USA Today publisher Gannett will make a correction to its latest story about credit scores. You can believe that prediction because it isn’t easy to get around fundamental numbers.
USA Today claims that the VantageScore credit score scale is 501 to 999 when it is actually 501-990.
But, McPaper is in good company. Testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives, VantageScore chief Barrett Burns committed the same error twice, according to the official record. VantageScore’s account of history is peculiarly different.
Further, Gannett will make a correction because the company has never come to terms with its inaccurate story about employers and credit scores. The newspaper’s response was to use the pathetic and annoying “Read the story again” strategy. Its editorial department (fine people, all) is, thankfully, cooperative and much wiser. Happy Groundhog Day, by the way.
The numbers journalists use to add credibility to their stories are the same ones that can come back to bite them.