No social media data in US credit scores
Headline hype by anonymous writer in domain ft.com regarding FICO scores, and Fair Isaac statement to the contrary
| By Greg Fisher
This is publishing at its most ridiculous.
As competently reported by NPR, in response to a headline in the internet domain ft.com, Fair Isaac, the FICO score company stated: "The headline about social media posts created a misperception. FICO is not utilizing Facebook data, or any other type of social media data, in calculating FICO Scores."
"Being 'wasted' on Facebook may damage your credit score" is the headline the radio network refers to.
"'Wasted' on Facebook may hit credit score" is another version of the title, apparently for mobile users.
In July, a page within ft.com referred to "Naotoshi Okada, chief executive of the Nikkei, Japan's biggest business newspaper" and the amount Nikkei agreed to in its negotiation to "buy the Financial Times."
Elsewhere, on October 28, independent journalist Bob Sullivan quoted a Fair Isaac spokesman who said, "FICO is not utilizing Facebook data, or any other type of social media data, in any of its scores."
But even Sullivan, a media veteran, could not help himself. His headline is "Being wasted on Facebook could hurt your credit score? Uh….no. Not yet, anyway."
That's unfortunate. According to Steve Rosen, a Kansas City Star newspaper columnist, a correction published in that newspaper on November 3 states that there are no such plans:
Credit rating criterion
The Oct. 31 Kids & Money column cited comments from the CEO of Fair Isaac Corp. that the credit rating company says were misinterpreted.
It has no plans to include social media data in compiling FICO scores.
Prior to that, the Financial Times writer responded:
@FinancialTimes $PSO I try #ToFind practical, useful, serious information about credit scores. This is not. #1510J https://t.co/DLBQ8SuIrm
— Greg Fisher (@creditscoring) October 21, 2015
@creditscoring I can't tell you Greg. Why do u ask?
— Ben McLannahan (@bmclannahan) October 21, 2015
@FinancialTimes @bmclannahan Attribution, Mr. McLannahan. Is it that you don't know, or were ordered not to? #1510J https://t.co/IQ3dgdORXL
— Greg Fisher (@creditscoring) October 21, 2015