Category: Social media

Employers credit score Catch-22 myth, Tribune Co. III

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From: Valerie Androutsopoulos 
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Company, 2011-03-20

This was in spam.  That’s the part that everyone’s missing.  The credit histories DO NOT CONTAIN SCORES.

Valerie


From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 5:23 PM
To: Jane Hirt, managing editor, Chicago Tribune; Allison T. Davis, vice president, communications, Equity International; Jennifer Moralis, vice president, operations, Equity International
Cc: United Press International; Valerie S. Androutsopoulos, principal, Vangel Paper Inc.; Julie Bykowicz, reporter, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.; Mary Corey, director of content and senior vice president, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.; Talk Back, editor, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.; Timothy E. Ryan, publisher, president and chief executive officer, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Company, Equity International, 2011-03-20, terms

[FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO SAM ZELL]

Sam Zell, chairman
Equity International
Chicago 

The result of the attached correspondence regarding the employers and credit scores myth must convince you of the irresponsibility of continuing to maintain inaccurate information on the websites of the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Newport News Daily Press, Allentown Morning Call, Chicago Tribune and any other property you control.  I feel it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself to you the responsibility of any further dishonor and embarrassment to you and your colleagues.  I do so by asking for your discontinuation of spreading the myth and of your attempts at enriching yourself through advertising placed on those pages containing the misinformation that harms the public.

Through what email address do you wish to discuss the terms under which you will make your corrections?

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

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Employers credit score Catch-22 myth, Tribune Co. II

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From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:56 PM
To: Timothy E. Ryan, publisher, president and chief executive officer, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.
Cc: United Press International; Valerie S. Androutsopoulos, principal, Vangel Paper Inc.; Angelos Androutsopoulos, president, Vangel Paper; Julie Bykowicz, reporter, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.; Mary Corey, director of content and senior vice president, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.; Talk Back, editor, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.; Jane Hirt, managing editor, Chicago Tribune; Allison T. Davis, vice president, communications, Equity International
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Company, 2011-03-20 II

On your website, ConservativeAmerican writes, “Unless one’s credit score/history is relevant to the job, such as a bank teller or accounting department A/P, employers should be prohibited from checking on one’s credit rating prior to and after hiring.

And, MikeCalo said, “Am I to understand that Ms. Androutsopoulos denied a job to one guy because his credit score was low and she was afraid that he was a security risk, yet she hired a person, who had to declare BANKRUPTCY because of a mortgage, as an administrator??“

Politics R Dumb commented, “A qualified, hard worker should not be denied a job because their spouse was laid off, suffered a debilitating illness or accident or otherwise emergency situations that lowered credit scores.”

Brian writes, “People aren’t being hired because of credit score, age and, because they are already jobless.”

They believe what you published.  However, the national consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.  The unique and, indeed, startling thing about your story is that you actually seem to have actually uncovered an actual employer who actually uses actual credit scores for actual employment purposes!

But, I’m betting that you actually didn’t.  That is because it would be a violation of the employer’s contract with the consumer reporting agency.  And, the reports that employers get do not even include credit scores.

This is not the first time that your company furthered this myth.  Last year, Jane Hirt of the Chicago Tribune replied: “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had not seen previous emails. I will ask that we look into this further and publish a correction if warranted.”

Is it warranted, yet?

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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

Expert: Utilization factor overstatement a credit score myth

On mint.com, John Ulzheimer blogs, “The debt category is worth 30% of your FICO score points and while the credit card utilization percentage isn’t alone worth all 30% (that’s a myth), it’s certainly key to earning and maintaining great scores.”

The myth to which he refers was documented in 2009 on creditscoring.com with links calling out the offenders.  His comments are part of a growing chorus of voices who set the record straight.

But it faces a gargantuan, ever-sprawling, contradictory, capricious foe.  The silliness has existed on Wikipedia (looks like an encyclopedia; really just a message board) for over 5 years.  Later, in the chain of wacky influence and rumor that swirls around credit scores, the Wikipedians (rhymes with comedians) were emboldened by–none other than–USA TODAY, which states, “The amount of debt you have outstanding, as a percentage of your available credit limit, accounts for 30% of your score.”

On February 4, the newspaper’s reply to a creditscoring.com inquiry for its source was only this URL:

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsInYourScore.aspx

And so, of course, as anyone can see, USA TODAY’s story is bunk, thus Wikipedia is bunk.

Five years of bunk.

Almost six.

And counting.

Kat Malone, where are you?

Wikipedia states scores under 600 are “poor”

Wikipedia has an article about practically everything credit-related:  annualcrediteport.com, consumer credit risk, credit history, credit rating, credit score, credit score “(United States),” FICO, and on and on.

There is even an article about the number 600.  In it, a Wikipedian contends that 600 or below is a “poor” credit score, but does not identify the score model.

Of course, a 600 FICO score is a relative number; what is poor to one lender might be acceptable to another.  On its shining new website ScoreInfo, FICO credit score company Fair Isaac can’t seem to bring itself to even use the term.  And, while it calls 560 to 659 “Not good,” it says that some lenders will still approve loans at that range.  But, the Wizard takes a hard line in the next lower category.  It calls scores lower than 560 “Bad.”

Wikipedia removes one, but not all references to employers and scores

In the Wikipedia article Credit score, a Wikipedia editor removed the word employers from a typical series describing who uses credit scores:  “mobile phone companies, insurance companies, employers, landlords, and government departments.”

The Wikipedian noted: “It’s a common misconception/myth that potential employers receive credit scores. Their specific version of a credit report does not include a score.”

However, the editor failed to remove the reference to employers later in the same article.

Wikipedia links to Federal Reserve document that claims employers use credit scores

Popular message board pretending to be an encyclopedia Wikipedia added a link to a source using an unattributed claim this week.

In its article Credit score, Wikipedia listed the paper, “Your Credit Score Is a Ranking, Not a Score,” an item in the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland publication “Economic Commentary.” 

The first sentence of the November 16 paper states that credit scores are used in hiring decisions.  However, the consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide scores for employment purposes.  John Ulzheimer of SmartCredit.com calls it the myth of the decade.

To drive home the notion, the Federal Reserve even created a video containing a depiction of a job application.  The paper’s author, a Federal Reserve spokesperson and the chairman have not responded to a request for evidence supporting the claim.  The central bank did not mention creditscoring.com again. 

The Wikipedia user who added the link has also contributed to the articles Bubble Tea, Play-Doh and The Ambiguously Gay Duo.  Last week, creditscoring.com published “Groundhog Day, 2011 – Wikipedia on credit scores.”

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.” 

Zillow and SF Chronicle believe Fed credit score info

Consumer reporting agencies TransUnion, Equifax and Experian all emphatically state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.

Despite that, again, the Federal Reserve claims that credit scores are, indeed, used in employment.  Zillow and the San Francisco Chronicle believe it.

The first sentence of a Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland commentary states, “Credit scores are used in nearly every part of our lives, from applications for car loans, mortgages, credit cards, and car insurance to even some hiring decisions.”


credit score, employers, Huffington Post, identity

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 8:25 AM
To: Laura Bassett, reporter, The Huffington Post
Subject: credit score, employers, Huffington Post, identity

See https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=1480.

You wrote: “After working for the same railroad for 14 years, never missing a house or car payment, Sammy Bailey says he never expected his credit score to keep him out of a job… Bailey said he applied for a new job at Am-Rail in Kansas City, Missouri, three weeks ago but failed to pass the background check because of his poor credit.”

Seldom do stories about credit score use in employment mention employers’ names.  The consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening.

What is the address, telephone number or website address of Am-Rail?

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