Category: Myth

credit score, employers, NY Times latest to fall

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 1:10 PM
To: Jeremy Bernerth, assistant professor, Robert H. & Patricia Hines Professorship in Management, Rucks Department of Management, E. J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University; Shannon G. Taylor, assistant proessor, management, Northern Illinois University; Jack Walker, assistant professor, Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech; Daniel S. Whitman, assistant professor, Rucks Department of Management, Louisiana State University
Cc: Ashley Berthelot, Media Releations, Louisiana State University; Michael Kesterton, columnist, The Globe and Mail, Thomson; Globe and Mail corrections, Thomson; John V. Lombardi, president, Louisiana State University; Melba J. T. Vasquez, PhD, president, American Psychological Association
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, LSU, mainstream, NYT latest to fall

The first sentence of the abstract of your research still states, “Many organizations use credit scores as an employment screening tool, but little is known about the legitimacy of such practices.”

The Louisiana State University press release still states, “Most companies attempt to justify the use of credit scores because they think such employees will end up stealing, but our research suggests that might not be the case.”

A New York Times report about your study published yesterday at 11:09 AM was changed at 12:15.  Somebody in Austin commented on it (see comments below the Times report)(but only after you gained publicity from somebody in Austin).  Psych Central published a correction, too.

When are you going to board up the trap door?

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

[previous message]

Academia’s credit score urban legend goes mainstream

The consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes (ok, well, sometimes they say they do).  It’s a big urban legend.

But, watch this trail of rumor.

“Most companies attempt to justify the use of credit scores because they think such employees will end up stealing, but our research suggests that might not be the case.” – Louisiana State University

↓

“An emerging trend is for companies to use credit scores as an employment screening tool.” – Psych Central

↓

“’An emerging trend is for companies to use credit scores as an employment screening tool,’ says Psych Central, but a new study to appear in the Journal of Applied Psychology “shows no connection between poor credit scores and theft – although some interesting connections were discovered.” – Globe and Mail

But that’s nothing new for the 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet.

Two and Two: FICO score factors, creditcardguide.com, Bankrate, Inc.

“FICO scores don’t punish people for having a lot of credit cards.” – Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D., “longtime correspondent for Credit Card Guide” 
 
“Too many bank/national revolving accounts” –  “US FICO credit risk score reason codes,” Fair Isaac (FICO)
 
“Consumers with a moderate number of credit accounts appearing on their credit bureau report represent lower risk than consumers with either a relatively large number of credit accounts or a very limited number of credit accounts.” – “FICO Score Factors Guide” – ScoreInfo, Fair Isaac (FICO)
 

Credit score urban legend spread by academia

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 11:50 PM
To: 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

You said, “Most companies attempt to justify the use of credit scores because they think such employees will end up stealing, but our research suggests that might not be the case.”

The use of credit scores by employers is an urban legend.

Name a company who uses credit scores in employment screening.

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

@Experian can’t make up its mind on employers using credit scores

While the head of Experian (the sheriff of Nottingham) continues his 2-year resignation, the consumer reporting agency remains internally conflicted regarding the urban legend that employers use credit scores.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports, (Experian spokeswoman Susan) “Henson says the report Experian provides to employers excludes some information given to lenders, such as a credit score, year of birth, any reference to a spouse and “any account numbers not relevant to the hiring decision.'”

Experian, itself, states, “Experian’s Employment Insight report includes similar information about loans and credit cards that is listed in the credit report. It does not include year of birth, spouse reference, account number or credit score, which are irrelevant to hiring decisions” (click on “Bad credit doesn’t impact candidates getting hired.”).

Experian also says: “Employers never get a credit score. Unfortunately, that is a very common misperception” (click on “Do employers actually pull the credit report from the credit reporting company or do they pull just the score?”).

However, elsewhere, Experian says (tweets, actually), http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/linkedin-profile-job-search/ to help get you closer to that job offer (the one that requires a background check complete with credit score!).

And here’s another doozy (as reported by creditscoring.com) from Experian: “More Employers Check Applicants’ Credit Scores.”

Wassup Sheriff Knightman?

