loan is more than 15 years old.

A recent analysis by Experian Automotive found that, overall, consumers purchasing a hybrid have significantly higher credit scores than those purchasing another type of new vehicle. The average credit score for a loan on a new hybrid was 790, compared with the national average credit score of 755 for a loan on any new vehicle.

While VantageScore® credit score super-prime consumers carried the lowest average credit card balance of all credit tiers in Q4 2012 ($2,581), this group experienced the greatest average balance increase (6 percent) when compared with the previous quarter. All other credit tiers had little or no change to their average credit card balance.

Findings from Experian's latest State of the Automotive Finance Market analysis showed the average loan term for a new vehicle jumped to an all-time high of 65 months in Q4 2012, up from 63 months in Q4 2011. More consumers also are opting for leases, with the lease share of new auto financing increasing to 24.79 percent, up from 10.45 percent in Q4 2011.

The most recent release of the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices showed national credit default rates decreased in February. The national composite* moved from 1.63 percent in January to 1.55 percent in February. First mortgage and bankcard default rates followed a similar pattern. These trends are consistent with other economic news, such as improvements in employment and continuing gains in housing.

Using a more inclusive scoring model such as the new VantageScore® 3.0, lenders can score up to 30 million consumers who are labeled "unscoreable" by traditional models. Nearly 25 percent of these consumers are prime or near-prime credit quality.

While the overall average VantageScore® for consumers in Q4 2012 was 748, the average score can vary greatly by specific loan product. For example, the average VantageScore for consumers with a home equity line of credit is 864, which is the highest average score for all products, reflecting tighter lending requirements. Student loans have the lowest average VantageScore of 695.

Spending on debit and prepaid cards in the United States topped $2 trillion in 2011, with 75 percent of this purchase volume being non-ATM transactions. The evolution of marketing knowledge and tactics for the U.S. debit card market can be applied to other countries migrating payment from cash to noncash transactions.

The Experian/Moody's Analytics Small Business Credit Index tumbled in Q4 2012, falling 6.8 points to 97.3 from 104.1 in the previous quarter. This is the second consecutive quarterly decline and is the index's lowest reading since Q3 2011. The drop in the index was driven primarily by a rise in delinquent balances as a slowdown in personal income growth pulled retail sales lower.

Experian Automotive's Q4 2012 credit trends analysis found that 60-day delinquencies rose from 0.72 percent in Q4 2011 to 0.74 percent in Q4 2012. It was the first time in three years that 60-day delinquencies experienced a year-over-year increase.

According to a recent Ponemon Institute study, 65 percent of study participants say their organization has had a data breach in the past two years involving consumer data outsourced to a third party. Most of these are preventable, as employee negligence accounts for 45 percent of data breaches and lost or stolen devices account for 40 percent.

The average unscoreable consumer has a good job and a better-than-adequate credit profile. Sixty-one percent of unscoreable consumers hold professional level or skilled labor jobs, 30 percent have credit profiles that fall into the super prime/prime category and 20 percent are considered near-prime.

According to a recent survey that asked Americans about their understanding of credit scores 83 percent have checked their credit scores and nearly half (42 percent) want to improve credit scores, but don’t know how. Sixty-five percent of respondents indicated they consider their credit score when engaging in credit-related activities such as applying for a new card or skipping a payment. When it comes to gender and credit, women (68 percent) are more likely than men (61 percent) to consider their credit score before making credit usage decisions.