Young Americans have higher credit scores today than before Covid | CNN Business

Kelly Klein graduated from college with $100,000 in student loans that she feared would haunt her forever. “I expected I’d never pay off my student debt,” said Klein, who is 31 years old. But flash forward 10 years and Klein is now debt-free, her retirement account is flush and her credit score is pristine. “Every commission check I earned for the first six years went to paying off my debt. Every single penny,” said Klein, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and works as a loan officer at a community development financial institution. While millions of Americans are hurting from high prices and low hiring, new research suggests the finances of younger generations are displaying surprising resilience. Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have higher credit scores today than they did just before Covid-19, according to FICO research shared first with CNN. Not only that, but that youngest generation’s 17-point increase in average credit scores since 2019 is the biggest among any age group FICO measured. The second biggest increase in credit scores over that timeframe was for the 30-to-44 cohort, otherwise known as Millennials. Most of the gains occurred during the init