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?

[next message]

Experian – Contradictory statements about credit scores and employers

Experian states, “More employers than ever are checking the credit scores of potential applicants, and that could create a vicious cycle, according to a report from the Minneapolis Examiner.”

The title and headline accompanying the statement is “More Employers Check Applicants’ Credit Scores.”

However, Experian claims that it does not provide credit scores for employment purposes.

Experian’s new British Empire

(coming to a search engine result near you)

In one fell ($2-hundred million) swoop, Experian acquired some serious internet real estate related to credit reports and credit scores: CreditReport.com and CreditScore.com.

And, in a truly odd chapter, as the FreeCreditReport.com debacle played out, Experian obtained FreeCreditScore.com (now of MTV fame) through a bankruptcy-related gambit.

“This case presents a somewhat unsettling-but we suspect common-set of facts.” – U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

But, it’s never tidy.  If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em.

Influence: Equifax botches credit score distribution

On the heels of this week’s other fun with Equifax (“INFORM > ENRICH > EMPOWER“), top consumer finance expert” and Equifax blogger Ilyce Glink cross-promotes another of her myriad projects by linking to a video featuring some muckety-muck identified as an Equifax executive.  And it is a hoot.

On CBS MoneyWatch.com, Glink writes:  “According to FICO’s credit blog, about 18 percent of the population has a FICO credit score between 800 to 850, but the highest credit score I’ve heard of is 830 (feel free to post yours below). A little over 25 percent of the population has a credit score below 600.” [an aside: See creditscoring.com’s “Two and Two: Credit scores fall, AP, Part II”]

However, there is a kink as her hijinx sinks with a link that slinks into a rinky-dink Think Glink video. ;) The executive, some dude named Steve, identified as “President, Equifax Personal Information Solutions” states, “I think less than one percent of the population has more than 800.”  Turn on the camera and watch him go (away).

It is more than a flub:  The startling misinformation is accompanied by the actual words, on-screen, in writing, in your face:  “Less than 1% have 800 or higher.”

Get more Equi-Facts with Steveorino here on the Wild, Wild Web.  And, don’t miss one of the most hilarious moments in live radio.

Equifax expert misinformation corrected

Equifax corrected its misinformation.

Original:  “A hard inquiry is one in which a bank, a landlord, an employer or a potential employer, a mortgage broker, or another creditor or lender accesses your credit file because of a transaction you have initiated.”

Corrected:  “A hard inquiry is one in which a bank, a landlord, an a mortgage broker, or another creditor or lender accesses your credit file because of a transaction you have initiated.”

Presto Change-O.

Equifax expert writes about employers’ inquiries

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditaccuracy.com]
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2010 1:54 PM
To: Robin Holland, senior vice president, Global Consumer Services, Equifax; Robin Holland, expert, Equifax
Subject: Equifax expert writes about employers’ inquiries

You wrote:

Hard Inquiry: Any request for a copy of your credit file is an inquiry, but a hard inquiry is the only one that can affect your credit score. A hard inquiry is one in which a bank, a landlord, an employer or a potential employer, a mortgage broker, or another creditor or lender accesses your credit file because of a transaction you have initiated.

However, another person writing on your website writes:

Inquiries that do not affect your credit rating include requests from employers, requests from companies making promotional offers, and your own requests to check your credit. These inquiries are viewable only by you.

Which one of you, really, is an expert?

credit score, employers, NPR, Life After Foreclosure: Coping With Bad Credit

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 12:36 AM
To: Yuki Noguchi, correspondent, National Desk, NPR
Cc: All Things Considered, NPR; Alicia Shepard, ombudsman, NPR; Alicia Shepard, ombudsman, NPR; Anna Christopher, sr. manager, Media Relations, NPR; Danielle Deabler, sr. manager, Media Relations; Emerson Brown, publicist, Media Relations; NPR Corrections; On the Media, NPR, WNYC
Subject: credit score, employers, NPR, Life After Foreclosure: Coping With Bad Credit

Earlier today, you reported, “Some also say they worry that employers might use damaged credit scores against them in a job interview.”

However, consumer reporting agency Experian 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.”

Equifax, another agency, said, “We do not knowingly provide scores for pre employment screening.”

TransUnion, another agency, testified, “There’s no such thing as a credit score in employment.”

Perhaps some worry because the media keep repeating their worst fears.  Please break out of the echo chamber and address the above in your final report in the series.  Then, consider one about the echo chamber, itself.

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

credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

[10/1/2010.  See update.]

 From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 8:17 AM
To: Robin Abcarian, national correspondent, Los Angeles Times
Cc: Deirdre Edgar, readers’ representative, Los Angeles Times
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times, presumptuousness

That is not why I am asking.  The question is this:  Where did you get that information? 

Further, if you can’t name a source for what you believed was a fact, then did you just make it up?  In other words, how did it happen?

The bigger question (not for you):  How did members of Congress, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of the Treasury conclude that employers use credit scores, and what caused the nauseating media trend?

Citizens looking for jobs have enough to worry about, already.  They deserve an explanation. 

From: Abcarian, Robin
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 1:13 AM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Subject: Re: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

Ah…I see why you are asking: the credit score vs the credit report. I’ll look into running a correction.

From: Abcarian, Robin
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 12:54 AM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Subject: Re: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

It’s a fact that’s been reported on ad nauseum. 

From: Greg Fisher
To: Robin Abcarian, national correspondent, Los Angeles Times
Sent: Fri Sep 24 22:40:22 2010
Subject: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

You wrote, “That and his ruined credit score, which prospective employers often check.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

credit score, employers, NBC, San Diego, KNSD NBC 7/39, round 2

See Round 1

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 10:44 PM
To: Bob Hansen, NBC Universal, NBC 7/39 News, San Diego
Cc: Greg Dawson, vice president, News, NBC 7/39, San Diego; tips@nbcsandiego.com; isee@nbcsandiego.com; newsletters@nbcsandiego.com; feedback@nbcsandiego.com; SoundDiego@nbcuni.com; knsd.feedback@nbcuni.com; Gillian M. Lusins, NBC Universal Law Department; Gary Sheffer, Vice President, Communications & Public Affairs, GE
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, NBC, San Diego, KNSD NBC 7/39 II, not so fast

Actually, that document states, “An employment report provides everything a standard credit report would provide. However it doesn’t include your credit score or date of birth.”

You are not the first to try to use that page to attempt to justify a comment about job screening and credit scores.  Your page still says, “That score can influence a landlord or a potential employer.”  When are you going to change it?

Did you broadcast that story on the public’s airwaves?

Do you know Matt Lauer?  What’s his email address?  I want his source, too.

CBS furthers employers & scores thing in myths segment

Things always happen in threes.

The three national consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening.  And today, completing a 2010 sweep of the big three networks morning coffee klatches, CBS aired this:  “That score is the number one thing merchants look at, you know, employers look at.”

In the print version of the story, CBS business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis has the chance to be more eloquent and to make the point clear, saying, “From your prospective employers to your prospective landlords, most companies will check your credit score in order to gauge their risk.”

Fate is cruel. Cross-promotiong like a good employee, on the air, the correspondent refers to MoneyWatch, a CBS web site. But a MoneyWatch article states the opposite of the information in yesterday’s broadcast. It says: “So for those of you who believe, suspect or insist that a bad credit score will cost you a job, take comfort: That simply is not true.”

Watch “The Early Show” host Harry Smith take it in while Jarvis does the deed:

And with that, The Tiffany Network earned a place in history, and in the next exciting video. 

The hilarious part:  The segment is titled, “Biggest Credit Card Myths Debunked.”