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Richmond, VA WRIC-TV duped by same article as AJC Media General televison station furthers credit score myth just like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A writer named Shawn is having a good laugh somewhere tonight.

His false article, written for MoneyTips (LeadPoint, Inc.), has been picked up by another unwitting victim. The item is false in that it states that employers use credit scores.

On the contrary, employers do not use credit scores because they cannot even get them.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution lost in the dicey game of syndication. Now, Channel 8 in Richmond has, too. But, that station’s owner, itself, bears some responsibility for the myth. #syndicatederror  #n74416

Follow #1608w, Mr. Diana.

Are you there?

Dan Gilbert, Fathead

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2013 10:45 AM
To: David Quilty, senior editor, Quizzle LLC
Cc: Dan Gilbert, Fathead
Subject: Your horrible, recurring errors

You don’t have to say it—I know: I’m overplaying my hand.  But I’m going to make another prediction because you are being Cavalier.

Your website states, “Now when prospective employers vet job candidates, there are two things they’ll likely check on to see if you’d be a responsible employee: 1) your references, and 2) your credit score.”

(I won’t say that you should have used the Comic Sans font because this is not funny.)

That claim is not true.  In fact, it is, flat-out, false.  Look at the correction Dan Gilbert made earlier this year after I only mentioned an error on quizzle.com.  The problem with that childish disappearing act is the URL: http://www.quizzle.com/blog/2012/04/employers-are-checking-credit-scores-are-you-ready/.

Whoopsie.

This time, let’s try something different.

You say that you want guest posts.  Now, I don’t participate in that nonsense because it only seems like a disingenuous effort—one to juice-up search rankings for the guest and the host (I think they call it “link spam”).  But because this is an Ohio thing, I’m going to make an exception to my own high-minded principles.

Here is my first post:

Employers do not use credit scores.  I looked into it.

Greg Fisher, citizen

Bio: Greg Fisher is a citizen.

Your guidelines say that the post must have not been published on another website, so you will have to make an exception.  But this is an extraordinary circumstance: 1) it involves your credibility, 2) it has serious consequences, and 3) I’m right and you’re wrong.  Perhaps the shock of having to admit your failure by publishing that junk will stop you pipsqueaks from spreading the most persistent falsity about credit scores again.

I’m shooting 100% on predictions, and I’m making another one, Sports Fans.  I predict that you will make another correction.

I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
Page A2
pagea2.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio  45409-0342

[GILBERT’S PERSONAL RESPONSE]

LA Times’ uncorrected errors and bad reporting

Here is a trail of woe; a massive mess of misidentification and misinformation by mainstream media muckety-mucks.

Following a complaint about several errors to the managing editor of the Deseret News, the newspaper with the second-highest gain in audience in the country, made one correction.

But the other four errors remain.  One, a syndicated error by the New York Times, appears in another Times story, as well.

Another of the Deseret News errors originated with the Los Angeles Times.  The false American history is even uncorrected on the LA newspaper’s website.  Some guy at da Times named McManus writes, “Who’s the hero? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to allow limits on campaign spending — and potentially put the American Future Fund out of business.”

The Republican party is not the majority party, so Senator McConnell is not Majority Leader.  In fact, he has never been the majority leader.

Linking (unbelieveably) to Wikipedia, Johanna Neuman writes, “’Tackling fraud and abuse is one of the issues that can and should form the basis of a bipartisan, step-by-step approach to healthcare reform,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday, ‘not as a hook to drag this monstrous bill over the finish line.'”

Seriously: Wiki. Flipping. Pedia.

Another doozy, by ace scribe and Letters to the Editor editor Paul Thornton:  “They have vilified the president ever since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to make Barack Obama a one-termer.”

As if the senator has the power to set the agenda.

Rookie Kim Geiger writes, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) excused himself early, and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) waved the issue away after reporters trailed him in pursuit of a response.”

In April, LA Times’ keyboard finger-flapper Robin Abcarian led with, “What is wrong with the New York Post?”

Abcarian has a problem with attribution.  The LA Times and the New York Times have a problem with the Associated Press (and math).

What is “wrong” with the Los Angeles Times?

Credit scores again revealed in Toledo election

[PREVIOUS MESSAGES]

Toledo is known for glass, scales and the use of credit scores in elections.

