Americans' Credit Scores in the Tank

FICO reported recently that the highest number of Americans (25.5%) now have credit scores of 599 or below. That's right-- a quarter of all Americans are now in the situation that they either won't be able to get credit or the credit the can get will be too expensive.

The Huffington Post had a great article (you can read it here).

According to the article, "More are likely to join their ranks (poor credit). It can take several months before payment missteps actually drive down a credit score. The Labor Department says about 26 million people are out of work or underemployed, and millions more face foreclosure, which alone can chop 150 points off an individual's score. Once the damage is done, it could be years before this group can restore their scores, even if they had strong credit histories in the past."

These two things coming together will only serve to slow our recover even further.