USA Today on employers using credit scores, Part 2

Please reply.

[Note: See Part 1]

From: Ken McEldowney, executive director, Consumer Action
To: greg@creditscoring.com; Consumer Action: Kathy Li, director, San Francisco Office; Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities; Mikael Wagner, director of Outreach and Training; info@consumer-action.org
Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied"
Date: 4/3/2009

There is a wealth of documentation on this point. Here's an article from U.S. News on line that appeared today.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/alpha-consumer/...

[Note: In March (before this email), after creditscoring.com questioned it, U.S. News issued a correction to its piece.]

To: Consumer Action: Ken McEldowney, executive director; Kathy Li, director, San Francisco Office; Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities; Mikael Wagner, director of Outreach and Training; info@consumer-action.org
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" II
cc: Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Travis Plunket, Consumer Federation of America; Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG); Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; ctrx4change@dodd.senate.gov; Kimberly Palmer, U.S. News; Steven R. Katz, TransUnion; Cramer-Krasselt: Brady Smith; Peter Krivkovich
Date: 4/3/2009

From the article you cite, consumer reporting agency TransUnion said, "To clarify, TransUnion does not provide a credit score for employment screening purposes."

And, your publication predates the piece, so U.S. News could not be your source.

Who is your source?

What is the name of an employer who uses credit scores?

Who wrote your publication?

From: Travis Plunket, Consumer Federation of America
To: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" II
Date: 4/3/2009

Who are you and why are you subjecting me to these thuggish e mails? Stop trying to intimidate people and start doing your homework. And take me off this e mail thread.

tp

-------------------------

Travis B. Plunkett

Legislative Director
Consumer Federation of America
1620 I Street, N.W.; Suite 200
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) [XXX-XXXX]
Fax: (202) [XXX-XXXX]

From: Ken McEldowney, executive director, Consumer Action
To: creditscoring.com; Consumer Action: Kathy Li, director, San Francisco Office; Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities; Mikael Wagner, director of Outreach and Training; info@consumer-action.org
Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" II
cc: Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Travis Plunket, Consumer Federation of America; Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG); Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; Lisa Donner, ACORN; AcornNews@Acorn.org; acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; ctrx4change@dodd.senate.gov; Kimberly Palmer, U.S. News; Steven R. Katz, TransUnion; Cramer-Krasselt: Brady Smith; Peter Krivkovich
Date: 4/3/2009

The media has filled with stories on this for years.

http://www.google.com/search?...

I just picked the most recent for you.

Linda Sherry may have written it.

From: Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG)
To: creditscoring.com; Consumer Action: Ken McEldowney, executive director; Kathy Li, director, San Francisco Office; Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities; Mikael Wagner, director of Outreach and Training; info@consumer-action.org
cc: Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Travis Plunket, Consumer Federation of America; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; ctrx4change@dodd.senate.gov; Kimberly Palmer, U.S. News: Steven R. Katz, TransUnion; Cramer-Krasselt: Brady Smith; Peter Krivkovich
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" II
Date: 4/3/2009

Whois whatis creditscoring.com and to whom are these questions directed?

_________________________
Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
218 D St SE, Washington, DC 20003
202-[XXX-XXX xXXX]
PIRG consumer blog www.uspirg.org/consumer

From: Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities, Consumer Action
To: Ken McEldowney, executive director, Consumer Action; creditscoring.com
cc: Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Travis Plunket, Consumer Federation of America; Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG); Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb******, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; ctrx4change@dodd.senate.gov; Kimberly Palmer, U.S. News; Steven R. Katz, TransUnion; Cramer-Krasselt: Brady Smith; Peter Krivkovich; Consumer Action: Kathy Li, director, San Francisco Office; Mikael Wagner, director of Outreach and Training; info@consumer-action.org
Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" II
Date: 4/3/2009

Greg Fisher of Creditscoring.com brings up a good point. Recently, there have been statements by Maxine Sweet of Experian, and TransUnion saying that there is no way employers can check credit "scores." Employers can check credit reports if authorized to do so.

Our publication was written by a trustworthy writer I work with often, and reviewed for accuracy by Visa and Fair Isaacs before publication. No one challenged the point at that time.

Now that it has been brought to my attention that this cannot be possible, I have removed the statement from our publication while I further research the issue. We certainly do not want to perpetuate any myths about credit scoring.

Linda Sherry

To: Consumer Federation of America: Travis Plunket, Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox, cfa@consumerfed.org; Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG)
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Gail Hillebrand, Consumers Union; Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb******, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council
Date: 4/3/2009

Your organization, Mr. Plunkett, failed to reply to this email:

To: Consumer Federation of America: cfa@consumerfed.org, Jack Gillis
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: credit score, employers
Date: 2/16/2009, 11:36 PM

You said, "Credit scores, and the credit reports on which they are based, increasingly influence consumer access to credit, housing, insurance, basic utility services, and even employment."

See http://www.creditscoring.com/influence/... .

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

What is the name of an employer who uses credit scores?

