Tag: Tips for reporters

Out of 850

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:22 PM
To: Blake Ellis, personal finance writer, CNNMoney.com
Subject: credit score, myth, out of 850

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=4607.

You wrote, “For example, while a FICO score of 790 out of 850 is considered excellent, it’s merely mediocre on the VantageScore model — which tops out at 990.”

So, would you refer to a FICO credit score of 301 as 301 out of 850?

What is your correction policy?

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

credit score, employers, Washington Post Company

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:40 PM
To: Ylan Q. Mui, reporter, Washington Post
Cc: Patrick B. Pexton, ombudsman, Washington Post; Donald E. Graham, chairman, Washington Post Company
Subject: credit score, employers, Washington Post Company

See this message and your response at https://blog.creditscoring.com/?p=3433 and https://blog.creditscoring.com/?tag=washington-post-company.  Also, see Tips for reporters; you need it (and so does your editor).

You wrote

Those scores have become crucial in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Some employers are even looking at credit scores as criteria for jobs. A car, a home, a college education are all financed by lenders that rely on the score to determine who gets credit and how much they pay for it.

Your word even is a real hoot!  Employers do not use credit scores.  The consumer reporting agencies do not even provide credit scores for employment purposes.

An ethical journalist cites his source.  Who is your source?  Is it Wikipedia?

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

 

Credit score tips, information and guidelines for journalists/reporters

Reporters, the internet is clogged with misinformation, rumor, urban legends and bad and inaccurate reporting with little mechanism for error correction.  Do not add to it.  Use these guidelines to avoid creating problems for yourself and for consumers of information.

  1. Do not report that employers use credit scores.  Despite what Fair Isaac, Reuters, the Federal Reserve and others say, employers do not use credit scores. You don’t want some unemployed person looking for a job spending their last dollar on a credit score because of your bad reporting, do you?
  2. Do not report that the so-called “utilization ratio” accounts for 30% of the FICO credit score.  Yes, it says that on Wikipedia, but it also says, inaccurately, that employers use credit scores (see item 1, above).  Do not use Wikipedia as your source for anything (unless you are criticizing it).
  3. Do not advise consumers to limit their so-called utilization ratio to 30%.  FICO spokesmen said, “The lower that utilization number is, the better it is for your score,” and “The FICO brain trust says there is no specific number that qualifies as a ‘good’ ratio, just that lower is always better.”
  4. Do not report an average credit score.  It is unknown.
  5. Tell your boss to institute a correction procedure for published errors and to make your correction policy public.
  6. Cite your sources, period.
  7. If you have any questions, send them via email.  If you’re on a fake “deadline” made up by your boss and cannot wait, too bad.  Delay your little report (and, start earlier next time) and tell your boss to stop being ridiculous.

Report something stupid and you’ll end up on creditscoring.com.

Tips for reporters for updates.