Author: Greg Fisher

Slight, daily variations


From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2012 12:43 PM
To: Lori Swanson, attorney general, State of Minnesota; Lori Swanson, attorney general, State of Minnesota (alt email address); Lori Swanson, attorney general, State of Minnesota (2nd alt email address)
Cc: Jeff Holman, communications director, Dept. of Human Rights, State of Minnesota
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Minnesota Attorney General II

Please reply.

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

[previous message]

credit score, employers, Minnesota Attorney General

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 12:50 AM
To: Lori Swanson, attorney general, State of Minnesota; Lori Swanson, attorney general, State of Minnesota (alt email address); Lori Swanson, attorney general, State of Minnesota (2nd alt email address)
Subject: credit score, employers, Minnesota Attorney General

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=minnesota-attorney-general.

You wrote: “Credit scores are used by credit card companies, auto lenders, landlords, and home mortgage lenders to predict the likelihood that a consumer will pay their bills. They are also used by insurance companies to decide how much to charge people for homeowners and automobile insurance and by some employers.”

In the same document, you also wrote: “Credit scores are not only used by lenders. Landlords, employers, utility companies and insurance companies also use a variation of the credit score in determining whether to rent an apartment, give a job, underwrite an insurance policy, or hook up electricity.”

The consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.

What indicates that employers use credit scores?

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

Wall Street Journal accuracy, errors and corrections


When a member of the UK parliament asked News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch if he was ultimately responsible for a fiasco, Murdoch replied, “Nope.” (37:36)


(Source – BBC News / bbc.co.uk – © 2011-2012 BBC)

[alternate video (43:11)]

After contact with creditscoring.com, Murdoch made corrections of documents on two of his websites.

However, a syndication of the same article by Yahoo! remains uncorrected.

Daily adjustments


From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 11:28 AM
To: Donald E. Graham, chairman, Washington Post Company; Patrick B. Pexton, ombudsman, Washington Post
Cc: Cory Haik, digital journalist, Washington Post
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Washington Post II

Please reply.

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

[previous message]

 

Washington Post; Have you met Don Graham?


From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:53 AM
To: Jon DeNunzio, blogger, Washington Post
Cc: Patrick B. Pexton, ombudsman, Washington Post; Donald E. Graham, chairman, Washington Post Company; Ylan Q. Mui, reporter, Washington Post
Subject: Washington Post, who is your source?

Have you ever met Donald E. Graham?

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

[previous email]

 

Contacting Oprah Winfrey, personal finance


The questions are all the same. Answers vary.

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:11 AM
To: Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions (via Bernard Gugar)
Subject: credit score, employers, Oprah Winfrey

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=293 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=oprah-winfrey.

Your website states:

Last year, 25 billion credit decisions were made based on FICO scores alone. These weren’t just decisions about whether you’d be approved for a new credit card but… Whether an employer will hire you… In other words, your score is a really powerful piece of information.

I visited your office earlier this month, but was unable to see anyone about that statement.

Despite unfortunate conflicting information, employers do not use credit scores.

What indicates that employers base hiring decisions on credit scores?

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

 

Who told you that?

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 2:34 PM
To: K. James Yager, CEO, director, Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC
Cc: Walter D. Bristol, chairman, Consumer Reports, Consumers Union; Amanda Walker, Consumer Reports senior project editor, Consumers Union; Communications, Consumers Union; James A. Guest, president, CEO, consumer Reports, Consumers Union
Subject: Whistle-Stop, Consumers Union, Barrington Broadcasting, Who told you that?

With incredulity, you published: “Your credit score is obviously important if you’re borrowing money. But many employers also look at scores when hiring.”

At the bottom of that story is a link to the “Consumers Union website,” however, the Consumers Union page at the link address does not support your statement; it does not mention employers.

New Yorker Hotel

On a whistle-stop tour this month, I visited Consumer Reports.  The person with that organization I spoke to there wrote:

Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 1:34 PM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: Follow up to your visit earlier today

Hello Greg,

After your visit, I conferred with Mandy Walker and our experts over at Consumers Union (the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports), and we’ve since updated Mandy’s quote in my blog to more accurately reflect the updated language now found at the website cited.

I just wanted to thank you for bringing this to my attention, and apologize for the communication disconnect that occurred on this end between Consumers Union and Consumer Reports, which meant the update was not made to the blog post sooner.

Again, thanks for your sharp eye and follow through,
[name]

(Despite that, still, another Consumers Union document states, inaccurately, “Without a Disaster Information Shield, FICO scoring models could pose an affirmative barrier to the efforts of disaster victims to regain, and maintain, financial stability, access reasonably priced credit, and even regain employment.”)

Your page even contains advertisements while misinforming readers by saying that employers use credit scores.

Who told you that?

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

 

reply, Hearst, media accuracy, erroneous reporting

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 10:26 AM
To: J.T. O’Donnell, columnist, J.T. & Dale Talk Jobs; J. T. O’Donnell, founder & president, CAREEREALISM
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; Mary E. Junck, chairman, president and CEO; chairman, Executive Committee, Lee Enterprises; Mary Junck, Associated Press; Dale Quinn, reporter, Arizona Daily Star, Lee Enterprises
Subject: Re: media accuracy, errors and corrections, Lee Enterprises, Hearst, AP, a real joke

You must be joking about Lee Enterprises.

Experian states: “Experian’s Employment Insight report includes similar information about loans and credit cards that is listed in the credit report. It does not include year of birth, spouse reference, account number or credit score, which are irrelevant to hiring decisions”

I hope that’s official enough for you.  Actually, a guy gave a testimony.  He swore it, under oath even!

Finally, there is no longer anything on Equifax’s website about employers using credit scores.

So, that begs the question: Who is your source?  And, if nobody said it in the first place, then what are you “validate/research” -ing?

On the other hand, Experian says, “Creditors, landlords, and even some employers consider a person’s credit score before deciding whether they will approve a loan, lease an apartment, or hire an applicant.”

Why don’t you tell that story?

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

 

From: [email address] On Behalf Of J.T. O’Donnell
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 6:00 PM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: Re: media accuracy, errors and corrections, Lee Enterprises, Hearst, AP

Greg,

Just sent you a tweet but figured I’d email you too.

I hope you can understand that because you are the one emailing, we need to validate/research what you are saying.

I’ll circle back with you when I learn more.

Thanks for your patience,

JT

[previous email]

 

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]