Yesterday, you received a message because your individual name, as you represent the Consumer Federation of America, is at the bottom of your letter stating, "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."

http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/fico.pdf

You are #2 on the typed list of names at the bottom of that letter. Your insignia appears at the top.

USA TODAY wrote

The cycle concerns consumer advocates and some legislators. Some wonder whether restrictions should be imposed on lenders' ability to slash credit limits and close accounts. And if scores can drop even if consumers do nothing wrong, they say, it raises the question of whether there's a flaw in the credit scoring formulas relied upon by the nation's lenders, insurers, and increasingly employers and landlords.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/...

When asked for its source, USA TODAY replied without providing a name, but with instructions to re-read the story. A prominent consumer advocate organization, Consumer's Union, is mentioned in the article. You are associated with that organization by your letter.

Mr. Mierzwinski, your name is third on the list on the letter.

Mr. Plunkett and Mr. Mierzwinski, who is your source for the information regarding employers using credit scores?

Greg Fisher

To: Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities, Consumer Action
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Kathy Chu, USA Today, Tim Klein, VP Public Relations, Equifax; Jennifer Costello, PR Director, Equifax
Date: 4/5/2009

Do you accept this evidence of a statement by Equifax?

From: David Rubinger, Equifax
To: creditscoring.com
Cc: Jennifer Costello, Equifax
Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: credit score, job

I am out of town on vacation and just received your message from Tuesday. We do not knowingly provide scores for pre employment screening.

If you have any further questions, please contact Jennifer Costello at the above email address.

Thank you.

David Rubinger

http://www.creditscoring.com/influence...

To: creditscoring.com
From: Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities, Consumer Action
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Date: 4/6/2009

Greg

I see no reason to doubt any of the statements by the reporting bureaus.

Linda

Another request for USA Today to name its source

To: Kathy Chu, USA Today
From: "creditscoring.com"
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Gail Hillebrand, Consumers Union; Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; U.S. Public Interest Research Group: Ed Mierzwinski, federalnews@pirg.org, uspirg@pirg.org; Consumer Federation of America: Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox, cfa@consumerfed.org
Date: 4/7/2009

Please, be more specific.

What are the names of your sources regarding credit score use by employers?

To: creditscoring.com
From: Linda Sherry, director of National Priorities, Consumer Action
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Date: 4/7/2009

Greg:

You have letters or correspondence from all three bureaus on your web site.

Linda

From: Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council
To: creditscoring.com; Kathy Chu, USA Today
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Gail Hillebrand, Consumers Union; Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb******, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; U.S. Public Interest Research Group: Ed Mierzwinski, uspirg@pirg.org, federalnews@pirg.org; Consumer Federation of America: Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox, cfa@consumerfed.org
Date: 4/7/2009

Greg,

Employer use of credit reports is pretty widespread. Several years ago I applied for a job with an entity tied to state government. On the standard basic application used by everyone who applied for any job at any level one had to sign approval for having one's credit report checked prior to employment and at any point the employer deemed appropriate as long as one was employed. That doesn't say that a credit score is used, but I suspect it often is. Nobody was even interviewed without signing it - I asked. Apparently a lot of employees have that experience. (I didn't get the job.)

I'm not sure what your motives are for pushing so hard on this. Today consumers clearly do not have adequate knowledge of how the information about us is used and how scores are created for various purposes. The industry seems to want to keep the scores secret and to use them against us, giving us insufficient information about how they're calculated for us to effectively protect ourselves. Further, what's good for one score is probably bad for another - depending upon the use - and information included in a report or in a score is at the total discretion of the entities we do business with and the investigative thoroughness of a particular credit bureau. It is well documented that consumers have difficulty getting inaccurate information corrected and positive information routinely reported. I don't call the situation that exists today fair to consumers. If you want to dig into something it would be great if you'd help make the playing field more level.

Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council

From: CHARLES SHAFER
To: creditscoring.com
Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Chu, Kathy, USA Today; Gail Hillebrand, Consumers Union; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb******, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; U.S. Public Interest Research Group: Ed Mierzwinski, uspirg@pirg.org, federalnews@pirg.org; Consumer Federation of America: Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox, cfa@consumerfed.org
Date: 4/7/2009

I have no idea what all these emails are about. But I have one question. Somewhere in these emails the statement was made that employers could not use credit scores for employment. What is the substantiation for that assertion?

c

USA Today can't be bothered with citing its source

The newspaper leaves the consumer advocates twisting in the wind.

From: Kathy Chu
To: CHARLES SHAFER, creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
cc: Gail Hillebrand, Consumers Union; Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Consumers Union; Michael McCauley, Consumers Union; action@consumer.org; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb******, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; U.S. Public Interest Research Group: Ed Mierzwinski, uspirg@pirg.org, federalnews@pirg.org; Consumer Federation of America: Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox, cfa@consumerfed.org
Date: 4/7/2009

Please take me off this chain of e-mails.

