Two and Two | The Credit Score Blog

Efficacy of email

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 4:00 PM
To: Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation (via Adam Miller, EVP, Corporate Affairs, NBCUniversal, Comcast)
Cc: Allen Wastler, managing editor, CNBC.com; Daniel Bukszpan, staff writer, CNBC.com, Comcast; Daniel Bukszpan, staff writer, CNBC.com, Comcast (2); Jennifer Dauble, director, public relations, CNBC
Subject: US national average credit score, “States with the best credit scores”

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=3822 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=nbc.

On March 29, you published: “In January 2010, the average credit score in the United States was 692, according to Experian’s National Score Index... [t]oday, it’s between 700 and 710… ”

However, according to Experian, the “National Score Index” is 687.

Your error correction format is honorable. But, accuracy aside, the efficacy of email is in question. Did you get my message of March 1?

—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342

media accuracy, errors and corrections, Lee Enterprises, Hearst, AP

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 11:26 AM
To: Mary E. Junck, chairman, president and CEO; chairman, Executive Committee, Lee Enterprises; Mary Junck, Associated Press
Cc: George R. Hearst, Jr., chairman, Hearst Corporation (via Lisa Bagley); William Dean Singleton, chairman, MediaNews Group, Inc.; Dale Dauten, columnist, J.T. & Dale Talk Jobs; J.T. O’Donnell, columnist, J.T. & Dale Talk Jobs
Subject: media accuracy, errors and corrections, Lee Enterprises, Hearst, AP

You published

J.T.: Some companies use credit scores as one measure of how responsible a person is. And with so many people looking for work, they may feel it’s easier to hire someone with a good credit score.

DALE: Which is why you were right to bring it up in the interview. And you should rehearse a brief statement talking about all you’re doing to repair your credit scores, playing up the ‘lesson learned’ theme.

Employers do not use credit scores, and you continue to display advertisements on that page.

Will you make a correction?

Also, an AP (Associated Press) report states, “Not having a credit score, or having a low one, also can mean higher car insurance rates, higher rent, difficulty getting a job and paying higher interest rates for any credit available.”

What are you doing about that?

—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342

[response]

Two and Two: FICO score factors, creditcardguide.com, Bankrate, Inc.

“FICO scores don’t punish people for having a lot of credit cards.” – Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D., “longtime correspondent for Credit Card Guide”

“Too many bank/national revolving accounts” – “US FICO credit risk score reason codes,” Fair Isaac (FICO)

“Consumers with a moderate number of credit accounts appearing on their credit bureau report represent lower risk than consumers with either a relatively large number of credit accounts or a very limited number of credit accounts.” – “FICO Score Factors Guide” – ScoreInfo, Fair Isaac (FICO)

consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen III

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 8:55 AM
To: Stuart K. Pratt, president & CEO, Consumer Data Industry Association
Cc: Norm Magnuson, VP, public affairs, CDIA; Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA)
Subject: RE: consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen III

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2141.

You wrote: “The end result of PERC’s study is that conjecture and opinions about accuracy have been replaced by empirical data. This is the only independent third-party study ever undertaken.”

So, was the 1991 study not independent, not third-party, or not a study?

————————————————————

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 7:35 AM
To: Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA)
Cc: Norm Magnuson, VP, public affairs, CDIA
Subject: RE: consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen II

Please reply.

———————————————————–

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 10:04 AM
To: Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA)
Subject: consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen

So, was the 1991 study not independent, not third-party, or not a study?

—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342

PREVIOUS POST

CDIA responds to Gannett regarding credit report accuracy

Gannett’s USA Today editorialized, “Instead of putting its money into better dispute resolution, the industry is more interested in trying to prove that error rates are small.”

In an opposing view, consumer reporting industry trade organization, CDIA, said: “The end result of PERC’s study is that conjecture and opinions about accuracy have been replaced by empirical data. This is the only independent third-party study ever undertaken.”

However, in 2001, Associated Credit Bureaus (now CDIA) said, “In the only statistically valid study conducted to date, Arthur Andersen concluded that in only two-tenths of one percent of the over 15,000 cases studied, were consumers denied a benefit based on an error in their credit report.”

UPDATE, 7/6/2011

Gannett cites FICO as its source

[previous email to author]

From: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 11:10 AM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press II

The source on this was FICO.

Thanks,

Susan

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:10 PM
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press, 25.5

What is the name of the person representing Fair Isaac who—or what document—is your source regarding the notion that 10 percent is the ideal proportion of balances to credit limits?

Fair Isaac claims that the percentage of consumers who have a FICO score under 600 is 23.8%, not 25.5. 25.5% is a figure that represents consumers who fall under 600 in FICO 8, a credit score model not accepted in the automated underwriting guidelines of the two government-sponsored housing enterprises, and not even provided to consumers by Fair Isaac. What is the name of the person representing Fair Isaac who—or what document—is your source regarding the 25.5% statistic?

Where do you publish corrections or clarifications for errors of fact?

You failed to answer that question. Do you refuse to answer it, or do you not know the answer?

Detroit Free Press on credit utilization ratio

[previous email to author]

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Cc: Robin Pence, VP, corporate communications, Gannett Co., Inc.; Paul Anger, editor and publisher, Detroit Free Press
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press II

Also, you wrote, “You’d want to use no more than 10% of your available credit for an ideal ratio.”

Who is your source regarding the ideal proportion of balances to credit limits?

Where do you publish corrections or clarifications for errors of fact?

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=gannett.

[author’s response]

Gannett and the 25.5 percent under 600 FICO credit score statistic

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Subject: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press

You wrote: “Consumer credit scores sank to new lows after the recession. FICO disclosed that 25.5 percent of consumers – nearly 43.4 million people – had a credit score of 599 or below, which means they’re deemed poor risks and either won’t get loans or will pay very dearly for credit cards, car loans or mortgages.”

What is the name of the person who—or what document—is your source for that statistic?

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=25-5-percent.

—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342

[next email to author]

Expert: Utilization factor overstatement a credit score myth

On mint.com, John Ulzheimer blogs, “The debt category is worth 30% of your FICO score points and while the credit card utilization percentage isn’t alone worth all 30% (that’s a myth), it’s certainly key to earning and maintaining great scores.”

The myth to which he refers was documented in 2009 on creditscoring.com with links calling out the offenders. His comments are part of a growing chorus of voices who set the record straight.

But it faces a gargantuan, ever-sprawling, contradictory, capricious foe. The silliness has existed on Wikipedia (looks like an encyclopedia; really just a message board) for over 5 years. Later, in the chain of wacky influence and rumor that swirls around credit scores, the Wikipedians (rhymes with comedians) were emboldened by–none other than–USA TODAY, which states, “The amount of debt you have outstanding, as a percentage of your available credit limit, accounts for 30% of your score.”

On February 4, the newspaper’s reply to a creditscoring.com inquiry for its source was only this URL:

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsInYourScore.aspx

And so, of course, as anyone can see, USA TODAY’s story is bunk, thus Wikipedia is bunk.

Five years of bunk.

Almost six.

And counting.

Kat Malone, where are you?