Category: Media

consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen III

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 8:55 AM
To: Stuart K. Pratt, president & CEO, Consumer Data Industry Association
Cc: Norm Magnuson, VP, public affairs, CDIA; Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA)
Subject: RE: consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen III

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2141.

You wrote: “The end result of PERC’s study is that conjecture and opinions about accuracy have been replaced by empirical data. This is the only independent third-party study ever undertaken.”

So, was the 1991 study not independent, not third-party, or not a study?

————————————————————

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 7:35 AM
To: Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA)
Cc: Norm Magnuson, VP, public affairs, CDIA
Subject: RE: consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen II

Please reply.

———————————————————– 

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 10:04 AM
To: Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA)
Subject: consumer report accuracy, CDIA, Gannett, PERC, Arthur Andersen

So, was the 1991 study not independent, not third-party, or not a study?

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

PREVIOUS POST

Countdown to when Experian removes statement about employers using scores II

Experian engages @creditscoring (this website, creditscoring.com) on Twitter.

Here’s the evidence referred to in the @creditscoring reply (a screenshot made 7/6/2011):

Experian on employers and credit scores
Experian on employers and credit scores

Previous post from 2009.

credit score, employers, NSADAQ, Card Hub

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 7:41 AM
To: Odysseas Papadimitriou, chief executive officer and Founder, Card Hub
Cc: Melissa Rudy; H. Furlong Baldwin, chairman, NASDAQ OMX
Subject: credit score, employers, NSADAQ, Card Hub

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2213 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=nasdaq.

You wrote, “Decision makers from loan officers and mortgage brokers to car salesman and employers rely heavily on consumer credit scores in evaluating applicants.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

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

[attached previous message about NASDAQ]

[http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2011-06/4-reasons-why-you-should-use-a-credit-card-and-1-why-you-shouldnt.aspx?storyid=82037]

credit score, distribution, MONEY, Time Warner

Yesterday, following a message from creditscoring.com, Time Warner made a correction to its story.  Money Girl did not respond.

Here is another message to Time Warner, sent moments ago:

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 9:17 AM
To: Ismat Sarah Mangla, writer, MONEY, Time Warner
Subject: credit score, distribution, MONEY, Time Warner

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2192 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=time-warner.

You wrote: “Chances are your score is in the top tier: 750 or above out of 850 on the FICO scale. (Check yours for $20 at myfico.com.) That alone qualifies you for membership in a fairly exclusive club : Only a third of Americans have achieved such a high number.”

Who is your source regarding the credit score distribution? 

What indicates the one third figure?

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

credit score, utilization ratio, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 12:09 AM
To: Jennifer Waters, columnist, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation
Subject: credit score, utilization ratio, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation

 See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2190, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=wall-street-journal, and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=news-corporation.

You wrote, “It’s a fussier method than that, but your utilization rate is worth some 30% of your score.”

Who is your source for the worth of the utilization rate?

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

UPDATE, 6/21/2011

From: Waters, Jennifer 
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 12:21 AM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Subject: RE: credit score, utilization ratio, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation

Experian and TransUnion and FICO.

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 12:59 AM
To: Waters, Jennifer
Subject: RE: credit score, utilization ratio, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation, correction

Fair Isaac indicates that the proportion of credit lines used is only one of six items in an entire category which comprises 30%, “Amounts Owed.”

When will you make a correction?

Where do Experian and TransUnion make the statements you refer to?

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

UPDATE, 6/22/2011
Social media

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 10:15 AM
To: Jennifer Waters, columnist, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation
Cc: Melissa Rudy; Emily Glazer, reporter, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation; Teri Everett, senior vice president, Corporate Affairs & Communications, News Corporation
Subject: RE: credit score, utilization ratio, Consumer Confidential, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, News Corporation, correction II

If

a + b + c + d + .30 + f = .30

then the sum of

a, b, c, d, and f must be zero.

But that must not be true since Fair Isaac said, for instance, regarding the 4th item in the category, “Your FICO Score considers the number of accounts you have with balances” (also, see Equifax, 1997).  Are we both talking about the same Fair Isaac?

What is your equation?

