Author: Greg Fisher

credit score, employers, LSU, Freakonomics

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2012 12:07 AM
To: Steven D. Levitt, William B. Ogden distinguished service professor of economics, University of Chicago; Stephen J. Dubner, award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality
Cc: Jeremy Bernerth, assistant professor, Robert H. & Patricia Hines Professorship in Management, Rucks Department of Management, E. J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University
Subject: credit score, employers, LSU, Freakonomics

I study the corrections made by powerful people when they discover that they published as the truth the urban legend that employers use credit scores.

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

 

New Year’s Day: annualcreditreport.com

The Better Business Bureau indicates that the primary contact for AnnualCreditReport.com is David Vaughn.

A- is the BBB rating, and that is the same rating for Central Source LLC, the company whose telephone number is the same as AnnualCreditReport.com.  The addresses associated with each of those identities are slightly different (PO Box 105281 vs. 105283).

The BBB states that Central Source LLC’s alternate business name is AnnualCreditReport.com.  AnnualCreditReport.com’s alternate business name is Annual Credit Report Request Service, TransUnion.

There is no BBB listing for Annual Credit Report Request Service, TransUnion, however AnnualCreditReport.com is listed as an aka for TransUnion.

Managers listed by the State of Florida Department of State Division of Corporations for Central Source LLC are Kent Mast, John Blenke, and Jason Engel.

 

creditscoring.com to Salon: Answer the question now

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 6:45 AM
To: John Warnock, chairman, Salon Media Group Inc.
Cc: Don Hazen, executive director, Independent Media Institute
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Salon, 2011-12-02 II

Your article:  “A credit score is created when an algorithm is applied to the data in your credit file.”

Another publication’s article:  “A credit score is created when an algorithm is applied to the data in your credit file.”

Answer the question now.

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

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Salon can’t spell, and errs on employers and credit scores

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 2:01 PM
To: John Warnock, chairman, Salon Media Group Inc.
Subject: credit score, employers, Salon, 2011-12-02

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=3062.

You published, “Your credit score affects everything from job offers to home loans — and the way it’s calculated is deeply flawed.”

Credit score use by employers is an urban legend.  The consumer reporting agencies do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.

Will you make a correction?

Also, you spelled Isaac wrong.

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

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TransUnion on credit scores and the myth about closing accounts

On a page actually titled “Credit Myths and Misconceptions,” TransUnion states this:
 
Credit myths and credit misconceptions are plentiful. Don’t let incorrect information influence your credit behavior. Some of the most common credit myths are…

It helps to close old accounts.
This credit myth advocates closing old and inactive accounts to hike up your score. However, this might inadvertently have the opposite affect and lower your credit score because now the credit history appears shorter.

 
However, credit score expert John Ulzheimer discusses closing accounts with a reader saying, “You’ve identified what I believe is the 2nd most common myth in credit scoring, right behind ‘employers using credit scores.’”
 

credit score, utilization ratio, Moneyland, Time Magazine, Time Warner Inc.

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 2:54 PM
To: Jeffrey L. Bewkes, chairman of the board and CEO, Time Warner Inc.
Cc: Scott Medintz, editor, MoneyLand, Time Magazine; Scott Medintz, editor, MoneyLand, Time Magazine; Chris Farrell, economics editor, Marketplace Money, American Public Media; Ian R. Friendly, chair, Board of Trustees, Minnesota public Radio and executive vice president, chief operating officer, U.S. Retail, General Mills
Subject: RE: credit score, myth, proportion of balances, Time Warner Inc.

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=3051, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=134 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=time-warner.

You published, “When it comes to your score, 30% consists of the amounts you owe in relation to your available credit — an equation called your utilization ratio.”

Either your source misled you or your math is off.  Who is your source regarding your claim of the 30 percent importance of the so-called “utilization ratio”?  It is, indeed, a myth.

Earlier this month, another journalist made a correction about the same issue.  However, he failed to provide the source for his original claim.  Peculiarly, even the article to which his story links calls it a myth.

And, who calls it “utilization ratio,” anyway?

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

[previous email attached]

Wikipedia’s Jimmy wales on myth about employers using credit scores

When the person most associated with Wikipedia edits a Wikipedia article, it’s news.  But, today, his side–the truth–is losing.  Here is what has happened, so far.

December 8.  Wikipedian user 168.103.203.229 adds “Employers look at a[SIC] applicants[SIC] credit score prior to offering a position for employment and has[SIC] stirred controversy in many states,” a bogus (if not, ungrammatical) claim.  It is the first and last entry by that user.

December 10. @creditscoring tweets “Christmas came early this year. https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2997 So, #nowwhat, @jimmy_wales and #wikipedia?”

December 11. @jimmy_wales removes the inaccurate information.  The revision states, “rm unsourced controversial claim.”

December 12. Wikipedia user Cookiehead adds, “In 2009, TransUnion representatives testified before the Connecticut legislature about their practice of marketing credit score reports to employers for use in the hiring process.”

December 13. @creditscoring tweets “.@jimmy_wales TransUnion testifies on credit scores in employment. https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=3013.”

The link connects to a quote of a TransUnion official who (in 2009 and before the Connecticut legislature, no less) testified, “Now, credit scores aren’t used in employment decisions so let’s get that straight.”

 

Christmas comes early: Wikipedia on credit scores and employers

Santa came early this year.

The 2011 holly jolly folly (by golly) from Wikipedia is the credit-scores-are-used-by-employers myth.  The silly website (some dude called Jimbo has something to do with it) says, “Employers look at a[SIC] applicants[SIC] credit score prior to offering a position for employment and has stirred controversy in many states.”

Wikipedia looks like an encyclopedia, but is really just a message board.  What will happen next?

CoreLogic FICO. Whoop-dee-doo.

“There’s no hiding now,” warns the New York Times.

Oh, (Big) brother.  It’s another “new” score thingamajig.  Here are some other “new” ones to fear:

2000.  FICO NextGen
2003.  Experian – PLUS
2006.  VantageScore
2007.  FICO 8 (aka FICO 08)

And now, in 2011, the announcement of an exciting, bold, new CoreLogic FICO scoring solution! 

Whoop-dee-doo.