Tag: rumorthread1

News Corporation erroneous report infects Yahoo!

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 12:40 PM
To: Yahoo! Media Relations
Cc: Melissa Rudy; Jennifer Waters, columnist, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation; David Callaway, editor-in-chief, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corporation; Lex Fenwick, CEO, Dow Jones, News Corporation (via Bethany Sherman); Ashley Huston, senior director, Corporate Communications, Dow Jones & Company ; Corrections, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corporation; Alan Murray, executive editor, WSJ.com, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corporation; Sara Blask, manager, Corporate Communications, Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones, News Corporation; Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO, News Corporation (via Julie Henderson)
Subject: RE: credit score, utilization ratio, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation, correction V, employers, Yahoo!

Scott Thompson, chief executive officer
Yahoo!

Since your chairman Roy Bostock is a lame duck, you get this message.  Please forward it to the board.

Your website states, erroneously: “Increasingly, your score can help you land, or lose out on, a job, an apartment or utilities.”

Employers do not use credit scores.

You have been screwed, and it is because of the incompetence at News Corporation.  This has been going on for almost ten days, and the problem still exists.  Don’t be a yahoo(!).

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

 

Rumor thread 1 – Rupert Murdoch (still) does not know how to use the internet

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 10:08 AM
To: Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO, News Corporation (via Julie Henderson)
Cc: Melissa Rudy; Jennifer Waters, columnist, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation; David Callaway, editor-in-chief, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corporation; Lex Fenwick, CEO, Dow Jones, News Corporation (via Bethany Sherman); Ashley Huston, senior director, Corporate Communications, Dow Jones & Company ; Corrections, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corporation; Alan Murray, executive editor, WSJ.com, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, News Corporation; Sara Blask, manager, Corporate Communications, Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones, News Corporation
Subject: RE: credit score, utilization ratio, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation, correction V, employers

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer
News Corporation

Neither you nor your reporter answered the questions I asked on June 21.

Didn’t you send out the memorandum I requested you send?

It appears that you did not because your material is still inaccurate.  On Yahoo!, a story with your brand MarketWatch on it still says, erroneously: “Increasingly, your score can help you land, or lose out on, a job, an apartment or utilities.”

If even ValueClick can elicit a correction on that website, then why don’t you?

What is the name of your contact at Yahoo!?

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

[previous message]

 

Rumor thread 1 – Rupert Murdoch does not know how to use the internet

Wading through the muck, yesterday we learned that pressreleasemag.com published–

“Unfortunately, for people who are unemployed, this can easily become a catch-22: If their credit score dips because of the financial straits caused by unemployment, they may have increasing trouble finding a new job, because their credit score is low.”

— which are exactly the same words that CreditCardGuide.com published.

The CreditCardGuide.com author said that one of her sources is–

http://www.moolanomy.com/3770/why-a-good-credit-rating-is-important-even-if-you-dont-use-credit-mmarquit01/ .

The Moolanomy author said that one of her sources is–

http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2009/03/11/one-in-six-employers-looking-at-your-credit-report-study-finds/ .

The Wall Street Journal item, because of its original claim and whose page  contains a comment questioning the story’s accuracy (Lester Rosen, an expert who calls it an urban myth also commented), still states that employers use credit scores in its source code.  It says, “<meta content=”Many employers are checking job candidates’ credit scores, but how big of a factor are credit scores in a company’s eventual decision to hire?” />” (in Internet Explorer 8, on the menu bar, click on View, then Source (or use Alt+V, C) to see it; in Firefox, click on  View, then Page Source (or use  Ctrl+U)).

So, for instance, in Yahoo!, if you search for the term credit scores employers, the results page shows this for the Wall Street Journal page:   

One in Six Employers Look at Your Credit Report – The Wallet …
Many employers are checking job candidates’ credit scores, but how big of a factor are credit scores in a company’s eventual decision to hire?
blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2009/03/11/one-in-six-employers… – Cached

Despite even the comment right on his page, Rupert Murdoch has still not made a correction to that meta description tag.  He does not know how to use the internet.

So, Moolanomy is a source for Bankrate.  Martin Halusa has not made an “update.” 

Trail of a rumor: Credit scores, employers and media

Consumer reporting agencies TransUnion, Equifax and Experian all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.   Author and SmartCredit.com writer John Ulzheimer calls the notion that employers use credit scores the myth of the decade.  Lester Rosen, president of Employment Screening Resources (ESR) and a qualified employment screening expert calls it an urban myth.

Here’s how the rumor spreads.  This is seedy, so wear your boots.

Today, the headline “Government and Private Employers Check Credit Scores” appears on a popular news search website.  The headline comes from pressreleasemag.com, a domain created only two months ago.  ‎The January 12 story begins with this paragraph:  “More and more employers especially in the government sector… finding a new job, because their credit score is low.”

Those are the same, exact 93 words, found on CreditCardGuide.com in a story dated January 9.

CreditCardguide.com has not responded.

The following is unrelated to employers and credit scores, but is too intriguing to pass up.  The pressreleasemag.com story continues in the second paragraph: “On account that credit is a nebulous number… free annual credit reports I could keep up.”

So, there are 92 more words that are exactly the same as another press release on another website.

Next paragraph:  “However, cards with a flexible spending limit, while convenient, can present…  preferably under 30 percent and ideally at 10 percent to 20 percent.”

That’s a new twist.  85 of the words in that paragraph are exactly the same as an 87-word paragraph in a December 27 story on CreditCardGuide.com.  But whoever is doing the deed at pressreleasemag.com changed the last two words.  They actually did some real work— such as it is.

Next paragraph: “That rankles a lot of people, but what really annoys … will use when you apply for a loan.”

Ouch.  The big Kahuna.  Gannett’s USA TODAY was the victim this time; 81 words. 

Finally:  “The Equifax website has a lot of information about not only free, but discounted… prices vary but all are less than the $10.50 the bureau normally charges for a single report.)”

75 words.  Victim:  AOL.