TransUnion employers survey credit report question error

TransUnion conducted a survey of human resource decision makers, but asked the wrong question.

TransUnion's official policy is to not supply credit scores for employment screening. But in the survey, instead of credit report use by employers, the consumer reporting agency asked about credit score use. TransUnion gave the survey results to U.S. News, who blogged about it in February. The post was a number-one hit in a news search for the term credit score.

Unintended consequence

When asked by creditscoring.com's author about the discrepancy, the U.S. News reporter replied with a correction (eventually), but not before a Credit.com writer, television commentator and author of the best credit score book chimed in.

TransUnion's public relations firm said that it recommissioned the survey, and that the correct questions are:

"As part of your screening process for potential employees, do you utilize a Pre-Employment Credit Report?"

"Does a candidate's Pre-Employment Credit Report play a role in whether or not your company decides to extend an offer to that person?"

The surprising result of the original (flawed) survey was that, despite TransUnion's stated policy, 13% of the respondents replied that they use credit scores.

Comedy of errors

The official TransUnion press release states, "For the full survey results, and to learn more about managing your finances, log onto http://www.gotruecredit.com and visit the learning center." If you find the survey results there, please write.

The U.S. News reporter's belief that credit scores are used by employers was repeated in a Wall Street Journal blog. Written one week after the TransUnion correction, the WSJ blog headline and story were correct, but the HTML page title and meta description used the words score and scores. Alerted to that error by creditscoring.com's author, WSJ changed the page title, but the description (on your browser's menu, View, Source) remains "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?"

Viral marketing can make you sick.

You state, "Now credit scoring is used by lenders, insurers, landlords, employers, utility companies and even judges to evaluate your credit behavior."