Also, could you find somebody to clean up the page titled, “One in Six Employers Looking At Your Credit Report, Study Finds”?  On the menu bar in Internet Explorer, click on View, then Source (Ctrl+U in Firefox and Chrome) to see the page’s HTML source code.  It still says, “Many employers are checking job candidates’ credit scores, but how big of a factor are credit scores in a company’s eventual decision to hire?”

And, another thing:  Please have Rupert Murdoch review the page titled, “How to Score a Free Credit Score.”  It says that employers use credit scores, and that is a myth.

And, one more thing:  Have Mr. Murdoch review the page titled, “Protect Credit Score.”  It has been a month.

See an example of an honorable correction by Gannett on its page titled, “Our view: Credit reports stacked against consumers.”

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

credit score, employers, Bills.com, KFMB-TV, WorldNow, Gannaway Web Holdings

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2183 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=even-employers.

You wrote, “Credit scores are a way that lenders, and even employers and landlords, gauge how reliable you are in the way you handle money.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

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

UPDATE, 2011-06-22
Public interest

From: Greg Fisher 
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 1:17 PM
To: Andrew Housser, co-founder & CEO, Bills.com
Cc: Michael Azzano, founder, Cosmo PR (for Bills.com); Elisabeth M. Kimmel, owner, KFMB-TV, Midwest Television, Inc.
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Bills.com, KFMB-TV, WorldNow, Gannaway Web Holdings

The press release “Bills.com Shares Money Saving Strategies for Recent College Graduates” states, “And as more potential employers are reviewing credit scores as part of their hiring process, a bad score can hurt college grads when they apply for jobs.”

What indicates credit score use by employers?

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

credit score, employers, time.com Moneyland, quickanddirtytips.com Money Girl

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 10:40 AM
To: Scott Medintz, editor, MoneyLand, Time Magazine; Scott Medintz, editor, MoneyLand, Time Magazine
Cc: Laura D. Adams, personal finance expert, Quick and Dirty Tips
Subject: credit score, employers, time.com MoneyLand, quickanddirtytips.com Money Girl

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2177 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=134.

You published, “But all of these particulars are either difficult or impossible to change, whereas increasing your credit score is something you can start any time.”

The link in that sentence leads to a page which states, “Your score indicates your creditworthiness to potential lenders, banks, landlords, insurance companies, and even to some employers, for instance.”

However, the national consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes. 

What change will you make? 

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

——————————————-

UPDATE, 6/21/2011

Time Warner replaced the link with one to Fair Isaac’s page “How to Repair Your Credit and Improve Your FICO Credit Score,” but did not document the correction on the original page.  POOF!  It just went away. 

Moneyland is a magical place.

Here is today’s message to Time Warner.

——————————————-

UPDATE, 6/27/2011

Time is (finally) a Believer.  After Moneyland got religion, it even published a new article stating, “It’s important to note that employers can’t actually see your three-digit credit score; as a result, there’s no ‘magic number’ that will make a company accept or reject an applicant.”

But we are still doomed.

credit score, employers, NASDAQ, 2011-06-13

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 8:37 AM
To: JR Hevron, writer, editor, educator, and content creator, MortgageLoan.com
Subject: credit score, employers, NASDAQ, 2011-06-13

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2169.

You wrote, “A bad credit score can make it hard to get a job (some employers are taking credit into consideration), a new apartment, and can make for much higher costs on a future mortgage.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

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

credit score, employers, Fox Business Network, 2011-06-10

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2011
To: Emily Driscoll, writer, Fox Business Network
Subject: credit score, employers, Fox Business Network, 2011-06-10

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2160.  

You wrote, “In addition to making it more difficult to obtain new credit, a weak credit score can also hurt a student’s employment chances.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

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

credit score, employers, WalletPop, Virgins

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:35 AM
To: Mitch Franklin, assistant professor of accounting practice, Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University
Subject: credit score, employers, WalletPop, Virgins

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2153.

WalletPop.com published:  “But credit scores also factor into insurance rates, and even [“even” was a link to http://www.walletpop.com/photos/credit-score-virgins/3658526/]* potential jobs: employers are increasingly checking scores as part of the application process, Franklin says. ‘People don’t realize how much of an impact their credit score has on their life.’”

What evidence indicates that employers use credit scores?

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

* UPDATE 8/14/13: The link that was under the word “even” above is defunct (and so is WalletPop.com, apparently. Try it: walletpop.com.).  Here is a new link: http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/credit-score-virgins/#!slide=3658526.