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Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

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Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#231

Post by gfody »

myself248 wrote: post #154
teraflop wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dutifully entered everything they asked for, because, you know, they're Equifax and they undoubtedly have it already. Then they said I needed a "verification code" and gave me the option of half a dozen phone numbers and email addresses to choose from... none of which remotely resembled anything I've ever had (the email addresses all contained my surname and appeared to be randomly generated). When I clicked the "n…

Same here. Great. I wonder what other lies they believe about me. On the one hand, I'm probably glad the data is shit? But on the other hand, folks consuming the data might not understand that.

we ought to be able to "correct" our own data and mislead anything seeking an advantage

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#232

Post by season2episode3 »

kmonsen wrote: post #193

It looks like creditkarma loves, loves, loves to check this data. Except for the bank holding my mortgage only credit karma has checked it. I'm OK with the bank checking, if this system exists clearly bank handing out 1 million should be allowed to access it (my preferred outcome would be the system did not exist, or if it did be run by the government who already have all the data.

It's not just you -- CreditKarma checked my credit monthly for a long time in 2019-2020, until I changed addresses. I have never used a CK product. Obviously it's too late now to do anything about it but the existence of this site and the fact that Equifax is still in business makes me incredibly irritated.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#233

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

dhosek wrote: post #155
cmeacham98 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are very young (read: born after 2011) your SSN can be trivially brute forced if an attacker knows where and when you were born, because those details were (before 2011) mapped onto 5 of the 9 digits in an SSN.

More accurately where you were born and when your SSN was issued (my brothers who are four years older than me got their SSNs at the same time I did). Some of us older folks were born in an era in which you didn't automatically get an SSN along with the birth certificate. And then there are people who weren't born in the US so will have had their SSN not matching birth year. I also think it's less than 5 of the 9 dig…

The first three digits are allocated in blocks to each state.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#234

Post by MichaelBurge »

Thorrez wrote: post #187
MichaelBurge wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you verify with tax returns, it would be easy to borrow money from a friend and count it as income every year just for loan qualification. And then borrow more money from a bank, wait 6 months for seasoning, and use it as down payment to buy real estate. And if the loan gets sold to the government, it needs to meet government underwriting criteria and the lender has no free will. Especially for residential mortgag…

>If you verify with tax returns, it would be easy to borrow money from a friend and count it as income every year just for loan qualification. Huh? Isn't it fraud to declare something as income that's not actually income? Also, if you declare something as income, don't you have to pay tax on it? So this scheme will mean you have to pay a bunch of taxes you wouldn't have to otherwise. This sounds like the opposite typ…

> Isn't it fraud to declare something as income that's not actually income?

Mortgage fraud is a thing that exists, so it's not like labeling it as a crime lets you forget about it.

> don't you have to pay tax on it?

If you're borrowing at 30x leverage like some government loans give, taxes on the down payment is a small increase in cost-of-leverage which is more than made up for by the reduced interest rates.

Anyways, my point is, there's good reason to look at the same income viewed in multiple ways. Adding an employer into the mix is at least a separate person(which is probably why they waived the requirement in OP's case), while tax returns are filed by the potential fraudster/"entrepreneur".

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#235

Post by mjevans »

Larrikin wrote: post #228

This site is also another attack on Google Voice and similar numbers. The sign up mysteriously failed when I provided my Google Voice with no explanation. Suddenly worked when I provided my T-Mobile number. I expect more unblockable spam soon.

I loath sites that 'block voip' category services; as if Google Voice hasn't been proven MORE SECURE than T-mobile already.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#236

Post by zjs »

dboreham wrote: post #70

"confirm your identity by providing a phone number or email to receive a one-time passcode"

At least in my case, the number/email they were willing to send a one-time passcode to were the ones I gave to my employer, not the ones I had entered earlier in the form.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#237

Post by heavyset_go »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #205

Honest question for people who are concerned about this - why is it troubling? If another company wants to hire you, obviously they'll need to offer stronger compensation than you currently have to convince you to ditch a comfortable position. The fact that employers want employees to stay quiet about their compensation so they don't have to start handing out raises doesn't seem like a good reason to be concerned abo…

> The fact that employers want employees to stay quiet about their compensation so they don't have to start handing out raises doesn't seem like a good reason to be concerned about this to me. From an employers perspective, that taboo makes sense to push

In the US, pushing that taboo can be illegal if employers prevent workers from engaging in legally protected acts, like discussing their compensation while at work, or if employers retaliate against workers for doing so. Congress enshrined those rights into law nearly a century ago, and the National Labor Relations Board exists to protect those rights for workers.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#238

Post by gostsamo »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #205

Honest question for people who are concerned about this - why is it troubling? If another company wants to hire you, obviously they'll need to offer stronger compensation than you currently have to convince you to ditch a comfortable position. The fact that employers want employees to stay quiet about their compensation so they don't have to start handing out raises doesn't seem like a good reason to be concerned abo…

Imagine that your new employer knows your past salary. They can offer you 10% above it and this might be sufficient in enough cases. However, if they don't know it, they will be in the fog of war and they will have to guess much more and be ready for a wider salary range. In such scenarios the new offer might not be 10% but something like 30%. Now, imagine the accumulated effect over 2-3 employers over time.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#240

Post by jen_h »

Wowwww. I was really reticent to give them the info to log in, and still not sure it was a good idea (although they have it anyway...), but it's interesting -- they have my current TC exact, RSUs and everything...and that little instruction line about how to garnish wages really gives you the feels...

Even better, the mystery of why a mortgage lender randomly asked me about my employment history from over two decades ago (i.e., working for my Mom!) is now solved! I was like, "How do you know I worked for my Mom in the 90s? And of all the jobs to ask about, why this?" Turns out only three employers show up over multiple decades of employment.

Happy to see that the payroll processor I used for awhile for our personal companies until I started doing it myself didn't share our data, but am now really worried about future control of it.

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