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Old 12-19-2013, 09:49 PM
 
801 posts, read 1,099,737 times
Reputation: 832

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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobtn View Post
This bill will get nowhere.
I'm inclined to agree with you. Even though I fully support the bill because the practice is evil, there will most likely be strong push back from the entities who really control this country - corporations.

 
Old 12-20-2013, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Shawnee-on-Delaware, PA
7,940 posts, read 7,295,181 times
Reputation: 16078
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dissenter View Post
Elizabeth Warren Introduces Legislation To Prohibit Job Applicant Credit Checks

As someone who deals with credit reports for a living, I fully support this bill. Just because I wouldn't trust you enough to grant you a car loan does not mean that you would place my company in trouble if you got hired on as an IT guy or a plumber. A lot of people saw their credit score drop to the mid and lower 500s as a result of the great recession which included tightened credit, a lot of layoffs, and a bumper crop of foreclosures.

Also what the hell are you going to tell someone who just got through beating an aggressive cancer but has $200k+ in medical bills after insurance to do? Pay on those impossible bills and sacrifice food and a roof to keep their credit good or declare bankruptcy and wipe the slate clean and rebuild their lives and put their money towards surviving?

One caveat I have to this bill, is to exclude the banking field, specifically handling actual banking transactions.
How many people does this effect, and for what types of jobs are credit checks actually done?

Last edited by jtab4994; 12-20-2013 at 09:33 AM.. Reason: puncuation
 
Old 12-20-2013, 09:51 AM
 
Location: Sweet Home...CHICAGO
3,421 posts, read 5,191,408 times
Reputation: 4355
I have been saying for many years that the use of credit reports for potential hiring should be outlawed. Financial history is so personal and none of anyone's business, including employers. So many people's credit scores are effected by financial hardships they have no control over. Then to not be to able get out of financial hardship because you can find a job because your financial hardship has ruined your credit traps people in a cycle of poverty.
 
Old 12-20-2013, 10:37 AM
 
Location: Native of Any Beach/FL
35,362 posts, read 20,730,566 times
Reputation: 14127
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbird82 View Post
Yeah, I was going to say I've seen people denied clearances for bad credit..good workers too. Some of them had been working for months on an interim basis before the clearance was denied.

Anyways, I really dislike our credit monitoring system. I don't like the fact that these credit agencies have the ability to track my financial situation and influence personal/life changing decisions yet I have to pay for their services to make sure everything is correct.
I don't know about clearance denied, new federal rules have some new procedures - giving people a chance to recoup,, T
take this:
1-Those who had to deal with the aftermath of the Oklahoma Bombings- some had to deal with financial difficulties as well as the other horrific stuff- say they had to file BK-7-- the CREDIT bureaus have NO where to indicate WHY this persons credit went to the dogs. they just BLACKLIST you.. This is one of the problems I have---No reason... just you are labled a deadbeat!
2- You can be married to a jerk who blows all the credit cards and leaves you for the gardener, with a huge MTG, and ?? Does this make you this horrible person who now can't obtain a good job or auto insurance?--- *&^(*%&!-
3- death or illness,,, things just freaking happen,,, OK you don't want to lend me MONEY, GREAT! that's what credit bureaus are FOR, to see my FINANCES- but for JOBs! or insurance give me a break.!!

and I have written to Mrs. Warren and a few others a few years ago and GLAD she is taking a stand .

In Canada it is illegal to check credit or back ground I thionk-- There should be an equal time frame- for a credit bureau to report with the statue of limitations. Most states it is 4-to 6 yrs,,, why are they reporting past that? and 10 yrs on a BK,,, ? They are evil. When an American falls it is the final kick to make sure he stays DOWN. I think that kids who blew it in their youth- unless it's capital crimes,they need to be off the books after 5 yrs.
Many young people can't get ahead because they had some drug charge,,, at 18-20 and follows them for life and can't get a good job- so then why try- just do more crime!! Stupid... most grow up have familes and do well once they grow UP! ?
 
Old 12-20-2013, 11:42 AM
 
5,680 posts, read 10,303,963 times
Reputation: 43791
One more reminder: this is NOT the Politics & Other Controversies forum, folks. If you wish to discuss the pros and cons of performing credit checks on job applicants, please post here. If you wish to debate the merits or otherwise of specific legislators, please do so in the P&OC forum.

Continued off-topic posts in this thread will result in it being closed permanently.
 
Old 12-20-2013, 12:05 PM
 
Location: Native of Any Beach/FL
35,362 posts, read 20,730,566 times
Reputation: 14127
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie1946 View Post
I would say that any check on any part of my life is a background check whether financial (credit), academic, criminal. I see no difference.

Financial troubles are a "root" of many conditions and those conditions are often brought into the work place.
The root might be a horrible experiences that has nothing to do with the work ethics of a person, but the credit might be all messed up due to that horrible event,
 
Old 12-20-2013, 12:42 PM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
38,936 posts, read 23,741,663 times
Reputation: 14125
Unfortunately when it is employment law, the politics come out.

