California Mortgage Applicants Have Highest Credit Scores in Nation

MEQUON, Wis., Jan. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the results of a recent state-by-state study conducted by Mortgage Marvel (www.MortgageMarvel.com), California mortgage seekers have the highest average credit scores in the nation at 755, a full twenty points above the national average of 735. At the other end of the spectrum are Mississippi mortgage applicants, which have the lowest average credit score of 695.

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"These are interesting results," said Rick Allen, Mortgage Marvel's Product Manager.  "With all of California's well-publicized issues with decreasing property values and foreclosures, I would have expected it to be well down the list.  Many Californians have clearly figured out how to weather the financial storms."

Western and Northeast Regions Score High

Joining California in the top five states were two other states from the western region – Hawaii, with a 752 average score, and Oregon, with a 751 average score.  Otherwise, the top ten states were controlled by five New England states – Connecticut (751), Rhode Island (745), Massachusetts (744), New Hampshire (744), and Vermont (744). The Midwest was the only other region represented in the top ten, with Wisconsin and Minnesota both scoring well.  

With their domination of the top ten spots, it follows that the western and northeastern regions reflected the strongest average credit scores at 747 and 738 respectively.  What causes the variances between the regions?  Income appears to be a factor.  Based on 2008 data by the U.S. Census Bureau, the northeastern and western markets also have the highest per capita income of the five regions.

Southeast and Southwest Regions Fall below Average

The southeast region occupied five of the ten lowest credit score positions, including Mississippi which had an average credit score of 695, the nation's lowest. While the Southwest only occupied two of the bottom ten positions (Oklahoma and Texas), it registered the lowest, overall, regional average credit score of 719.  This is explained by the fact that the Southwest did not have any states score above the national average; its highest ranked state was Arizona at position thirty-one with an average credit score of 730.

"When I first looked at the results, I was a bit surprised that the results did not more closely follow the most troubled real estate markets," observed Allen.  "After we looked closer, however, we found that per capita income levels for 2008 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau show a similar landscape with the West and Northeast at the top of the list and the Southwest and Southeast at the bottom.  This led us to conclude that there is a closer correlation between the strength of the credit score and the per capita income of the region."  

The study was conducted by analyzing over 340,000 first mortgage applications received by Mortgagebot's clients in 2010.  

About Mortgage Marvel and Mortgagebot

Mortgage Marvel (www.MortgageMarvel.com) is the only nationwide, online mortgage-shopping service that instantly delivers accurate, real-time quotes from multiple lenders in complete privacy. The award-winning Mortgage Marvel enables consumers to quickly get mortgage quotes from trusted lenders by entering as few as three pieces of non-sensitive information. In seconds, Mortgage Marvel presents free, accurate, up-to-date mortgage quotes from multiple lenders in an easy-to-understand display that is fully compliant with all government regulations. But unlike other online mortgage-shopping services, Mortgage Marvel enables borrowers to link directly to their preferred lender—where they can complete a mortgage application and get approved with full disclosures, all in about 20 minutes or less.

Mortgage Marvel is operated by Mortgagebot LLC (www.Mortgagebot.com), the industry-leading, Inc. 5000 company that provides the unique, award-winning PowerSite family of integrated point-of-sale (IPOS) solutions for taking mortgage applications from every business channel: Internet, branch, call center, or loan officer. Mortgagebot blends deep mortgage experience with innovative "cloud-computing" technology to create scalable and affordable Web sites for nearly 1,000 banks and credit unions nationwide. Lenders large and small view PowerSite as a "must-have" solution because it helps them grow their businesses, reduce costs, and compete more effectively. In addition, PowerSite is flexible, easy to use, and features a rapid and proven implementation process.

SOURCE Mortgage Marvel