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To Consumer Reports: URGENT. Employers do not use credit scores

Foremost, this is a test of the efficacy of email. Contrary to Consumers Union's claims, employers do not use credit scores. Do messages get through?

February 3, 2014 | By Greg Fisher

Hey, @ConsumersUnion endorsed bills to require credit scores to be included in free, annual credit reports: http://t.co/wwopjfe1UP

— craignewmark (@craignewmark) March 15, 2013

Which credit score do you want, @craignewmark? @ConsumersUnion

— Greg Fisher (@creditscoring) February 2, 2014

@creditscoring: the same one lenders and other companies use to make financial decisions about you.

— Consumers Union (@ConsumersUnion) February 3, 2014

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 4:12 PM
To: James A. Guest, president, CEO, Consumer Reports, Consumers Union (press address)
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Consumer Reports, whistle stop, correction policy

Your August, 2005 issue states, “Your mortgage, your car loan, your insurance premiums, where you live, who employs you--all of these life staples can depend on your credit score and the credit report on which it's based.”

Next, your organization claimed, “An automatic FICO disaster information shield would also prevent FICO scores from becoming a barrier to reemployment of displaced people looking for new work with employers who rely in part on credit scores.”

Last year, you published, “Your score is used by lenders, insurers, and even prospective employers, to judge how great of a credit risk you are.”

Now, in the July, 2013 Consumer Reports magazine, you state, “The score that lenders really use may factor into your chances of getting a car loan, a mortgage, or a job, and into what you’ll pay in interest, as a deposit for rent and utilities, and, in many states, for insurance.”

I tried to stop you. I took the overnight train to your headquarters to alert you to your error. The staff member at your office I spoke to that day sent a message to me, confirming that our conversation, indeed, occurred. I even called for your dismissal—and yet you still make the same preposterous, inaccurate and unsubstantiated claim.

Who told you that employers use credit scores? What is your evidence? What is the name of an employer—just one—who uses credit scores?

What is your correction policy?

Employers do not use credit scores. I looked into it.

--
Greg Fisher
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
Page A2
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PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342