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I'd argue sales and banking are the two industries that really need to have credit checks. Working at a school district or charter school as a teacher, that is just stupid.
nope, our company runs a credit report on all applicants, even those entry level $12.00/hr part time jobs
i think you will find most if not all (larger, multi state) companies do
Definitely not all. I even dispute "most."
The company I work for does not, and we are one of the largest non-government employers in the country. In fact, since I watch my credit reports, I know that no employer I have ever worked for has ever obtained my credit report (it would show as an inquiry) except in cases when I got my corporate Amex card, and in those cases the inquiry came from Amex.
I wouldn't be surprised to find they run them for senior leadership jobs, but for jobs up to the director level I know we don't.
No... that is when management has to make a judgment call. Some investigation would help them find out if that were truly the case and from there they can determine whether that person will be eligible for hire. It's not black and white.
And how many companies/managers/HR do you think are going to investigate rather than simply reject the candidate?
When so many people in this country lost their house or got behind on their rent or house payments, that went on their credit report. Subsequently, a lot of those people were having a hard time finding a job again and had to go on welfare and/or food stamps. Now we hear that they're a bunch of freeloaders and they should just get a job. Problem is, with all these businesses doing credit checks, they can't get jobs.
Here in Washington state, they will ask to do a credit check for a minimum wage job at Petco. I saw an ad asking for a tool booth operator and stating that if you didn't have perfect credit, don't bother to apply. These are the kinds of jobs that are available now. These are the kinds of jobs people have to work. You hear about the unemployment figures being so low, well, credit checks are one of the reasons why. It's because you have a good number of the population that can't get hired because they simply don't have good enough credit for these kinds of jobs.
So the bottom line is, if you want people to work, credit checks have to be eliminated or heavily modified. If you personally want credit checks to stay in place, then you don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to complaining about those on welfare. If you want people on welfare to find jobs and work, then you are going to have to be vocal about getting rid of credit checks as a requirement for employment. That simple.
Toll booth operators handle cash all day long. Of course they're going to require someone with very good credit for a position that handles cash.
When so many people in this country lost their house or got behind on their rent or house payments, that went on their credit report. Subsequently, a lot of those people were having a hard time finding a job again and had to go on welfare and/or food stamps. Now we hear that they're a bunch of freeloaders and they should just get a job. Problem is, with all these businesses doing credit checks, they can't get jobs.
So the bottom line is, if you want people to work, credit checks have to be eliminated or heavily modified. If you personally want credit checks to stay in place, then you don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to complaining about those on welfare. If you want people on welfare to find jobs and work, then you are going to have to be vocal about getting rid of credit checks as a requirement for employment. That simple.
So let's discuss this one. If people got behind on their house payments or lost their house, why do you think that happened? Could it be that they were living above their means and couldn't sustain an existence the second their income halted? Too many credit cards, too large of a vehicle payment, house payment, etc.... and no savings to get by on until they got another job possibly?
Think about this hypothetical situation.. and yes, this happens more than you realize... "Sally" just lost her house because she could no longer afford to maintain her current lifestyle of big spending after being laid off from her last job. She really didn't have any savings, so she is beating the streets trying to find a job. She has defaulted on her car, but a friend is letting her hide it at their place until she can get back on her feet to catch up the payments. Credit card collectors are calling daily wanting to know when they will get paid.
Sally's an emotional wreck on the inside but keeps her composure very well on the outside. She applies and gets hired to work in an office making slightly less than before but she is on the verge of bankruptcy so she will take what she can get. Over time, the bill collection calls become too much. She knows that she has to find a way to pay them off. The company hasn't yet figured out that her credit is ruined and has no clue of the financial situation she is in. They don't do credit checks.
Sally spends countless hours at work trying to figure out how to pay her bills. She can't concentrate because of the stress, so her performance has been slipping. She knows that just getting one or two things paid for would give her peace of mind. Sally notices that the petty cash box is usually unlocked and there is typically $500-$1,000 in it and since she manages the petty cash, she knows that she could "cook the books" for a few weeks to cover anything she borrowed. She decides that she could "borrow" $600 to pay off one collector and plans to put it back as soon as she can and decides to gamble that no one will notice the money missing. Sally does this successfully for a few months and gets a little more bold each time. Finally, she decides to take the entire $1000 to bring her car back to current and knows she can have it all paid back in the next two weeks. The following week, someone finds out that money is missing from petty cash when they go to buy some office supplies for the boss. Sally gets fired.
The point of this is that the credit check is an honest account of someone's ability to properly manage their finances. There's no preference towards an individual or a company. It's all black and white. You defaulted on financial contracts. You made poor decisions that ultimately affected your ability to uphold your obligations. A medical emergency that put you deep into debt was not a poor decision. It was uncontrollable. But the decision NOT to put aside savings for such an emergency is a poor decision.
People are quick to blame things like credit checks for their inability to work and pay their bills. That is not the root cause of their financial situations. Their lack of discipline is. It's happened to all of us at one point in time or another. The difference is, that many of us decided that we had better get our financial house in order so as not to go through it again.
Since we all know that medical issues could happen at any minute, we could be laid off, companies can close, etc.... WHY are people not living within their means? That should be the real question. Not whether or not a company should be able to see it.
Since we all know that medical issues could happen at any minute, we could be laid off, companies can close, etc.... WHY are people not living within their means? That should be the real question. Not whether or not a company should be able to see it.
Because real wages have been stagnant for longer than Sally has been alive and so fewer and fewer people have the ability to have a cushion even if they tried.
Because real wages have been stagnant for longer than Sally has been alive and so fewer and fewer people have the ability to have a cushion even if they tried.
This isn't a valid response, unfortunately.
Wages in general have been stagnant for years. But somehow, we still have a savings. Why? Because we have a budget that we follow. If we bring home (hypothetically) $3,000 a month, we don't spend $4,000. We make concessions anywhere necessary to keep our spending below our income. It's not that hard.
All the excuses in the world won't fix the issue until someone decides to actually take control of their situation and make some hard choices to fix it. You just have to make it work. Eat out less. Buy store brand food instead of name brand. Drive an older car instead of a brand new one. Cut off cable tv and read a book. Get rid of the smartphone and get a prepaid phone. Live in a smaller house. Buy cheaper clothing instead of $100 jeans and shirts. Take a second job delivering pizza. Whatever it takes, you do.
Wages in general have been stagnant for years. But somehow, we still have a savings. Why? Because we have a budget that we follow. If we bring home (hypothetically) $3,000 a month, we don't spend $4,000. We make concessions anywhere necessary to keep our spending below our income. It's not that hard.
It's not very hard if you bring in $3,000 a month, but that's about the take home pay of the median household. Half are below that.
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