Author: Greg Fisher

Wikipedia misstates median average FICO credit score

The current Wikipedia article “Credit score” states, “In the United States, FICO risk scores range from 300-850, with 723 being the median FICO score of Americans in 2010.”

“In 2010,” was added on March 9, 2011 by Wikipedia user Primeonetx, part of his or her sole, albeit inaccurate and influential, contribution to the world’s knowledge, made in a drive-by.

That is an inaccurate statement, since credit score company FICO admits that the national media and mean average FICO credit scores are secret.  So, the Wikipedians (rhymes with comedians) could not know the median score at all, let alone what its level was only in 2010.

Radical Mallard added the business about 723 exactly one year ago today, and included misinformation about the FICO score scale and range in the same sentence.  Somebody changed the statement about the low end of the scale (from 350 to 300) on May 29, but even that is questionable (see Valentines Day).

And, that ain’t all of it (see Groundhog Day).

Gannett and the 25.5 percent under 600 FICO credit score statistic

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Subject: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press

You wrote: “Consumer credit scores sank to new lows after the recession.  FICO disclosed that 25.5 percent of consumers – nearly 43.4 million people – had a credit score of 599 or below, which means they’re deemed poor risks and either won’t get loans or will pay very dearly for credit cards, car loans or mortgages.”

What is the name of the person who—or what document—is your source for that statistic?

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=25-5-percent.

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

[next email to author]

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

Employers credit score myth, San Jose Mercury News, Zillow

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 1:43 AM
To: Zillow
Cc: Dean Singleton, chairman & CEO, MediaNews Group, Inc.; Dean Singleton, chairman & CEO, MediaNews Group, Inc.
Subject: credit score, employers, San Jose Mercury News, MediaNews Group, Zillow

[PLEASE FORWARD TO VERA GIBBONS]

You wrote, “In addition to landlords, cell phone, insurance and utility companies, hospitals and health-care institutions are also starting to check this number, as are an increasing number of employers.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=myth and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=zillow.  

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

Employers using credit score myth, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Co.

From: Greg Fisher 
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011
To: David Slade, reporter, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Company
Cc: Pierre Manigault, chairman, Evening Post Publishing Company
Subject: credit score, employers, Charleston Post and Courier, Evening Post Publishing Company

You wrote, “The scores can be used not only to issue credit, but to help decide who might be hired for a job or approved to rent an apartment.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=myth.

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

Employers using credit score myth, Salt Lake Tribune, MediaNews Group

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011
To: Lesley Mitchell, business reporter, Salt Lake Tribune, MediaNews Group
Cc: Dean Singleton, chairman & CEO, MediaNews Group, Inc.; Dean Singleton, chairman & CEO, MediaNews Group, Inc.
Subject: credit score, employers, Salt Lake Tribune, MediaNews Group

You wrote, “Companies of all types — lenders, employers, insurance companies, utilities and others — increasingly are relying on credit scores to determine whether they want to do business with you, whether they want to give you a loan or even whether to hire you.”

 Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

 See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=myth.

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

Expert: Utilization factor overstatement a credit score myth

On mint.com, John Ulzheimer blogs, “The debt category is worth 30% of your FICO score points and while the credit card utilization percentage isn’t alone worth all 30% (that’s a myth), it’s certainly key to earning and maintaining great scores.”

The myth to which he refers was documented in 2009 on creditscoring.com with links calling out the offenders.  His comments are part of a growing chorus of voices who set the record straight.

But it faces a gargantuan, ever-sprawling, contradictory, capricious foe.  The silliness has existed on Wikipedia (looks like an encyclopedia; really just a message board) for over 5 years.  Later, in the chain of wacky influence and rumor that swirls around credit scores, the Wikipedians (rhymes with comedians) were emboldened by–none other than–USA TODAY, which states, “The amount of debt you have outstanding, as a percentage of your available credit limit, accounts for 30% of your score.”

On February 4, the newspaper’s reply to a creditscoring.com inquiry for its source was only this URL:

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsInYourScore.aspx

And so, of course, as anyone can see, USA TODAY’s story is bunk, thus Wikipedia is bunk.

Five years of bunk.

Almost six.

And counting.

Kat Malone, where are you?

Wikipedia states scores under 600 are “poor”

Wikipedia has an article about practically everything credit-related:  annualcrediteport.com, consumer credit risk, credit history, credit rating, credit score, credit score “(United States),” FICO, and on and on.

There is even an article about the number 600.  In it, a Wikipedian contends that 600 or below is a “poor” credit score, but does not identify the score model.

Of course, a 600 FICO score is a relative number; what is poor to one lender might be acceptable to another.  On its shining new website ScoreInfo, FICO credit score company Fair Isaac can’t seem to bring itself to even use the term.  And, while it calls 560 to 659 “Not good,” it says that some lenders will still approve loans at that range.  But, the Wizard takes a hard line in the next lower category.  It calls scores lower than 560 “Bad.”

Wikipedia removes one, but not all references to employers and scores

In the Wikipedia article Credit score, a Wikipedia editor removed the word employers from a typical series describing who uses credit scores:  “mobile phone companies, insurance companies, employers, landlords, and government departments.”

The Wikipedian noted: “It’s a common misconception/myth that potential employers receive credit scores. Their specific version of a credit report does not include a score.”

However, the editor failed to remove the reference to employers later in the same article.