TransUnion employers survey credit report question error

Also, see National Financial Literacy Month, 2011 (video), Myth: Employers use credit scores What the President said Credit bureaus claim that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening Groundhog Day, 2012 Groundhog Day, 2011 Credit scores in employment, Believers and Nonbelievers Video: Media say employers use scores (2009) Federal Reserve on credit scores used by employers, 2009 Federal Reserve on credit scores used by employers, 2010 Federal Reserve on credit scores used by employers, 2010 (one more time) Members of Congress say credit scores are used by employers Members of Congress say credit scores are used by employers II Members of Congress say credit scores are used by employers III U.S. House representative testifies employers use credit scores U.S. Treasury Suggests Employers Use Credit Scores DoD agency states it does not use credit scores for security clearances White House credit score requirements Mentions of credit scores in employment in Oregon Washington attorney general on what "can" and "may" happen FICO company warns employers use credit scores that credit reporting agencies deny providing TransUnion employers survey credit report question error Training TransUnion on credit scores, employers Equifax: Employers can know your credit score Training Equifax on credit scores, employers Experian: Employers use credit scores Training Experian on credit scores, employers VantageScore: Employers use credit scores Employers using credit scores blogger meme Canada Day: Reuters, FICO and the employers myth USA TODAY will not reveal its source USA TODAY will not reveal its source II McClatchy newspaper will not identify its sources AP reports legislator said employers use credit scores Dallas Morning News on employers using Equifax credit scores and reports Influence: Hearst; San Francisco Chronicle Influence: Tribune; LA Times Credit score use by employers depiction by CBS Influence: CBS U.S. PIRG fails to prove employers use credit scores Influence: Consumers Union

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.