Anyway, hopefully this law is passed so that employers cannot use stupid heuristics that they are currently using. For an economic recovery yo happen, we need less unemployed people and more in the workforce. Saying that you have been unemployed for too long or you are in debt.
 
Old 12-20-2013, 02:07 PM
 
1,474 posts, read 3,559,348 times
Reputation: 2085
Quote:
Originally Posted by tinytrump View Post
The root might be a horrible experiences that has nothing to do with the work ethics of a person, but the credit might be all messed up due to that horrible event,
It puzzles me at how quickly the employer becomes the enemy. Does an employer not have an interest in determining the character, the life history in hiring someone? How does he discriminate in hiring if various doors are shut off? Why is it up to the employer to take all the risks? What next? Interviews conducted behind screens so that the interviewer cannot actually see the applicant? Should the applicant's voice be muffled so that their speech cannot be used in case their voice won't be pleasing enough on the phone with customers? What about tattoos? Already employers have to accommodate disabled people. They cannot discriminate (ha ha) based on age, sex, sexuality, religion. Jobs will continue to migrate off our shores with more onerous rules piled on in the name of fairness, justice, kindness, gentleness...
 
Old 12-20-2013, 03:02 PM
 
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
453 posts, read 629,884 times
Reputation: 673
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD View Post
I have been saying for many years that the use of credit reports for potential hiring should be outlawed. Financial history is so personal and none of anyone's business, including employers. So many people's credit scores are effected by financial hardships they have no control over. Then to not be to able get out of financial hardship because you can find a job because your financial hardship has ruined your credit traps people in a cycle of poverty.
It's like the modern-day equivalent of debtor's prison.

I got screwed years ago by having a health problem come at me out of the blue and land me in the hospital just before a new employer's health insurance plan kicked in. I wound up $20k in debt from that, but at least I'm alive. I began to climb out of that hole only to get nailed again by my father's illness and the need to drop everything and take care of him. (No other living family available to do it or even to help.) Then this most recent recession hit, and I live in an area that had never even recovered fully from the previous one.

I'm a good worker with great skills, but my credit is shot. I want my employer to hire ME, not my credit rating. If I can work hard at a decent job I can get out of debt. Continuing to screw me over by keeping me underemployed or at a low wage helps no one, especially given that I actually WANT to pay off my bills rather than file for bankruptcy. Call it a point of pride.
 
Old 12-20-2013, 03:37 PM
 
6,591 posts, read 5,840,180 times
Reputation: 16788
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie1946 View Post
It puzzles me at how quickly the employer becomes the enemy. Does an employer not have an interest in determining the character, the life history in hiring someone? How does he discriminate in hiring if various doors are shut off? Why is it up to the employer to take all the risks? What next? Interviews conducted behind screens so that the interviewer cannot actually see the applicant? Should the applicant's voice be muffled so that their speech cannot be used in case their voice won't be pleasing enough on the phone with customers? What about tattoos? Already employers have to accommodate disabled people. They cannot discriminate (ha ha) based on age, sex, sexuality, religion. Jobs will continue to migrate off our shores with more onerous rules piled on in the name of fairness, justice, kindness, gentleness...
Agreed. It may not be fair or right or just, but it's the brutal way of the world.

And if the Chinese decide to upgrade the workplace and institute more fairness and social justice, it will force labor to move somewhere else, perhaps India or Vietnam.

Some people are complaining that their credit problems were not their fault, therefore should not be allowed to be a consideration when applying for a job. I totally sympathize with them and agree it's unfair.

A friend of mine is in this boat, in fact; he's a contractor for a giant technology company, about to go perm (not by choice), and he's worried about a credit check--while unemployed during the recession, he fell behind on his condo payments and ultimately sold the condo but not before ruining his credit. Hopefully they'll just disregard it since they already know him and he's doing good work, but you never know with big companies.

But for each unfortunate case of this type, how many others are deadbeats who maxed out too many credit cards or skipped out on a mortgage or car loan? How many slackers are going to get jobs they don't deserve because employers were unable to do the proper vetting? I agree with Ollie and others who warn that this law will backfire and end up hurting companies, hurting the economy, and causing more unemployment. As for mortgages, we all know what happened when too many mortgages were given out to people without so much as a down payment.

In my opinion, this kind of "shoot the messenger" legislation is fundamentally misguided because it does nothing to address the real problem of bad credit as well as flawed credit reporting, a separate problem in fact.

It shouldn't be so easy for people to load up on credit cards -- why did this happen in the first place? It used to be kind of a big deal to get a credit card -- teenagers couldn't get one, and you had to really prove you were credit worthy; I remember having to provide my employer's name, my salary, how long in this job, etc. Now all sorts of people get these pre-approved offers, and they end up in big trouble; I know lots of them, and I feel their pain; in my twenties I had a problem with credit card debt as well.

I would like to see legislation that addresses this sort of problem, and stop trying to put the onus on employers -- it's like admitting that we can't fix people's credit problems, so let's just pass the buck and force employers to fix it for us.
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