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 11:45 AM
To: Allan Block, chairman, Block Communications (via S. Smith); Kurt Franck, executive editor, Toledo Blade (Block Communications)
Cc: Tim Grant, reporter, personal finance, housing and banking, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Block Communications); Ignazio Messina, reporter, Toledo Blade (Block Communications); John Robinson Block, publisher and editor-in-chief, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Block Communications)
Subject: RE: credit score, math, Block Communications, election, 0.86 factor

You published, “Multiplying a VantageScore by 0.86 translates it into an approximate FICO score.”

However, using that formula, if the lowest score on Scale A is 501, then the lowest score on Scale B is 431, not 300.

Who is your source for that translation?

—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
Page A2
pagea2.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio  45409-0342

[NEXT MESSAGE]

What lies beneath

A further test of the efficacy of a social media message

“Our house is on fire.” – Scott Pelly, anchor and managing editor, CBS Evening News

Sumner Redstone
KYW-TV, FCC License File Number: BLCDT-20090326ABH
CBS Broadcasting Inc.
National Amusements
Norwood, Massachusetts

You continue to misinform citizens, and I am not going to tolerate it.  Stop it today.

Beneath your website page, in the HTML (hypertext markup language) source code, you state:

<metaproperty=”og:description”content=”Whether you’re hoping to buy a new home, a new car or even find a new job – you’d better be sure your credit score is in good shape, it’s being used in more ways than you might think. “/>

So, when you replied, linking your social media message to that page, the unintended consequence was that you kept reporting false information.  The portion of your website that appears in the message summary is the (factually inaccurate) HTML metadata description above.

In your video report (in which the syndicated error and zombie myth lives on), your anchor said, “Whether you’re hoping to buy a new home, a new car or even find a new job – you’d better be sure that your credit score is in good shape.”

Employers do not use credit scores, and you should know it.  If you don’t know it, then you are out of control.

Who wrote the word job in that sentence?  I asked your reporter, “.@jimdonovancbs3 @CBSPhilly, who told you that?” and he did not answer the question. The same report in Rhode Island is no coincidence.  The error has serious consequences for Pennsylvanians.

pennsylvania-rotunda
Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda

And, what is this business about 30 percent?  Who said that that is “ideally” the right number to be under?

I didn’t write the book about credit scores; I wrote the website.

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

PS No phone calls.

Bad reporting at the Washington Post

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 11:44 AM
To: Michelle Singletary, columnist, Washington Post
Subject: Your bad reporting

See this message and your response (or lack of it) at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=washington-post-company.

You wrote, “The information is then used to create credit scores, which can affect consumers’ ability to get a credit card, a home loan, an apartment or even a job.”

Employers do not use credit scores, and you failed to substantiate your claim.  Did you just make it up?

Who is your source?

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

Optimal credit utilization ratio

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 2:15 PM
To: Charles J. Phelan, Credit.com
Subject: Optimal credit utilization ratio

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=4627 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=utilization-ratio.

You wrote, “The hidden problem with carrying credit card debt balances is that as the balances climb, you will eventually exceed the optimum credit utilization ratio, and this in turn will lower your overall credit score.”

What is the optimal credit utilization ratio?

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

credit score, employers, Bankrate, 2011-08-16

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 10:37 AM
To: Janna Herron, Bankrate.com
Subject: credit score, employers, Bankrate, 2011-08-16

See this message at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2415.  

You wrote, “That includes when you or your employer pulls your credit report or score.”

Do you mean that employers can obtain credit reports and credit scores?

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

Media depiction, credit score use, employers, CBS, Dallas

Consumer reporting agencies Equifax, TransUnion and Experian all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening.

Despite that, the anchor at the CBS–owned television station in Dallas asks the financial expert and analyst to explain it all to us:

KTVT CBS 11, Dallas financial expert and analyst explains it all to us
KTVT CBS 11, Dallas financial expert and analyst explains it all to us

It is today’s #1 hit in Yahoo News for the term “credit score” (complete with a picture).  You can’t buy that kind of ranking.

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 1:27 PM
To: KTVT: Ginger Allen, interviewer; Lori Conrad, communications director; Steve Mauldin, president & general manager; news@cbs11tv.com; KTVTNewsEyeTeam@ktvt.com; cbs11@ktvt.com
Cc: Jim Lacamp
Subject: credit score, employers, CBS, CBS Television Stations, KTVT

You wrote, “In this economy, your credit score is more important than ever before, as prospective employers are looking at them to help in hiring decisions.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

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