Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, company must tell you and follow all the stuff if the credit check was used. But any company can make up any reason after seeing the credit report. They see something they don't like, well you weren't hired because of Fill in whatever reason but credit report . Since you were not hired and they dont have to give you any reason unless it was the credit reprot, you have no way to know if it was or wasn't the report. All you can do is get a copy yourself and see what they are seeing to make sure its correct.
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
4,084 posts, read 12,679,286 times
Reputation: 1974
I don't think I've ever had a job offer contingent on a credit check before, although I have heard of this. How common is it? Is it more common in certain industries than others?
In terms of the credit... collections and revolving unpaid accounts for a long duration of time, and a consistent amount of either late or non paid accounts, pretty much if you are in the 600 range you are okay in terms of fico... and as the posts above have stated... they have to tell you if their decision for hiring is because of your financial/credit status. If you haven't recieved any notices via mail similiar to this you are in the clear.
True, but they could easily just say that they are going with other candidates instead of saying they passed you over due to your credit. Personally my credit isnt the best but personal credit is way different than professional responisibilities. I am more relaxed with my credit because I only have to answer to myself. I don't think an applicant with bad credit should be denied unless its incredibly bad to the point that they might possibly steal from the employer to pay their debts.
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
4,084 posts, read 12,679,286 times
Reputation: 1974
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanLerJoh
True, but they could easily just say that they are going with other candidates instead of saying they passed you over due to your credit. Personally my credit isnt the best but personal credit is way different than professional responisibilities. I am more relaxed with my credit because I only have to answer to myself. I don't think an applicant with bad credit should be denied unless its incredibly bad to the point that they might possibly steal from the employer to pay their debts.
This seems really unfair, not to overlook the invasion of privacy. What a massive leap to assume people in debt will steal. That's one step away from discounting low-income people on the same basis. Or maybe a crafty, roundabout way of doing so, actually. People can have less than stellar credit for all sorts of reasons. I can only maaaaybe see it if you're going to be dealing directly with money in some capacity, whether as a cashier or accountant, and even then... Employers these days get away with murder.
If you don't have a payment plan in place, I would talk to the organization you owe the debt to about establishing one. That way the debt appears as 'paying as agreed' terms rather than a massive debt that has not been paid, on your credit report.
Depending on who the debt is with; they can be really nasty & tell you a payment plan is not an option. The collection service that Quest uses is BS. It's in my ex's name, comes to my house, they call me.. if I pick up the phone to give them HIS address & phone number, they will tell me that I am the ex and responsible for the bill as well, then refuse to take his information. I then switched tactics.. told them that they had the wrong number. I did this a few times, they finally stopped calling.
I've come close to getting several job offers only to not get the job right after I hand in the info for the credit check. I feel that this is my problem. Of course, I don't have great credit, but it's not HORRIBLE. I have a medical bill I've been paying on for years now but since my husband and I both lost our jobs, I haven't been keeping up on paying it. If I had a job, I could pay it. But I can't get a job because it's hurting my credit. Ugh! What can I do? Should I explain in an initial interview about that and/or ask how much weight is placed on the credit check? I'm about to fax over the permission for a credit check on another position right now and don't want to blow it.
Honestly depending on the size of the medical bill, it is doubtful that this is what is holding you back.
At my company, we have to bond all employees (we deal with very very very confidential data-- very sensitive--- think tons of financial data about individuals). Everyone gets a credit check. The company knows that they are not going to be able to only hire people with a credit score of 750 or higher.
So, there is a bad debt threshold that the company is allowed to ignore. I think when I got hired it was something like 10-15k.
If you have more than that-- without some kind of very serious explanation-- then you will not get the job. They wont be able to bond you.
True, but they could easily just say that they are going with other candidates instead of saying they passed you over due to your credit. Personally my credit isnt the best but personal credit is way different than professional responisibilities. I am more relaxed with my credit because I only have to answer to myself. I don't think an applicant with bad credit should be denied unless its incredibly bad to the point that they might possibly steal from the employer to pay their debts.
What people don't realize is that some companies must be able to bond employees. Financial institutions are not going to take a risk against employees who have severe financial problems.
I know personally that my employer allows a certain amount of bad debt-- as part of our employment, every few years, our employer will rerun credit and background checks. I have known folks who have been advised because they were on the cusp of having too much bad debt, and I have known others who have been let go because of convictions that have happened after their employment that they did not report to the ethics office as well as increasing bad credit and debt.
You will not be discarded for having a few charge offs that equal to a couple thousand dollars. You will be discarded if you have consistent and bad credit over a threshold.
I've come close to getting several job offers only to not get the job right after I hand in the info for the credit check. I feel that this is my problem. Of course, I don't have great credit, but it's not HORRIBLE. I have a medical bill I've been paying on for years now but since my husband and I both lost our jobs, I haven't been keeping up on paying it. If I had a job, I could pay it. But I can't get a job because it's hurting my credit. Ugh! What can I do? Should I explain in an initial interview about that and/or ask how much weight is placed on the credit check? I'm about to fax over the permission for a credit check on another position right now and don't want to blow it.
How do you know your rejection is because of your credit report?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That's one step away from discounting low-income people on the same basis. Or maybe a crafty, roundabout way of doing so, actually. 
People can have less than stellar credit for all sorts of reasons. I can only maaaaybe see it if you're going to be dealing directly with money in some capacity, whether as a cashier or accountant, and even then... Employers these days get away with murder. 
