Experts | The Credit Score Blog

credit score, employers, LSU, Freakonomics

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2012 12:07 AM
To: Steven D. Levitt, William B. Ogden distinguished service professor of economics, University of Chicago; Stephen J. Dubner, award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality
Cc: 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, Freakonomics

I study the corrections made by powerful people when they discover that they published as the truth the urban legend that employers use credit scores.

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

Not Too Big to Let Fail: Wells Fargo (on credit scores in employment)

A Massachusetts state representative, a Believer, fell for the urban legend that employers use credit scores. Asked for proof, the politician replied: “How to prove? AG Edwards is one I know of.”

A.G. Edwards, Inc. was acquired by Wachovia Securities, who was later acquired by Wells Fargo & Company.

Last month, the Florida Courier gave a Wells Fargo mouthpiece “senior vice president” an editorial column to spout off about credit scores. The first sentence says, “Many of us are misinformed when it comes to credit.”

Uh– us, indeed. It – only – takes – four – clicks from Wells Fargo’s home page to get misinformed by this ridiculous little gem of a bullet point:

Employers often check the credit rating of prospective employees. A solid credit rating reflects positively on your ability to manage your job responsibly.

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

But what is a credit rating (as opposed to a credit score)? Credit rating is a loose term bankers have thrown around for years, long before credit scores, to strike fear in the hearts of loan applicants. It was a vague notion of some kind of evaluation of you that only wise bankers knew. But today, according to the important, big, too-big-to-let-fail Wells Fargo, the terms are interchangeable:

Credit Score
Also known as a credit rating. Many lenders use this numeric calculation of your credit report to obtain a fast, objective measure of your credit risk, and consider your score when deciding whether or not to approve a loan.

Here’s another one (in an education sub-directory, no less):

Credit scores
A credit score — also known as a credit rating — is a numeric value based on the information contained in your credit report. That score (usually between 300 and 850) tells the lender the level of future risk associated with your credit history. The higher the score, the lower the risk.

But if you think linking the terms rating and score is a stretch, and the those instances are merely the result of keyboard finger-flapping by some low-ranking cubicle rat under pressure to write a silly website for a silly bank, then here is something overtly despicable: Telling children the credit scores and employers urban legend:

8. c. Not just lenders but landlords and employers also use credit scores as a decision-making factor, so it’s important to build a good credit history and achieve a high score.

and

A lower score may even jeopardize your chances for landing a job.

It’s enough to make you fall off the Wells Fargo wagon.

Comcast typo: Unnecessary extra space in credit score and employers story

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 11:36 AM
To: Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation (via Rudnay address); Linda Carroll, The Body Odd, msnbc.com, Comcast
Cc: 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; 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, Comcast NBC

You published, “Employers who use credit scores in their hiring decisions might be weeding out some of the best applicants, a new study suggests.”

You used an unnecessary extra space after the word decisions. Also, the consumer reporting agencies do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.

You still have not corrected your earlier stories. If you are too busy to do so, please relinquish controlling interest in NBC to somebody who actually gets journalism ethical behavior.

What is your correction policy?

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

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… [PREVIOUS EMAIL ATTACHED]

credit score, employers, NY Times 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.

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?

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

Confidentiality Notice – This message and its attachments are confidential and intended for the use of the addressee. Any unauthorized dissemination, copying, or distribution of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please delete the original message and all attachments and notify the sender at the above-listed e-mail address.

[previous message]

VISA spreads credit score myth then says myths run rampant

One of the major proponents of the credit score/employers myth is Visa, Inc. Ironically, the credit card company just issued the statement, “Visa Inc. Survey: Credit Score Myths Run Rampant.”

In 2007, Visa took it on the chin for its unsubstantiated statements about credit scores and jobs. The company, through its Practical Money Skills for Life program replied, “We’re not at liberty to disclose specific employers who use credit scores in employee screening, but we are aware of instances in which this has been done.”

Last year, the person at the center of the 2007 silliness did the deed again. Visa senior director Jason Alderman wrote, “A poor credit score can impact their ability to qualify for loans, secure favorable interest and insurance rates or even get a job or an apartment.”

Unlike other rumormongers (aka journalists with unnamed sources), Visa knows (or, at least, it says it knows) of instances of the alleged illicit, unauthorized practice. It’s just that it’s a secret.

Visa: It’s everywhere (unfortunately).

From: “creditscoring.com” <greg@creditscoring.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:36:22 -0500
To: <info@whatsmyscore.org>, <globalmedia@visa.com>, <valmanaf@visa.com>, <jensenp@visa.com>, <chlebowm@visa.com>
Subject: credit score, employers

You wrote, “Many employers have made checking a credit score a mandatory part of the job application process, just as drug testing and criminal background checks are now common requirements for jobs in many industries.”

and

“Credit scores determine… in some cases, whether you get that job or apartment you’ve been hoping for.”

See http://creditscoring.com/influence/government/employercreditscorebelievers.html#visa1 .

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

What is the name of an employer who uses credit scores?

From: Practical Money Skills for Life [mailto:info@practicalmoneyskills.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:52 PM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Cc: Mark Flanagan
Subject: Re: credit score, employers

Hello Greg

Our source for this information is the Federal Trade Commission. Please see their Consumer Alert here:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt053.shtm

We’re not at liberty to disclose specific employers who use credit scores in employee screening, but we are aware of instances in which this has been done.

Thank you.

Practical Money Skills for Life Support
http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com

From: creditscoring.com [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: February 17, 2009
To: Practical Money Skills for Life
Cc: pcohen@visa.com; info@whatsmyscore.org; globalmedia@visa.com; valmanaf@visa.com; jensenp@visa.com; chlebowm@visa.com
Subject: Re: credit score, employers II, FTC, identity

The word “score” does not appear in that Federal Trade Commission document.

What are the words on that FTC page to which you refer? Did you see the actual credit score in the employment screening instances? Does Visa use credit scores in employee screening?

What is your name?

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 12:31 PM
To: jason@practicalmoneyskills.com
Cc: pcohen@visa.com; info@whatsmyscore.org; globalmedia@visa.com; valmanaf@visa.com; jensenp@visa.com; chlebowm@visa.com; Practical Money Skills for Life
Subject: RE: credit score, employers III, survey

Did you include a question about employers using credit scores?

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