Kathy Chu
Reporter
USA TODAY

Find my latest stories at: http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/reporter.aspx?id=349

Consumer reporting agencies Equifax, TransUnion and Experian claim that they do not provide credit scores for employment screening.

http://www.creditscoring.com/influence/government/employment.htm

However, USA TODAY reports, "And if scores can drop even if consumers do nothing wrong, they [consumer advocates and some legislators] say, it raises the question of whether there's a flaw in the credit scoring formulas relied upon by the nation's lenders, insurers, and increasingly employers and landlords."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/...

USA TODAY did not name its source, but said, merely, "Please read the story again. We mention data in the story about employers increasingly relying on credit information."

A consumer advocacy organization mentioned in the USA TODAY story is Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports. A document on the Consumers Union website with your name on it states, "Without a Disaster Information Shield, FICO scoring models could pose an affirmative barrier to the efforts of disaster victims to regain, and maintain, financial stability, access reasonably priced credit, and even regain employment."

http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/fico.pdf

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?

Did you communicate with USA TODAY about credit score use by employers?

From: Irene Leech
To: creditscoring.com

Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Date: 4/7/2009

I think people are getting pretty tired of this so I'm only responding to you.

I don't remember talking with either news source on the topic. I don't think I'm their source.

However, regardless of what the agencies say, I know I signed a document that gave the potential employer permission to access my credit report prior to an interview and whenever they deemed appropriate as long as I was employed there. It was several years ago but I still think it happens. A lot. I suspect the credit agencies do not realize that the scores are being used for employment. I suspect that they think they are used for offering credit. Maybe that's what they want to think. However, based on my personal experience, I think it's done.

These data bases are given far too much "value" given the voluntary nature of the reports and the one-sided manner in which they operate.

I also think you are going about this in a way that is not gaining friends and help from critical partners.

Irene Leech

To: Irene Leech
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Consumers Union: Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Gail Hillebrand
Date: 4/7/2009

What is the employer's name?

From: Leech, Irene
To: creditscoring.com

Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Date: 4/7/2009

I don't know who you are and what you intend to do with that info so I'm not going to share it right now.

To: Irene Leech
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Consumer Federation of America: Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox, cfa@consumerfed.org; Consumers Union: Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Gail Hillebrand
Date: 4/7/2009

I intend on verifying your claim.

Greg Fisher
Owner
creditscoring.com, The Credit Scoring Site
greg@creditscoring.com

To: CHARLES SHAFER
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Date: 4/8/2009

Who forwarded the email to you?

From: Irene Leech
To: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Date: 4/8/2009

For what purpose?

To: Irene Leech
From: creditscoring.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: RE: credit score, employers III, "rely," "relied" III
Cc: Consumers Union: Lauren Zeichner Bowne, Gail Hillebrand Michael McCauley; action@consumer.org; Chi Chi Wu, National Consumer Law Center; ACORN: Lisa Donner, AcornNews@Acorn.org, acorncampaign@acorn.org; Steve Cleary, AkPIRG; Arizona Consumers Council: Fredric D. Bellamy, Phyllis Rowe; Alan Fisher, California Reinvestment Coalition; Lynda DeLaforgue, Citizen Action/Illinois; Linda Hilton, Coalition of Religious Communities; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Albert Sterman, Democratic Process Center, Inc.; Bill Newton, Florida Consumer Acton Network; Cheryl Hystad, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Sarah Ludwig, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Brad Lamb******, North Carolina Consumers Council, Inc.; info@ncconsumer.org; Sue Berkowitz, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; B.J. Kincade, Victim’s Committee for Recall of Defective Vehicles, Inc.; U.S. Public Interest Research Group: Ed Mierzwinski, uspirg@pirg.org, federalnews@pirg.org; Consumer Federation of America: Steven Brobeck, Jean Ann Fox
Date: 4/9/2009

Verifying your claim is for the purpose of publishing the evidence (or lack of it) on creditscoring.com, The Credit Scoring Site. With no one and nothing else validating your claim at http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/fico.pdf, you and Consumer Action (citing VISA and FICO) are the only sources verified. 45 days ago, Visa stated, "We’re not at liberty to disclose specific employers who use credit scores in employee screening, but we are aware of instances in which this has been done." Last year, FICO said that its statement about employers using credit scores is based on "anecdotal information gleaned from public sources such as published articles."

If an employer uses a credit score, and the prospective employee is an authorized user of another person's account, then the other person's credit history will influence the score and the hiring decision. So, if what you're saying is true, then there is probably a bright lawyer somewhere willing to take that case— if they get the word. Further, an employer using scores in violation of its consumer reporting agency contract is significant, too. Let the agencies know what you know.

On the other hand, if you and the other signers have just let your imaginations run wild, speculating that employers see credit scores with employment screening reports (even though the consumer reporting agencies' infrastructures make it impossible to access a credit score, and, indeed, the employment report format itself does not even include a score) then that is a story worth telling, too.

In the meantime, your document and many others (in USA TODAY, for instance) tell people looking for jobs: Beware— credit scores in use! USA TODAY's sources are still unknown.

Consider the citizens.