Tag: Yellen

New York Times Two – Employers and credit scores myth Mayor and city council pat themselves on the back with false information about employers: Credit Score Myth 2

Employers do not use credit scores because they cannot even get them.

Despite that and eight years of debunking, the mayor of New York said, “Using credit scores in hiring decisions only makes it harder for people facing economic hardship to find a job and restore their personal finances.” #1509N

Bill de Blasio’s preposterous statement is in a September 3, 2015 press release on the official website of the city of New York, New York. It announces a campaign to “educate New Yorkers” on a law regarding credit reports and employment screening.

A city Commission on Human Rights flyer is titled: “YOU ARE MORE THAN YOUR CREDIT SCORE. NYC agrees. A new law prohibits most businesses from checking or using your credit history for employment decisions.”

State senator Jeff Klein follows the mayor’s lead, quoted in the press release saying, “A job applicant should be judged on their skills not on their credit score.” #myth2

In April of 2015, before the vote, a press release on the city council’s website stated, “All New Yorkers deserve the chance to compete for a job based on their skills and qualifications, not three digits on a financial report,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

In 2013, councilman Brad Lander led his cause in social media with the cry, “‘one, two, three, four. I am not my credit score!'”

Confronted with the fact that employers do not use credit scores, the politician used a poetic license defense: “Fair point. But sadly, ‘credit report’ or ‘credit history’ (which is what many do use) just don’t rhyme as well.”

The same song-and-dance works for a two-man writing team with members from Harvard University and the Federal Reserve. Their title: “‘No More Credit Score‘ Employer Credit Check Banks[SIC] and Signal Substitution.”

One of the authors replied that “‘score’ is there for the rhyming.”

The Fed publishes such so-called “working paper” documents, designated as such “with the aim of contributing to scholarly debate and soliciting constructive feedback.”

What it does with the feedback is the question.

In April, 2015, a local general-interest newspaper, the New York Times, quoted then-council member Vincent Ignizio saying that his measure would allow citizens to “prove their worth based on their talent, not on past mistakes or a credit score that could be low for many reasons.”

In 2012, the newspaper, itself, exacerbated the myth with an item that said, “The credit score, once a little-known metric derived from a complex formula that incorporates outstanding debt and payment histories, has become an increasingly important number used to bestow credit, determine housing and even distinguish between job candidates.”

The article (as with its effect on man) remains false.