Executive Credit Management, Inc.
Your Applicant Screening and Debt Collection partners for over 20 years
Seeing is believing but, in credit reports, it isn’t always correct
If you were told to watch a 30 second video of people in a circle passing a basketball back and forth and you were counting the number of passes, would you notice a large Gorilla walk into the middle of the circle, pound his chest and walk out again? In a 1990 study cognitive psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris did just that and found that about half of the people watching never noticed the Gorilla.
When an individual hands you an application it is full of simple, basic details about the applicant, but there are also Gorillas in this maze of information. Here are a few quick steps to keep you from getting mauled.
Empty fields
Empty fields on a submitted application are usually there to keep you from finding out something bad. This goes for scribbles and other forms of misdirection. You can’t check the credit report to confirm information that is missing.
Matching game
Watch for items that don’t match up with your reports. There is a lot of fraud used by applicants trying to sneak through your screening process.
Addresses
Addresses on a credit report can tell you how stable the Applicant has been regardless of the prior addresses entered in the application.
More is not always better
Too many answers on a report are a giant red flag. Multiple names, social security numbers or lots of addresses mean trouble. Names are very important if you are also checking criminal history and a fake name, alias, or even a married name different from a non-married name will keep you from obtaining accurate results. All names usually appear on the credit report.
Don’t trust the applicant
This is business. While the typical credit report has some errors in it, they are usually obvious. Information in the report should line up with those in the application.
Don't trust just the scores
They are occasionally misleading. Very little credit may be a problem for you but it could still give the applicant a good credit rating. Check available credit and negative items for additional information.
Don’t let the Gorilla get you!
Make sure your applications are filled out completely and correctly and check all your reports for information that differs from what was put on the application. To learn more about applicant screening visit us at www.iwantmymoney.com
