“There’s no hiding now,” warns the New York Times.
Oh, (Big) brother. It’s another “new” score thingamajig. Here are some other “new” ones to fear:
2000. FICO NextGen
2003. Experian – PLUS
2006. VantageScore
2007. FICO 8 (aka FICO 08)
And now, in 2011, the announcement of an exciting, bold, new CoreLogic FICO scoring solution!
Whoop-dee-doo.
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.”
First, Experian gets blasted by a U.S. senator and the FTC over its goofy FreeCreditReport.com ads.
Next, in a brilliant, original marketing strategy, Experian creates a whole new thing (with another band) at FreeCreditScore.com.
Then, on August 9, from its FreeCreditScore.com Twitter account, Experian tweets
http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/lin… to help get you closer to that job offer (the one that requires a background check complete with credit score!).
[direct link to the Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/FCSdotcom/status/100998248868741120]
Meanwhile, John Peace, the guy in charge (who just passed the second anniversary of his resignation), is knighted.
Journalists, news organizations, bloggers (at least the ones with guts)–here’s your chance. Your question for Experian: What job offer requires a credit score?
Ask it, and then just step back and let the fun begin!
But wait, there’s more. And, even more. And more, still.
@Experian_US (John Peace [alt 8/14/12], the sheriff of Nottingham) wants to insert himself into the conversation, but does not respond.
His shiny, new, search engine-friendly, $200-million CreditReport.com says, “Not all employers pull an applicant’s credit history or place tremendous weight on it, but individuals working in government or financial roles can expect their credit scores to be a factor.”
However, Experian also says, “No, Experian’s business policy prevents the inclusion of credit scores with an employment report, at Experian called Employment Insight.”
So, apparently, somebody related to government is beaking the rules.
Follow the one-way conversation.
Tweet, tweet.
Experian says, “Credit reports are not scored when used for employment purposes; they are typically reviewed as part of the character evaluation as well as to verify identity and application information.”
CreditReport.com says, “More Employers Check Applicants’ Credit Scores.”
Experian owns CreditReport.com.
The Federal Reserve continues to gain on creditscoring.com. There is 2010 (twice), 2008, and here is a 2007 incident.
In “Impatience and Credit Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment” Federal Reserve researchers state, “Additionally, credit scores can be used by potential employers and landlords in employment and tenancy decisions.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Paper No. 07-3 is published on the Fed’s website.
Referring to the paper, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston publication “Research Review” states, “FICO scores, which reflect an individual’s creditworthiness and are widely used to determine loan interest rates, insurance rates, employment offers, and tenancy decisions, are associated with long-run discount factors.”
The hifalutin research document also states, “For scored individuals, the mean FICO score was 623 (s.d 83), which is below the U.S. average of 67816. ”
However, in August 2007, Fair Isaac said, “The average FICO score is not 678.”
Footnote 16 refers to– you guessed it– Experian.
But, all may not be lost, truthseekers– there could be a revision. Page 1 states, “This paper, which may be revised, is available on the web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston at http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp/index.htm.”
“Understanding Your Credit Report and Credit Score,” is a publication of the Agence de la consommation en matière financière du Canada–also known as the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.
You can even take a quiz.
Transunion and Equifax are mentioned; Experian is not. Canada is not even on the Experian press page drop-down list of countries. The company ceased consumer credit bureau operations in Canada in 2009 (but paid $207 million cash for creditscore.com and creditreport.com in 2010).
The FCAC, established in 2001 by the Canadian federal government, is an independent body “working to protect and inform consumers of financial services.”
Experian states, “More employers than ever are checking the credit scores of potential applicants, and that could create a vicious cycle, according to a report from the Minneapolis Examiner.”
The title and headline accompanying the statement is “More Employers Check Applicants’ Credit Scores.”
However, Experian claims that it does not provide credit scores for employment purposes.
