Cedar Rapids residents earn high credit scores, turn out for Black Friday bargains

The hoards of zealous bargain hunters who lined up outside big box stores in Cedar Rapids this Black Friday coheres with the city's growing image – proven through a recent study – of being a community of fiscally responsible residents.

Cedar Rapids is ranked fourth in the nation in a new survey comparing metro areas based on their average credit scores. According to the second annual “State of Credit” map – produced by Experian, an organization that helps consumers and businesses manage credit – Cedar Rapids residents have an average credit score of 781.

The report uses VantageScore, a credit rating system with a range of 501 to 990, and put the national average at 749. Cedar Rapids is narrowly topped only by Wausau, Wis., with a credit score of 789, Minneapolis with a score of 787 and Madison, Wis., with a score of 785.

John A. Locher, a financial adviser for Edward Jones in Cedar Rapids, said he thinks Cedar Rapids did so well in the national survey, in part, because of is its tendency away from extravagance.

“I think some of the industries that are here are probably less glamorous,” Locher said. “People just go to work and come home, and that saves money.”

Iowa has two other cities high on the credit score list – Des Moines is ranked 16 and Davenport sits at 24. Seven of the other nine cities rounding out the top 10 are in states bordering Iowa.

“Midwesterners are more that way,” Locher said. “They say we are behind fashion wise, maybe that's good.”

Cedar Rapids also has more educated residents than some communities, and its populace is older, Locher said.

“And part of the credit score is not only payment history but the length of your history,” he said.

Late Thursday into early Friday, Cedar Rapids shoppers schooled in all the Black Friday bargains ransacked stores like Kmart and Best Buy to snag hot items at rates discounted by as much as 70 percent.

Locher said that not only makes sense, based on the community's fiscally responsible reputation, but it's “probably a good thing.”

Although high credit scores are good for the individual, he said, they mean less spending in a community.

“The more people save, the less they spend, which is not so good for the economy,” he said. “I think it's a challenge here for small business owners compared to somewhere like California.”

But this year's post Thanksgiving shopping surge is expected to draw larger than average crowds in all parts of the country. That's good news for retailers, many of which depend on the holiday shopping season for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue.

This year, during the three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected to hit the stores, up about 10 percent over last year, according to the National Retail Federation.