Maine Residents have Surprisingly High Average Credit Scores

I remember how low my credit score was before I got married.

When my wife and I tried to buy our first home, it was the first time I'd ever had a credit report run on me. It was abysmal. My credit was totally in the toilet. My score was something like, 375. I had a ton of unpaid bills and god knows what else, dogging my credit score. Luckily, the mortgage folks helped me get it all sorted.

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That began my personal journey of trying to rebuild my credit. I got my first credit card... with a limit of $400, hahaha. But I kept at it, and over time, I've built my score up quite nicely. These days, I don't even worry or think about it. It's a nice feeling. But among Mainers overall, how do we rate?

Mainers are actually kinda killing it, when it comes to the money game.

WalletHub.com just released a study showing which states had the highest credit scores overall, and Maine actually came in at #13. That's not too bad. In fact, the average credit score of the average Mainer is 715. That's actually pretty good. It's slightly above the national average, but right in the zone.

Sure, it could be higher, but the highest state average in the country is Minnesota, where the average score is only 726. So it's not like we're too far off the top spot, even. New England on average, scored pretty well. New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts all sit in the Top 10.

Do credit scores really matter?

Sadly, yes. These days, you really can't do anything without a decent credit score. You can't get a car, you can't get an apartment. You need at least some amount of credit to survive. It seems silly, but this is the world we live in now. So it is worth working on, if you can.

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Wanna start simple? Just pay your bills. I tell my sister's kids that all the time. If you want to build a good foundation while you're young, simply pay your bills. It may not seem like much, but that young irresponsibility almost kept me from getting my first house. So, good luck! But most Mainers are right on track...