Congressman: Employers use scores, and utilization ratio importance
Treasury says employers use scores, and a congressman complains; also complains about utilization ratio effect
| By Greg Fisher
From a letter to the Comptroller of the Currency, United States Department of the Treasury:
"The credit utilization ratio is an important [2016-07-24 update, alt link] element in a consumer's credit score, and the higher the credit utilization ratio, the lower the credit score. A lower credit score can have far-reaching unrelated effects, such as eligibility for employment or life insurance."
Dennis J. Kucinich, member (D-OH), U.S. House of Representatives
October 29, 2009
Dissonance with the legislator's message
- Exactly how "important" the credit card utilization ratio is is unknown.
- The consumer reporting agencies do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.
- Treasury, the recipient of the letter, itself, claims that credit scores are used in employment screening.
Blogs Dandelion Salad, AllBusiness.com [2016-07-24 update, no alt link] and TradingMarkets.com [2016-07-24 update, no alt link] parrot the congressman with no question. Using attribution to something called "Congressional Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX," the story on TradingMarkets.com states, "Credit scores are now used in writing insurance policies and even in determining employability."
Despite the evidence, so it goes-- another page in the credit score Bleak Account.