Employers | The Credit Score Blog

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 credit score myth, San Jose Mercury News, Zillow

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 1:43 AM
To: Zillow
Cc: Dean Singleton, chairman & CEO, MediaNews Group, Inc.; Dean Singleton, chairman & CEO, MediaNews Group, Inc.
Subject: credit score, employers, San Jose Mercury News, MediaNews Group, Zillow

[PLEASE FORWARD TO VERA GIBBONS]

You wrote, “In addition to landlords, cell phone, insurance and utility companies, hospitals and health-care institutions are also starting to check this number, as are an increasing number of employers.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

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

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

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

credit score, employers, undersecretary, Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:12 AM
To: Barbara Anthony, undersecretary, Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Cc: Jason Lefferts, director of communications, Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Subject: credit score, employers, undersecretary, Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

You wrote: “A credit score is a vital tool that goes beyond whether or not a bank or retailer will hand you a credit card. It affects your interest rate when applying for a mortgage or getting a car loan, and in some cases can be checked by a prospective employer.”

What indicates that employers use credit scores?

creditscoring.com vs. The Fed – The 2007 employers incident

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.”

Rumor thread 1 – Rupert Murdoch does not know how to use the internet

Wading through the muck, yesterday we learned that pressreleasemag.com published–

“Unfortunately, for people who are unemployed, this can easily become a catch-22: If their credit score dips because of the financial straits caused by unemployment, they may have increasing trouble finding a new job, because their credit score is low.”

— which are exactly the same words that CreditCardGuide.com published.

The CreditCardGuide.com author said that one of her sources is–

http://www.moolanomy.com/3770/why-a-good-credit-rating-is-important-even-if-you-dont-use-credit-mmarquit01/ .

The Moolanomy author said that one of her sources is–

http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2009/03/11/one-in-six-employers-looking-at-your-credit-report-study-finds/ .

The Wall Street Journal item, because of its original claim and whose page contains a comment questioning the story’s accuracy (Lester Rosen, an expert who calls it an urban myth also commented), still states that employers use credit scores in its source code. It says, “<meta content=”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?” />” (in Internet Explorer 8, on the menu bar, click on View, then Source (or use Alt+V, C) to see it; in Firefox, click on View, then Page Source (or use Ctrl+U)).

So, for instance, in Yahoo!, if you search for the term credit scores employers, the results page shows this for the Wall Street Journal page:

One in Six Employers Look at Your Credit Report – The Wallet …
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?
blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2009/03/11/one-in-six-employers… – Cached

Despite even the comment right on his page, Rupert Murdoch has still not made a correction to that meta description tag. He does not know how to use the internet.

So, Moolanomy is a source for Bankrate. Martin Halusa has not made an “update.”

Trail of a rumor: Credit scores, employers and media

Consumer reporting agencies TransUnion, Equifax and Experian all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes. Author and SmartCredit.com writer John Ulzheimer calls the notion that employers use credit scores the myth of the decade. Lester Rosen, president of Employment Screening Resources (ESR) and a qualified employment screening expert calls it an urban myth.

Here’s how the rumor spreads. This is seedy, so wear your boots.

Today, the headline “Government and Private Employers Check Credit Scores” appears on a popular news search website. The headline comes from pressreleasemag.com, a domain created only two months ago. ‎The January 12 story begins with this paragraph: “More and more employers especially in the government sector… finding a new job, because their credit score is low.”

Those are the same, exact 93 words, found on CreditCardGuide.com in a story dated January 9.

CreditCardguide.com has not responded.

The following is unrelated to employers and credit scores, but is too intriguing to pass up. The pressreleasemag.com story continues in the second paragraph: “On account that credit is a nebulous number… free annual credit reports I could keep up.”

So, there are 92 more words that are exactly the same as another press release on another website.

Next paragraph: “However, cards with a flexible spending limit, while convenient, can present… preferably under 30 percent and ideally at 10 percent to 20 percent.”

That’s a new twist. 85 of the words in that paragraph are exactly the same as an 87-word paragraph in a December 27 story on CreditCardGuide.com. But whoever is doing the deed at pressreleasemag.com changed the last two words. They actually did some real work— such as it is.

Next paragraph: “That rankles a lot of people, but what really annoys … will use when you apply for a loan.”

Ouch. The big Kahuna. Gannett’s USA TODAY was the victim this time; 81 words.

Finally: “The Equifax website has a lot of information about not only free, but discounted… prices vary but all are less than the $10.50 the bureau normally charges for a single report.)”

75 words. Victim: AOL.

ScoreInfo website launched by Fair Isaac

Fair Isaac introduced another website today: ScoreInfo. In a press release, Jordan Graham, president of FICO Consumer Services said, “FICO launched ScoreInfo.org to help consumers better understand their disclosure notices and how to use that new knowledge to their benefit.”

On January 1, 2011, federal Fair Credit Reporting Act risk-based pricing notice rules went into effect. The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve Board issued joint press releases, but there is no link to the Fed’s version here because its chairman, Ben Bernanke, has still not responded to the question about its statement about employers using credit scores.

The website joins Fair Isaac’s other websites FICO.com and myFICO.