Bankrate and Fox Business spread urban legend that employers use credit scores

Contact with London, New York, North Palm Beach and Austin

Also, see: 

  • CreditCards.com:
    • “Employers may look at your credit score when you’re applying for a job, and landlords look at it for prospective renters,” he (Scott Crawford, CEO and co-founder of DebtGoal.com) says.”
    • “The general statement won’t affect your FICO credit score, but employers can’t look at your FICO score anyway, says Larry Lambeth, president of Employment Screening Services, a company that provides pre-employment screenings for more than 6,000 companies in the United States and abroad.”
    • “Credit scores, on the other hand, shouldn’t ever be viewed by employers.”
  • Bankrate.com:
    • “Credit reports and credit scores show up in the background checks employers increasingly order at the time of hire or promotion.”
    • “Contrary to popular belief, employers can only see your credit report, not your credit score.”
    • “Watch this video from Creditscoring.com to see how widespread this falsehood is.”

 

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 12:53 AM
To: Ben Harding, press contact, Apax Partners; Peter C. Morse, chairman, Bankrate, Inc.; Thomas R. Evans, president & CEO, Bankrate, Inc.; Editors, CreditCards.com
Cc: Jodi Helmer, writer, CreditCards.com; Teri Everett, senior vice president, Corporate Affairs & Communications, News Corporation
Subject: credit score, employers, urban myth, Fox Business, CreditCards.com, 2011-10-17

You published, “For one thing, even if you’re not looking at your score, your prospective employer may.”

The consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.  Even your own website, Bankrate.com, states, “’There’s a misconception that scores are used, and scores are not used,’ says Steven R. Katz, spokesman for Chicago-based agency TransUnion.”

Will you make a correction?

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

Credit score urban myth by the numbers

creditscoring.com

Video 1: 3021 views in 2 years
Video 2. 396 views in 6 months

The Young Turks

“Should Employers Check Credit Scores?”: 13,142 in 4 days

“The Young Turks” host said, “So, who gives a damn what their credit score is?”

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

[email to The Young Turks]

The Young Turks spread urban myth about credit scores and employers

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 4:17 PM
To: Ana Kasparian, co-host and producer, The Young Turks
Cc: Cenk Uygur, host, The Young Turks
Subject: credit score, employers, The Young Turks

You said, “They’re specifically targeting TransUnion, which is a privately owned company that gives employers access to credit scores.”

However, TransUnion stated, “There’s no such thing as a credit score in employment.”

What is your correction policy?

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

examiner.com replies regarding employers and credit scores

From: Examiner Legal 
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:01 AM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: [JunkMail] Re: credit score, employers, examiner.com, wallow in economic despair II

Mr. Fisher,

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.  We are currently looking into your complaint.

Please be aware that the articles and other content contributed to Examiner.com by various independent third party authors (referred to on our website as “Examiners”) are selected, written, posted and controlled solely by the authors thereof.  The Examiners are independent third parties who have selected a topic on which they wish to write, and when they deem appropriate, they contribute content to our website related to that topic.  Although the Examiners have agreed to certain standard terms and conditions regarding the content they choose to write and post on our website, the Examiners alone determine the content of the articles, including any photographs or video they may choose to include with the articles.  Because the Examiners are independent third parties, and the topics and substance of their articles are not controlled by Examiner.com, we are not responsible for, and cannot be held liable for, the content thereof.  Examiner.com does not review all of the content posted by the approximately 70,000 Examiners contributing to our website, and we had not read this article before you brought it to our attention.  However, when someone points out problems with material posted by an Examiner, we inform the applicable Examiner and request that the Examiner remedy the situation (or we pull the material from our site under certain circumstances, including if it violates our Terms of Use).

In addition, many, but not all, of the Examiners provide contact information on their profile page, which is accessible by clicking on their title.  If you have concerns about the content of an article, we encourage you contact the Examiner directly, when possible.  Again, thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Best regards,
Examiner.com

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[previous message]

Content farms use same article with urban myth about credit scores

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:52 PM
To: Philip Anschutz; Philip Anschutz
Cc: Peter G. Kreysa, owner, Ultio, LLC
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, examiner.com, wallow in economic despair II

Please reply.

You published, “The recent suit filed against a chain of Restaurants is just the latest instance where many of today’s employers are taking advantage of the current economic crisis.”

Capitalizing the word Restaurants is another error.

Do you even read an article before publishing it?

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

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