Category: Media

Gannett cites FICO as its source

[previous email to author]

From: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 11:10 AM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press II

The source on this was FICO.

Thanks,

Susan

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:10 PM
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press, 25.5

What is the name of the person representing Fair Isaac who—or what document—is your source regarding the notion that 10 percent is the ideal proportion of balances to credit limits?

Fair Isaac claims that the percentage of consumers who have a FICO score under 600 is 23.8%, not 25.5.  25.5% is a figure that represents consumers who fall under 600 in FICO 8, a credit score model not accepted in the automated underwriting guidelines of the two government-sponsored housing enterprises, and not even provided to consumers by Fair Isaac.  What is the name of the person representing Fair Isaac who—or what document—is your source regarding the 25.5% statistic?

Where do you publish corrections or clarifications for errors of fact?

You failed to answer that question.  Do you refuse to answer it, or do you not know the answer?

Detroit Free Press on credit utilization ratio

[previous email to author]

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Cc: Robin Pence, VP, corporate communications, Gannett Co., Inc.; Paul Anger, editor and publisher, Detroit Free Press
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press II

Also, you wrote, “You’d want to use no more than 10% of your available credit for an ideal ratio.”

Who is your source regarding the ideal proportion of balances to credit limits?

Where do you publish corrections or clarifications for errors of fact?

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

[author’s response]

Employers credit score myth, UPI

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
To: United Press International
Subject: credit score, employers, UPI, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co., 2011-03-20

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

You wrote, “Maryland lawmakers, hearing about job applicants not hired because of poor credit scores, introduced a measure that would limit credit checks on job-seekers.”

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

What clarification will you make?

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

Employers credit score Catch-22 myth, Tribune Co.

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011
To: Valerie S. Androutsopoulos, principal, Vangel Paper Inc.
Cc: Julie Bykowicz, reporter, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.
Subject: credit score, employers, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Company, 2011-03-20

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

The Baltimore Sun reported, “[Vangel Paper co-owner Valerie S.] Androutsopoulos said she doesn’t have blanket rules about using the reports and tends to ignore bad credit scores if they involve medical or education debts or mortgage issues.”

What is the name of the party who provides you with credit scores for employment purposes?

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

[next message]

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 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?