Who'd have guessed! California Has Highest Credit Scores in Nation

A recent study by Mortgage Marvel® (www.MortgageMarvel.com) found that California mortgage applicants, for the second year in a row, have the highest average credit scores in the nation at 754 -- a full 24 points above the national average of 730. Mississippi mortgage applicants, again for the second year in a row, had the lowest average credit score of 686, which is 44 points below the national average.

The information was compiled by analyzing more than 330,000 mortgage applications received in 2011 by clients of Mortgagebot®, a D+H company. Mortgagebot is the owner of Mortgage Marvel and the provider of the PowerSite® suite of integrated point-of-sale solutions, which enables lenders to efficiently take complete mortgage applications in every mortgage delivery channel: consumer-direct via the Internet, in the branch or call center, or through professional loan officers.

[caption id="attachment_6491" align="alignleft" width="621" caption="Credit scores by state"][/caption]

Western, Northeastern States Dominate Top 10
Of the states with the highest average credit scores, four are in the West and five are in the Northeast. There was only one state in the top ten, Wisconsin, from another region (Midwest).

Southeast and Southwest Regions Fall Below Average

The Southeast occupied five of the 10 lowest credit score positions. Mississippi, for the second year in a row, had the nation's lowest average credit score.