Tag: Equifax

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.

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?

AJC, and credit score and job applications paranoia irony

Right in Equifax’s hometown, in an interview piece on chairman and CEO Richard F. “Rick” Smith, a writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asks, “Is there too much paranoia about credit scores, which can affect everything from loan and job applications to insurance premiums?”

Apparently, he missed the story about Equifax/employers/scores, so the irony of the notion of paranoia is painfully accentuated.

‘Dude’s on vacation.

Equifax: We’re the only one

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 12:16 AM
To: Tim Klein, vice president, public relations, Equifax
Subject: credit score, FICO, Equifax, exclusivity

Richard F. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer
Equifax, Inc.

You write, “The FICO Score is the most commonly used scoring model among lenders, and Equifax is the only major credit reporting agency that can provide you with your FICO Score.”

Is Equifax really the only one, or are you saying that TransUnion is not a major consumer reporting agency?

Also, please address the question from October 14 regarding the Dallas Morning News.

Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio   45409-0342
937-681-3224

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 Ely, president, 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.”