Credit score, job, employer, NBC Washington TV station

 

REPORTER:  “Jim, if finances have a heartbeat, it’s the credit score. It affects what you pay for mortgages or rent, your auto loan, your insurance, your utility deposits, and even if you’ll get a job.”

From: creditscoring.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 2:52 PM
To: Elizabeth Crenshaw (askliz@nbcwashington.com)
Cc: Jeff Zucker, ‘news4pr@nbc.com’; ‘nbc4dc@nbc.com’
Subject: credit score, employers

You said: “If finances have a heartbeat, it’s the credit score. It affects what you pay for mortgages or rent, your auto loan, your insurance, your utility deposits, and even if you’ll get a job.”

 

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

 

Credit Scores Used by Employers: Believers

See Credit scores used by employers:  Believers and Nonbelievers.

Now, only categorized in the influence > government directory, this topic deserves its own section.  FICO, USA Today, the U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, EEOC and many others communicate a similar message:  Watch out— credit scores are used in employment screening.  But, when contacted, the various media, government agencies, associations and consumer advocates (they all look the same; on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a bureaucrat) come up short when asked for their sources.

So, what’s the big problem with that?  The credit bureaus say that they don’t sell scores to employers.

What is a credit score?

What is a credit score? gives consumer reporting industry and federal government definitions for the term credit score.

Experian:  15 definitions on 7 websites.  Takes the prize for the most shelf space and elegant variation.

Equifax:  Among others, gives the FICO score definition.  Discord with TransUnion over what period FICO predicts.

TransUnion:  Typographical error in FAQ.

FICO (the artist formerly known as Fair, Isaac and Fair Isaac), U.S. Treasury, HUD, FTC, FDIC and FCIC finish the set.

Credit score, employers, Citi

To: Vikram.Pandit@citi.com
From: “creditscoring.com” <greg@creditscoring.com>
Subject: credit score, employers
Cc: Alberto J. Verme (et al)
Date:  4/5/2009

Vikram Pandit
Citi

You wrote, “Lenders, insurers, landlords, employers and utility companies use your credit score to determine if you qualify for a loan, and at what interest rate and credit limit.”

Who is your source for the information regarding credit score use by employers?

Employers, credit score, Wall Street Journal II

See http://www.usnews.com/blogs/alpha-consumer/2009/2/26/why-credit-scores-matter-on-job-applications.html.

Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:14:49 -0400
To: Mary Pilon, Wall Street Journal
From: “creditscoring.com” <greg@creditscoring.com>
Subject: credit score, employer

See https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=344.

This appears in a browser’s title bar for this story: “One in Six Employers Look at Your Credit Score – The Wallet – WSJ”

The description of the page that appears (in addition to the title, above) in search engine results is defined by this, found in the page code:

meta name=”description” 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?”

Recently, TransUnion claimed that they made an error in their survey: “The word ‘score’ was inadvertently used and the results based on that phrasing were communicated to you… TransUnion does not provide a credit score for employment screening purposes.”

Did you get that message from TransUnion? Will you make a correction?