The average person in both Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., has a fair or bad credit score, according to a new study.
A study done by WalletHub ranked 2,570 cities all based on credit scores of the average person living in the areas. KCMO was ranked 1,912th and recorded a credit score of 650.52. The city finished in the bottom 26 percent of the study.
Things were much worse in KCK. It was ranked 2,468th and finished in the bottom 3 percent of the study. The average credit score in KCK came in at 621.65, which is considered poor by credit score standards.
KCK was the lowest ranked area in all of Missouri and Kansas.
KC Credit Services owner Donna Perkins said the poor rankings in both Kansas Citys could be due to multiple reasons.
"Lack of financial education, the economy, less jobs available," explained Perkins.
Perkins has been helping people dig themselves out of bankruptcy and credit problems for at least 20 years. She says most people depend too much on their credit card, which can lead to issues down the road.
"Instead of planning ahead and putting money back to buy things, we use credit cards," she said. "The credit card companies like that, but it's not good for us."
Perkins says if someone runs into credit problems, they should seek financial help from an expert.
Other areas in Missouri and Kansas fared well in the study. Leawood, Kan., finished 16th and in the top 1 percent of the country, the highest score for an area in Kansas.
Lee's Summit, Mo., finished 485th and in the top 20 percent of the study, the top score for an area on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro.
For a look at the full list, click on this link.
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Tom Dempsey can be reached at tom.dempsey@kshb.com.
