Americans give themselves low marks when it comes to understanding the grades that credit bureaus give them.

In a survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America, 50 percent said their knowledge of credit reports was fair or poor.

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Sixty-one percent felt that way about their grasp of credit scores.

Your credit score is a three-digit number in your credit report that represents your credit risk and worthiness.

Only 25 percent of the people in the survey said they knew their own credit score. The number was below 20 percent for low-income households.

The Consumer Federation said the findings point to the need for better financial education in the United States. The group also recommends that Americans be given free access to their credit reports once a year, a proposal that's now before Congress.

The group said that the hearings of the Senate Banking Committee show that credit reports and scores are often inaccurate and incomplete, and that these inaccuracies result in many Americans being denied or paying a high price for credit and other services.