Trend (views)
(+103) creditscoring.com:
1993 – 2005 – 2027 – 2540 – 2672 – 2702 – 2805
(+58) The Federal Reserve:
554 – 643 – 716 – 1109 – 1194 – 1207 – 1265
(+101) – creditscoring.com (Video 2):
161 – 207 – 308
Tag: criticism
SCORE UPDATE: creditscoring.com increases lead over Fed
creditscoring.com gained 30 (+46 for Video 2) views while the Cleveland Fed only increased by 13.
Trend
creditscoring.com:
1993 – 2005 – 2027 – 2540- 2672 – 2702
The Federal Reserve:
554 – 643 – 716 – 1109 – 1194 – 1207
creditscoring.com (Video 2):
SCORE UPDATE: creditscoring.com leads Fed
Here’s the latest score in terms of views:
creditscoring.com: 2672 (says that credit buraus do not sell scores for employment purposes)
The Federal Reserve: 1194 (says employers, indeed, use credit scores)
creditscoring.com: 161 (says that the idea that employers use scores is a myth)
Trend
creditscoring.com:
1993 – 2005 – 2027 – 2540- 2672
The Federal Reserve:
554 – 643 – 716 – 1109 – 1194
creditscoring.com:
161
credit score, employers, Huffington Post, 2011-05-31
From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 2:10 PM
To: Bryce Covert, assistant editor, New Deal 2.0
Subject: credit score, employers, Roosevelt Institute, New Deal 2.0, The Swipe, Huffington Post, 2011-05-31
See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=2122, https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=huffingtonpost, and in the Myth category at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?cat=134.
You wrote: “As wages fell and consumers took on more debt to compensate, credit scores have become more and more important, as they are a large part of determining a borrower’s creditworthiness. They now even factor into things like job applications [corrected link. 6/9/11, Ed.]… But it doesn’t stop there — potential employers, insurance companies, landlords, and a host of others use these scores as well.”
Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?
—
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342
Myth: Employers use credit scores (video) – National Financial Literacy Month
National Financial Literacy Month – Video illustrates myth that employers use credit scores
creditscoring.com video shows media, experts, central bank and legislators furthering the myth that employers use credit scores in hiring decisions.
Trail of a rumor: Credit scores, employers and media
Consumer reporting agencies TransUnion, Equifax and Experian all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes. Author and SmartCredit.com writer John Ulzheimer calls the notion that employers use credit scores the myth of the decade. Lester Rosen, president of Employment Screening Resources (ESR) and a qualified employment screening expert calls it an urban myth.
Here’s how the rumor spreads. This is seedy, so wear your boots.
Today, the headline “Government and Private Employers Check Credit Scores” appears on a popular news search website. The headline comes from pressreleasemag.com, a domain created only two months ago. The January 12 story begins with this paragraph: “More and more employers especially in the government sector… finding a new job, because their credit score is low.”
Those are the same, exact 93 words, found on CreditCardGuide.com in a story dated January 9.
CreditCardguide.com has not responded.
The following is unrelated to employers and credit scores, but is too intriguing to pass up. The pressreleasemag.com story continues in the second paragraph: “On account that credit is a nebulous number… free annual credit reports I could keep up.”
So, there are 92 more words that are exactly the same as another press release on another website.
Next paragraph: “However, cards with a flexible spending limit, while convenient, can present… preferably under 30 percent and ideally at 10 percent to 20 percent.”
That’s a new twist. 85 of the words in that paragraph are exactly the same as an 87-word paragraph in a December 27 story on CreditCardGuide.com. But whoever is doing the deed at pressreleasemag.com changed the last two words. They actually did some real work— such as it is.
Next paragraph: “That rankles a lot of people, but what really annoys … will use when you apply for a loan.”
Ouch. The big Kahuna. Gannett’s USA TODAY was the victim this time; 81 words.
Finally: “The Equifax website has a lot of information about not only free, but discounted… prices vary but all are less than the $10.50 the bureau normally charges for a single report.)”
75 words. Victim: AOL.
CNBC draws USA TODAY into the fray
A story on CNBC’s website stated:
But how possible is it really to achieve an 850, and is it worth the effort? MyFICO.com says that only .5 – 1 percent of consumers have achieved this golden number.
creditscoring.com asked CNBC for the name a person who, or the address of a document that, is the source of that statistic. Rather than naming its source, CNBC replied that a myFICO representative said that 13 percent have a score over 800. CNBC changed its story so that it said this:
But how possible is it really to achieve a perfect score, and is it worth the effort? MyFICO.com reports that only 13% percent[SIC] of consumers have achieved scores over 800.
USA TODAY republished the CNBC article.
However, in July, USA TODAY published an Associated Press report that said:
On the positive side, the number of consumers who have a top score of 800 or above has increased in recent years. At least in part, this reflects that more individuals have cut spending and paid down debt in response to the recession. Their ranks now stand at 17.9%, which is notably above the historical average of 13%, though down from 18.7% in April 2008 before the market meltdown.
In July, Fair Isaac said that it would replace its distribution chart. It has not done so.
creditscoring.com vs. The Federal Reserve – on employers
See https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=1561.
In terms of video views, today, the score is
creditscoring.com: 1993
The Federal Reserve: 554
Credit scores in old and new media
A CBS News correspondent said:
“(Your credit score) is what almost every company in your life uses to determine whether you are a credible, trustworthy borrowing candidate. From your prospective employers to your prospective landlords, most companies will check your credit score in order to gauge their risk. No one likes a deadbeat!”
An anonymous writer for Investopedia had the (exact) same thought:
“Well, it’s what almost every company in your life uses to determine whether you are a credible, trustworthy borrowing candidate. From your prospective employers to your prospective landlords, most companies will check your credit score in order to gauge their risk. No one likes a deadbeat!” [update, 4/24/2011]
But, even funnier, is that the chain goes one more step: The anonymous writer thinks a lot like another writer.
The Counter-Plagiarism Handbook : CJR
Copy, Shake, and Paste
University of Chicago Plagiarism Guidelines
—–
Update 12/23/2010: Part Two
Canada – Pointage de crédit junk journalism from ValueClick
In an item on the Globe and Mail website, an Investopedia article contends, “Credit scores range from 300 to 850.” However, in Canada the “pointages FICO vont de 300 à 900.”
In the U.S., the FICO credit score scale is 300 to 850.
Investopedia (who is actually based in Canada), a division of ValueClick, provides junk journalism articles to Hearst and Forbes, too. Martin T. Hart is the chairman of ValueClick according to Forbes. Whether you choose to believe Forbes about that is entirely up to you.