expert | The Credit Score Blog

credit score, employers, Center for Responsible Lending

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 10:51 AM
To: julia.gordon@responsiblending.org
cc: drshow@wamu.org
Subject: credit score, employers, Center for Responsible Lending

In response to Diane Rehm’s question about credit score use in pre-employment screening, you did not disagree with the premise: Employers use credit scores.

What evidence suggests that employers use credit scores?

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

(:47:07)

DIANE REHM: We have heard from various callers and e-mailers that if you walk away from your home– if your credit score is bad-bad-bad– that your next potential employer may look at that score– may look at that record– and that that record could be held against you. Julia?

JULIA GORDON: More and more employers are doing credit checks before they hire somebody. So, ruining your credit score can have all sorts of anticipated and unanticipated consequences, which is why, again, I would really encourage people: If your credit is good, and you have the opportunity not to become delinquent on a loan, please don’t.

Credit Karma suggests having creditors lie to credit bureaus

Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin says that if you don’t like your credit history, just make one up.

Yesterday, the ABC News NOW interview subject said to beg your lender to change its report to the consumer reporting agencies about you to something more positive. Lin thinks pestering the bank helps, too. “You might want to try multiple times if you don’t get a good result the first time,” he said.

Anchor Tanya Rivero plays right along as Lin says, “It’s been known to happen where you can get a lender to remove a delinquency particularly if you were traveling or some other occurence happens.”

Lin’s malarkey about lying is known elswhere as the Goodwill Adjustment, and is a fashionable notion in pop media circles.

(This vidcap that makes him look like a bozo is a coincidence.)

Media depiction, credit score use, employers, CBS, Dallas

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

Despite that, the anchor at the CBS–owned television station in Dallas asks the financial expert and analyst to explain it all to us:

KTVT CBS 11, Dallas financial expert and analyst explains it all to us

It is today’s #1 hit in Yahoo News for the term “credit score” (complete with a picture). You can’t buy that kind of ranking.

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 1:27 PM
To: KTVT: Ginger Allen, interviewer; Lori Conrad, communications director; Steve Mauldin, president & general manager; news@cbs11tv.com; KTVTNewsEyeTeam@ktvt.com; cbs11@ktvt.com
Cc: Jim Lacamp
Subject: credit score, employers, CBS, CBS Television Stations, KTVT

You wrote, “In this economy, your credit score is more important than ever before, as prospective employers are looking at them to help in hiring decisions.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

Debt utilization, how much owed compared to capacity to borrow, ABC News

From: creditscoring.com
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 12:09 PM
To: Alice Gomstyn
Cc: Emily Peters

You wrote, “Peters says that nearly a third of your credit score is dependent on how much you owe, compared to how much you have the capacity to borrow — your debt utilization.”

If that ratio represents almost a third of the FICO score, then what percentage does the “Number of accounts with balances” represent?