McClatchy repeats credit score employers myth through multiple media outlets

[see the previous exchange, and another McClatchy writer’s honorable response to a similar dispute)

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 12:24 PM
To: Claudia Buck, personal finance writer/columnist, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.
Cc: Peter Tira, communications director, The McClatchy Company; Elaine Lintecum, treasurer, McClatchy Co.; Scott Lebar, senior editor, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee; Jerry Egan, deputy business editor, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee; Mary Lynne Vellinga, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.; Cheryl Dell, publisher and president, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.; George Le Masurier, publisher, The Olympian, McClatchy Co.; Mark Owings, president and publisher, Bellingham Herald, McClatchy Co.; Bruce G. Ray, president & publisher, The Tribune, McClatchy Co.; Rufus Friday, president and publisher, Lexington Herald-Leader, McClatchy Co.
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee, FICO claim III

The information you prepared is repeated on these pages:

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/07/25/1736898/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/07/25/2115361/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2011/07/25/1981488/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/07/25/1578870/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/07/25/1694742/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/25/1823496_loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/PFP-LOANREJECTION_5636804/PFP-LOANREJECTION_5636804/

http://www.tnj.com/personal-finance/loan-rejections-soon-come-explanation

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110731/wire/110729669?p=3&tc=pg

http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2011/07/25/1203490/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with.html

http://www.loansafe.org/loan-rejections-soon-to-come-with-explanation

Are you there?

Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com

PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio  45409-0342

[previous exchange attached]

credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 9:12 PM
To: Claudia Buck, personal finance writer/columnist, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.
Cc: Peter Tira, communications director, The McClatchy Company
Subject: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=134, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2266, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=mcclatchy, http://www.creditscoring.com/influence/media/newspapers/mcclatchy and [and also see] http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/563407/credit-score-crusader.html.

You wrote: “However, if you’re shopping for a single type of loan in a short period of time – say to finance a home or auto, those multiple credit inquiries are treated as a single request and won’t count against you. Same for an employer requesting your credit score for a job application.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?


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

 

UPDATE, 7/19/2011

From: Buck, Claudia – Sacramento
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 3:56 PM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Cc: Tira, Peter – McClatchy Corporate
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee

Greg….Thanks for writing. The paragraph you’re referring to was based on my interview with Bradley Graham of FICO.com. He was referencing job applicants who give permission to an employer to pull their credit report or credit score. My understanding is that an employer can request a credit report automatically but if a job applicant gives permission, the employer can request a credit score, as well.

Does that clarify it?

Claudia

Claudia Buck
Assistant Business Editor
Sacramento Bee
email: [xxxx]
phone: [xxxx]

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 3:03 PM
To: Claudia Buck, personal finance writer/columnist, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.
Cc: Peter Tira, communications director, The McClatchy Company; Elaine Lintecum, treasurer, McClatchy Co.; Scott Lebar, senior editor, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee; John Ulzheimer, The Ulzheimer Group; Craig Watts, Fair Isaac
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee, FICO claim

It only clarifies who your source is and what he claims.  The truth is another matter.

A Fair Isaac video stated:  “In addition to credit decisions, your FICO credit score may be used to determine if a landlord will rent to you, or even if an employer will hire you. That’s right. That little three-digit number between three-hundred and eight-fifty impacts your financial life in a lot of ways.”

Asked for its source for that information, the company replied, “The mention you cited from the myFICO video clip was based on anecdotal information gleaned from public sources such as published articles.”

That means that the credit score company gets its information from the media, and gives it back to the media as the truth.  You won’t find that video on Fair Isaac’s website any longer.  However, more specific information is available. 

For instance, one of your McClatchy colleagues resolved the conflicting information by contacting the consumer reporting industry trade association who told her that the consumer reporting agencies do not sell credit scores to companies for pre-employment screening.  She made a correction.  Recently, USA Today and the Baltimore Sun made a similar corrections.

Credit expert John Ulzheimer, who is quoted in your article, calls the notion the number one myth about credit scores (starts at 2:40).

Most importantly, however, the agencies, themselves, state that they do not sell credit scores to employers.

Will you make a correction?


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

Employers using credit score myth, Charleston Post and Courier, Reply II

Please write if you know who his source is.

[see https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=1832]

From: David Slade
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 1:31 PM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Company, McClatchy

Mr. Fisher,

I understand that you care deeply about whether a credit “score” or credit “report” is used to investigate the credit-worthiness of a job applicant.

I believe that distinction would be lost on the job applicants themselves.

I did not use any unnamed sources in my column, and of course I don’t make things up.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.

David Slade

Employers using credit score myth, Charleston Post and Courier, Reply I

[see https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=1824 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=1841]

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 1:01 PM
To: David Slade, reporter, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Company
Cc: Pierre Manigault, chairman, Evening Post Publishing Company; William E.N. Hawkins, editor and publisher, The Post and Courier (Charleston); Elsa McDowell, public editor, The Post and Courier (Charleston); Henry Haitz III, president & publisher, The State (Columbia); Mark Lett, VP & executive editor, The State (Columbia); Peter Tira, communications director, The McClatchy Company
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Company, McClatchy

It is a question, not a demand.  I started asking questions about credit scores before blogs were cool.  In fact, I started before blogs.

The age of your piece is irrelevant; it exists without substantiation and was even republished elsewhere yesterday.  If it “is the practice of The Post and Courier to use unnamed sources only in cases where there is no alternative and when the editor in charge agrees that the information provided by the unnamed source is significant enough to warrant its inclusion,” then what is the big secret?  Is someone’s life in danger?

You left out the word score in your reply.  Credit scores in employment screening is a myth that you perpetuate.  Who is your source?

Or, did you just make it up?

________________________________________
From: David Slade
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 10:19 AM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Company

Hello Mr. Fisher,

Greetings from Charleston, S.C.

I can’t say that I’ve ever had a blogger from Ohio demand to know my sources before, but it’s nice to know that we have readers so far away.

If you have a concern about the column I wrote more than a week ago, please tell me what that concern is.

Are you suggesting that employers don’t sometimes check the credit of their job applicants?

Regards,

David Slade