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 CBSowned 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
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?


More

credit score, employers, ABC News

Despite consumer reporting agencies’ emphatic statements that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening, ABC News writes:

But your credit score can also prevent you from getting that new job. Many recent applicants — from the newly divorced to recent grads saddled with student loans – are finding that their credit scores are keeping them from getting hired.

The television network’s statement is part of a request for stories about the topic from readers.

credit score, employers, Washington Post

http://www.buffalonews.com/410/story/667793.html
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090517/BUSINESS/905170338/1003/ARCHIVES
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/credit-card-rate-2381680-utilization-percent
http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/salinas/story/1374724.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/136/story/1028698.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/michelle_singletary/043009_color_of_money.html
http://www.projo.com/business/content/bz_singletary03_05-03-09_DJE6T79_v6.17c60ad.html


From: creditscoring.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:35 AM
To: Michelle Singletary, Wasington Post personal finance columnist (The Color of Money email address); Michelle Singletary (another Washington Post email address for Singletary)
Cc: Andy Alexander, Washington Post ombudsman; Andy Alexander (another Washington Post email address for Alexander); Shirley M. Carswell, Washington post deputy managing editor
Subject:RE: credit score, employers III

Please reply.


From: creditscoring.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 8:49 AM
To: Michelle Singletary, Wasington Post personal finance columnist (The Color of Money email address); Michelle Singletary (another Washington Post email address for Singletary)
Cc: Andy Alexander, Washington Post ombudsman
Subject:RE: credit score, employers II

You also wrote, “If the market has widely embraced the FICO credit score, Congress shouldn’t allow business quarrels — not now when credit is hard to get — to result in shutting down access to information that is essential to obtaining the best loan, insurance rate or even a job.”

Please reply.


From: creditscoring.com
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 7:24 PM
To: Michelle Singletary, Wasington Post personal finance columnist (The Color of Money email address); Michelle Singletary (another Washington Post email address for Singletary)
Subject:credit score, employers

You wrote:  “And a lower credit score means you pay more for the money you borrow. It can also mean higher insurance rates for your home or car, or worse, the loss of a job.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

Equifax states that it checks its job applicants’ credit scores



From:
creditscoring.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 12:36 PM
To: Steve Ely, Equifax
Cc: Ilyce Glink; Coretha M. Rushing, chief human resource officer, Equifax
Subject: credit score, employers, Equifax HR

 

You said, “I will tell you, even when you apply for a job at Equifax, we check your credit score because we’d like to make sure that you are good at managing your money.”

 

What credit score is required for the CEO’s job?

 

Equifax states only 1% have credit score over 800

Contrary to information from its credit score company, Equifax claims that the portion of the population who have a credit score over 800 is one percent (1%).

However, a distribution chart from FICO, the credit score company, indicates that 13% have 800 or more.


 

In a video interview, Steve Elypresident, North American Personal Solutions of Equifax, Inc. states: “I think less than one percent of the population has more than 800. So, you’re in an elite crowd if you have higher than an 800.”

The statement is accompanied by a graphic which states, “Less than 1% have 800 or higher.”

Credit score myth on Wikipedia dies after 654 days

New encyclopedia game contestant Kat Malone removed Wikipedia’s 678 credit score myth on May 22, 2009, after it stood for one year and 9 months.

The user challenged the 678 myth in the Wikipedia article “Credit score (United States)” with the deadly wiki “citation needed” flag.

Other important and controversial changes in the wiki include capitalizing the word corporation, and that the FICO score scale is between “300 and 800 (per Barack Obama),” “300 and 850,” and “300 and 800 (change it back, I dare you).”

The wiki is a top-ten result for the term credit score at search engines Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Website creditscoring.com covers the wiki folly and wiki myth at “Influence: Media, Wikipedia” and “Fake-O FICO Funk.”  The credit score website’s author even traveled to San Francisco to alert Wikipedia in person, but was unsuccessful because Wikipedia’s headquarters address is secret.

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.

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?