Category: Errors and Corrections

credit score, employers, Forbes, 2011-07-20

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:43 PM
To: Heather Struck, reporter, Forbes; Heather Struck, reporter, Forbes
Subject: credit score, employers, Forbes, 2011-07-20

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2274, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=134 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=forbes.

You wrote

But one’s creditworthiness, as reflected in a FICO score or a credit report, now affects a lot more than the ability to borrow money or buy something on credit. It can affect whether you get a job, what you pay for insurance, and even how your personal relationships work out.

and

Employment consultants say a troubling credit score may cause hiring officers to more closely question an applicant. Vic Tanon, chief simplicity officer at Emplicity, an organization that consults in hiring practices across the U.S., says a bad credit rating is likely to be more of a factor in certain industries like financial services.

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, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 9:12 PM
To: Claudia Buck, personal finance writer/columnist, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.
Cc: Peter Tira, communications director, The McClatchy Company
Subject: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=134, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2266, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=mcclatchy, http://www.creditscoring.com/influence/media/newspapers/mcclatchy and [and also see] http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/563407/credit-score-crusader.html.

You wrote: “However, if you’re shopping for a single type of loan in a short period of time – say to finance a home or auto, those multiple credit inquiries are treated as a single request and won’t count against you. Same for an employer requesting your credit score for a job application.”

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, 7/19/2011

From: Buck, Claudia – Sacramento
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 3:56 PM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Cc: Tira, Peter – McClatchy Corporate
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee

Greg….Thanks for writing. The paragraph you’re referring to was based on my interview with Bradley Graham of FICO.com. He was referencing job applicants who give permission to an employer to pull their credit report or credit score. My understanding is that an employer can request a credit report automatically but if a job applicant gives permission, the employer can request a credit score, as well.

Does that clarify it?

Claudia

Claudia Buck
Assistant Business Editor
Sacramento Bee
email: [xxxx]
phone: [xxxx]

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 3:03 PM
To: Claudia Buck, personal finance writer/columnist, Sacramento Bee, McClatchy Co.
Cc: Peter Tira, communications director, The McClatchy Company; Elaine Lintecum, treasurer, McClatchy Co.; Scott Lebar, senior editor, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee; John Ulzheimer, The Ulzheimer Group; Craig Watts, Fair Isaac
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, McClatchy Co., Sacramento Bee, FICO claim

It only clarifies who your source is and what he claims.  The truth is another matter.

A Fair Isaac video stated:  “In addition to credit decisions, your FICO credit score may be used to determine if a landlord will rent to you, or even if an employer will hire you. That’s right. That little three-digit number between three-hundred and eight-fifty impacts your financial life in a lot of ways.”

Asked for its source for that information, the company replied, “The mention you cited from the myFICO video clip was based on anecdotal information gleaned from public sources such as published articles.”

That means that the credit score company gets its information from the media, and gives it back to the media as the truth.  You won’t find that video on Fair Isaac’s website any longer.  However, more specific information is available. 

For instance, one of your McClatchy colleagues resolved the conflicting information by contacting the consumer reporting industry trade association who told her that the consumer reporting agencies do not sell credit scores to companies for pre-employment screening.  She made a correction.  Recently, USA Today and the Baltimore Sun made a similar corrections.

Credit expert John Ulzheimer, who is quoted in your article, calls the notion the number one myth about credit scores (starts at 2:40).

Most importantly, however, the agencies, themselves, state that they do not sell credit scores to employers.

Will you make a correction?

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

credit score, employers, Washington Post

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 9:06 AM
To: Andrew Alexander, ombudsman, reader representative, Washington Post; Andrew Alexander, ombudsman, reader representative, Washington Post
Subject: credit score, employers, Washington Post

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2263.  

You published, “A credit score can determine whether or not you get a job or what interest rate your auto loan will come with, for example.”

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, CBS MoneyWatch.com

See the video that includes clips of a senator, a congressman, a governor and The Early Show on CBS.

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 8:47 AM
To: Dan Kadlec, contributor, CBS MoneyWatch
Subject: credit score, employers, CBS MoneyWatch.com

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2258, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=cbs and  https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=nationalamusements.

You wrote, “In the real world you’ll want and need a potential employer or landlord or auto dealer who runs a credit check on you to find a good score that testifies to your dependability.”

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, CardRatings.com, NSADAQ, Fox Business, 2011-06-03

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 12:43 PM
To: Melissa Rudy
Subject: credit score, employers, CardRatings.com, NSADAQ, Fox Business, 2011-06-03

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2198 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=trope-do-you-know-your-credit-score.  

You wrote:

Despite how easy it has become to receive copies of credit histories and credit ratings, most people remain ignorant of their FICO scores – and of how they affect the ability to secure a mortgage, open a credit card account, or even, in some cases, land a good job… The basic credit report that can be requested by mail for free shows your credit history and current debt. Although it enables you to catch any inaccuracies that may have been reported by a lender or to spot incidences of identity theft, it won’t include your credit score – the number that lenders, insurance agencies, landlords, cell phone companies, and even employers use to determine whether you are a reliable or risky prospect.

You said it twice.

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, 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, 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