Tag: ValueClick

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]

 

Hearst Corporation correction policy: “promptly;” ValueClick / Investopedia

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 10:26 AM
To: George R. Hearst, Jr., chairman, Hearst Corporation (via Lisa Bagley)
Cc: Shauna Carther, VP, Content, Investopedia, ValueClick; Martin T. Hart, chairman, ValueClick (via Rachel McDonald, CPA, sr accountant & Public Relations specialist); Martin T. Hart, chairman, ValueClick ( via John Ardis, VP, Corporate Strategy); Stephen Proctor, managing editor, San Francisco Chronicle; Public Relations department, ValueClick ; Press office, U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Subject: RE: Hearst Corporation, publishing inaccurate information II

People in Canada exhibit a lack of comprehension regarding credit scores in the United States.

Neither employers nor “potential employers” have access to credit scores.  Credit scores are not credit reports; one is a document, and the other is merely a number.

What is your definition of “promptly”?  You continue to display advertisements on a page containing misinformation.  Please use any ill-gotten gains to pay someone to make the correction now.

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

 

 

From: Shauna Carther [Investopedia]
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 5:19 PM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: FW: Heast Corporation, publishing inaccurate information

Dear Greg Fisher,

After reviewing our article and a reputable source, we’ve decided to clarify our statement to read “potential employers” rather than “employers”.

See: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Report_20110719_CreditScores.pdf

Page 3, I.A “Consumer files are used to produce reports that the CRAs provide to creditors, insurance companies, potential employers, and other users.”
CS3 – The impact of differences between consumer- and creditor-purchased credit scores. (2011, July 19). Retrieved from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Regards,
Shauna

[previous email]

 

Hearst Corporation, publishing inaccurate information

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 11:17 PM
To: George R. Hearst, Jr., chairman, Hearst Corporation (via Lisa Bagley)
Cc: Stephen Proctor, managing editor, San Francisco Chronicle; Martin T. Hart, chairman, ValueClick (via Rachel McDonald, CPA, sr accountant & Public Relations specialist); Martin T. Hart, chairman, ValueClick (via John Ardis, VP, Corporate Strategy); Public Relations department, ValueClick
Subject: Heast Corporation, publishing inaccurate information

You published, “Mortgage lenders, auto loan companies, credit card providers, insurance companies, landlords and employers buy credit scores from credit reporting agencies.

Employers do not use credit scores, and this is not the first time you published inaccurate information about them.  Please provide your source regarding this urban myth so that they can be informed about their erroneous information, too.  Who is your source?

What is your correction policy?

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

Forbes misinformation about credit scores (typo also)

“The Dirty Secret About Your Credit Score” is a deliciously seductive title of an inaccurate article on Forbes.com from Investopedia (too many –pedias) which is owned by ValueClick.

The filthy secret (are you sitting down?) is this: Loan interest rates are based on credit scores.

See “variable pricing” (now known as risk-based pricing) on creditscoring.com, circa 1998.

Before that 2010 shocker from ValueClick, in a typical introduction, the piece states, “It is a deciding factor for landlords in picking renters and some employers use credit scores to find dependable workers.”

Employers do not use credit scores because they cannot even get them (despite the story going around in Colorado the Colorado statehouse).

That rumor has a friend at Forbes (named Forbes).  Recently, Fair Isaac myFICO.com service namesake Suze Orman showed up and talked to a Forbes family member and did the deed.

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, New York.  And, there is a typographical error.  The ValueClick story says, “It determines the cost of majorpurchases[SIC] like cars and homes.”

At least they didn’t use the word even.

 

Credit scores in old and new media

A CBS News correspondent said:

“(Your credit score) is what almost every company in your life uses to determine whether you are a credible, trustworthy borrowing candidate. From your prospective employers to your prospective landlords, most companies will check your credit score in order to gauge their risk. No one likes a deadbeat!”

An anonymous writer for Investopedia had the (exact) same thought: 

“Well, it’s what almost every company in your life uses to determine whether you are a credible, trustworthy borrowing candidate. From your prospective employers to your prospective landlords, most companies will check your credit score in order to gauge their risk. No one likes a deadbeat!”  [update, 4/24/2011]

But, even funnier, is that the chain goes one more step:  The anonymous writer thinks a lot like another writer.

The Counter-Plagiarism Handbook : CJR
Copy, Shake, and Paste
University of Chicago Plagiarism Guidelines

—–

Update 12/23/2010:  Part Two