Litigation | The Credit Score Blog

credit score, employers, Connecticut SB 361, Division of Criminal Justice

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011
To: Kevin T. Kane, Chief State’s Attorney, Division of Criminal Justice, Connecticut
Cc: Martin Looney, state Senator, Majority Leader, Connecticut; Martin Looney, state Senator, Majority Leader, Connecticut (press aide email address); Matthew Lesser, state Representative, Connecticut; Robert Hiltonsmith, policy analyst, Demos; Timothy k. Rusch, director of Communications, Demos; Amelia Warren Tyagi, board chair, Demos; Miles Rapoport, president, Demos; Lori J. Pelletier, secretary-treasurer, Connecticut AFL-CIO; John Olsen, president, AFL-CIO, Connecticut; Sarah Poriss, attorney at law; Edith Prague, state Senator, chair, Labor & Public Employees, Connecticut; Edith Prague, state Senator, chair, Labor & Public Employees, Connecticut (press aide email address); Kia Murrell, assistant counsel, Connecticut Business & Industry Association
Subject: Attention: Chief State’s Attorney Kevin T. Kane; RE: credit score, employers, Connecticut SB 361, Division of Criminal Justice

You testified, “As stated in our testimony on H.B. No. 5061, An Act Eliminating Credit Reports as a Basis for Employment Decisions, the use of credit scores, credit account balances, payment histories, bank account balances and other credit information plays a critical role in ensuring that those who occupy positions of public trust are not susceptible to improper influence.”

Do you obtain credit scores of those who occupy positions of public trust?

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

[attached: copy of previous messages]

FICO credit scores: 368-839, 407-829, 397-871 & “300-850”

TransUnion: “FICO scores range between 300 and 850.”

Equifax: “FICO scores range between 300 and 850.”

Fair Isaac: “FICO® Scores range between 300 and 850”

“Fair Isaac argues in response that the term 300-850 is not the ‘actual scoring range for any of [Fair Isaac’s] classic FICO credit scores. The actual scoring range for the first FICO score developed for Trans Union is 397-871, for Experian is 368-839, and for Equifax is 407-829. Every version of these scores has a different range—none of which is 300-850.'”

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER, Fair Isaac v. Experian et al., July, 2009

“Second, the argument that ‘300-850’ is suggestive rather than descriptive because the actual scoring range for some Fair Isaac products goes beyond 300-850 is equally unpersuasive.”

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER, Fair Isaac v. Experian et al., May, 2010

Insurance credit scores in Michigan

From the Michigan Supreme Court: “The Court will also hear oral arguments in Insurance Institute of Michigan v Insurance Commissioner, in which the plaintiffs, a group that includes insurance companies and individual customers, challenge administrative rules aimed at prohibiting insurance scoring, the practice of using consumer credit report scores to set personal insurance rates.”

The Insurance Institute of Michigan states, “A 2007 study by the Federal Trade Commission found that credit-based insurance scores are effective predictors of risk under auto policies.

The Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation contends, “Credit information has been found to contain such a high rate of errors that there is an unacceptable likelihood that persons will be misclassified,” and cites studies by U.S. PIRG and the Consumer Federation of America.