Influence: Forum Communications; interviewee on employers and credit scores

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@creditscoring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 10:04 AM
To: John Lamb. features writer, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead
Cc: Matt Von Pinnon, editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Robert Morast, features editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Barbara Ehrenreich; Nicole Dewey, director of publicity, Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books
Subject: credit score, employers, the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead

You wrote, "As an example, she [author Barbara Ehrenreich] says about 43 percent of big businesses won't hire employees [alt] without a good credit score."

The consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not supply credit scores for employment purposes.

What clarification will you make?

From: Barbara Ehrenreich
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 10:48 AM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Cc: John Lamb. features writer, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Matt Von Pinnon, editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Robert Morast, features editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Nicole Dewey, director of publicity, Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books
Subject: Re: credit score, employers, the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead

See for example http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/how-bad-credit-can-cost-you-a-job.aspx. Or just google "credit score" hiring. My mistake was to say "about 43 percent" when the number appears to be exactly 43 percent, at least according to my sources.

Barbara

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 12:31 PM
To: Barbara Ehrenreich
Cc: John Lamb. features writer, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Matt Von Pinnon, editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Robert Morast, features editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Nicole Dewey, director of publicity, Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books; Liz Pulliam Weston
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, sources

Who are your sources?

In December, Elizabeth Owens Bille, the associate counsel for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said:

"If you have read or heard any of the media coverage on the issue of employers' use of credit checks in the hiring process, a 2006 survey conducted by SHRM is often cited - noting, "43 percent of U.S. employers are using credit checks in their hiring process." Regretfully, the way this statistic has been used by the media is often misleading."

I asked if the survey asked about credit scores. See the answer below.

The MSN story you cite does not contain the word score. See the author's cautious response to a question about employers using credit scores (2:02).

One can assemble any number of sources who believe that employers use credit scores. However, the consumer reporting agencies state that they do not provide scores for employment purposes. If that is the case, then how do employers get the scores?

Name an employer who uses credit scores.

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

From: Barbara Ehrenreich
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 1:27 PM
To: greg@creditscoring.com
Cc: John Lamb. features writer, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Matt Von Pinnon, editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Robert Morast, features editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Nicole Dewey, director of publicity, Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books; Liz Pulliam Weston
Subject: Re: credit score, employers, the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, sources

Here's another source-- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/business/10credit.html. But as I said, Greg, you can do the googling yourself.

Barbara

The first person mentioned in the New York Times article to which you linked testified, "There's no such thing as a credit score in employment."

Specifically, in that article, what are the words you are referring to?

From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 10:06 PM
To: Barbara Ehrenreich
Cc: John Lamb. features writer, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Matt Von Pinnon, editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Robert Morast, features editor, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead; Nicole Dewey, director of publicity, Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books; Ann Burnett, professor, Women and Gender Studies, North Dakota State University
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, sources III

The same article states, "Employers can generally use credit checks - but not credit scores - during the employment process as long as they obtain written permission from the potential employee."

Specifically, in that article, what are the words you are referring to?

Please reply.

Do you refuse to make a clarification?

What is your journalistic responsibility regarding clarifying accurate quotes of inaccurate or unsubstantiated statements?