Misinformation | The Credit Score Blog

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

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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Gannett cites FICO as its source

[previous email to author]

From: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 11:10 AM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press II

The source on this was FICO.

Thanks,

Susan

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:10 PM
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press, 25.5

What is the name of the person representing Fair Isaac who—or what document—is your source regarding the notion that 10 percent is the ideal proportion of balances to credit limits?

Fair Isaac claims that the percentage of consumers who have a FICO score under 600 is 23.8%, not 25.5. 25.5% is a figure that represents consumers who fall under 600 in FICO 8, a credit score model not accepted in the automated underwriting guidelines of the two government-sponsored housing enterprises, and not even provided to consumers by Fair Isaac. What is the name of the person representing Fair Isaac who—or what document—is your source regarding the 25.5% statistic?

Where do you publish corrections or clarifications for errors of fact?

You failed to answer that question. Do you refuse to answer it, or do you not know the answer?

Detroit Free Press on credit utilization ratio

[previous email to author]

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
To: Susan Tompor, columnist, Detroit Free Press
Cc: Robin Pence, VP, corporate communications, Gannett Co., Inc.; Paul Anger, editor and publisher, Detroit Free Press
Subject: RE: Credit scores fall, Detroit Free Press II

Also, you wrote, “You’d want to use no more than 10% of your available credit for an ideal ratio.”

Who is your source regarding the ideal proportion of balances to credit limits?

Where do you publish corrections or clarifications for errors of fact?

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

[author’s response]

Employers credit score myth, UPI

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
To: United Press International
Subject: credit score, employers, UPI, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co., 2011-03-20

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

You wrote, “Maryland lawmakers, hearing about job applicants not hired because of poor credit scores, introduced a measure that would limit credit checks on job-seekers.”

The national consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening.

What clarification will you make?

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

Employers credit score Catch-22 myth, Tribune Co.

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011
To: Valerie S. Androutsopoulos, principal, Vangel Paper Inc.
Cc: Julie Bykowicz, reporter, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Co.
Subject: credit score, employers, Baltimore Sun, Tribune Company, 2011-03-20

See this message and your reply at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=tribune-company.

The Baltimore Sun reported, “[Vangel Paper co-owner Valerie S.] Androutsopoulos said she doesn’t have blanket rules about using the reports and tends to ignore bad credit scores if they involve medical or education debts or mortgage issues.”

What is the name of the party who provides you with credit scores for employment purposes?

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

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Wikipedia misstates median average FICO credit score

The current Wikipedia article “Credit score” states, “In the United States, FICO risk scores range from 300-850, with 723 being the median FICO score of Americans in 2010.”

“In 2010,” was added on March 9, 2011 by Wikipedia user Primeonetx, part of his or her sole, albeit inaccurate and influential, contribution to the world’s knowledge, made in a drive-by.

That is an inaccurate statement, since credit score company FICO admits that the national media and mean average FICO credit scores are secret. So, the Wikipedians (rhymes with comedians) could not know the median score at all, let alone what its level was only in 2010.

Radical Mallard added the business about 723 exactly one year ago today, and included misinformation about the FICO score scale and range in the same sentence. Somebody changed the statement about the low end of the scale (from 350 to 300) on May 29, but even that is questionable (see Valentines Day).

And, that ain’t all of it (see Groundhog Day).

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?

Fun with Numbers: Washington Times on FICO score range

In a cover story, the Washington Times states, “While debt-to-income ratios and the availability of funds for a down payment and closing costs also have an impact on a loan decision, lenders use an automated underwriting system that depends heavily on consumer credit scores, which range from 350 to 850.”

Later in the article, the Times reports again: “According to www.fico.com, the FICO 8 Mortgage Score provides lenders with a better prediction of the possibility of a mortgage default. Scores are in the same range (350 to 850) as traditional FICO scores, but the score is weighted more heavily by payments that are 90 days late or longer and mortgage and/or rental payment performance.”

FICO score company Fair Isaac claims that the scale starts at 300.