Employment credit checks

[moddestmike]

Do you think employers shouldn't be able to run criminal background checks as well? They're used for virtually the same reason - to determine if you are a responsible individual. Your credit isn't personal; it's not something you're born with, or something you use only in the privacy of your own home, it's a detail of your business relationship with the world.



I was always told student loans reflected positively on your credit; my credit history with my student loans was one of the major reasons I got financed on my car and then later my house, since it's the bulk of my credit history. However, I was able to avoid the credit card debt most grads can't seem to avoid.

They only reflect positively if you started repayment, otherwise its considered debt. Credit cards are unavoidable for many students footing their own way through school. I never took out any loans because they weren't dependable and timely for my situation. I had a full-time job and was paying for a townhouse but when I lost my job the credit card was all I had and I was late on quite a few payments. Luckily I was able to pay them off after being unemployed for 2 months, during this time I was still enrolled in school and paying the house note. I don't have anyone to blame but myself but its what I had to do to get my degree. Couldn't get financial aid and student loans just weren't a good idea when a had a extremely low interest credit card.

 

[HYBRED]

In a previous post i said that i was fine with background checks, that is totally diffrent, and no credit score is indeed very personal, thats why you have to sign a release before people can check it, I cant just google your name and find out your credit score.

I don't know about where you work, but I had to sign off on two separate documents to allow a background check :shrug:

also in a background check they wont see stuff thats not your fault.

as in if i got arrested for assualt thats on my background check. that is my fault and should be considered when trying to get a job...

but if my ex wife ran up thousands in debt that i dont know about in my name and its all on my credit report because i dont have the funds to just "clear up" my report why should that keep me from getting a job?? thats bull shit.

Your credit is your sole responsibility. There's nothing on it that isn't your "fault," that's why there are so many commercials telling you to actively monitor it. Anything on there that isn't your "fault" can be removed if you can prove it wasn't done by you or under your responsibility. Your spouse falls under your responsibility; are you telling me you were completely clueless that she was spending thousands of dollars? Money doesn't usually evaporate, it tends to turn into stuff.

And I'm tired of people claiming medical bills destroyed their credit. My bro was hospitalized for pneumonia when he was a baby, ran up a $12k bill. Took my mom 11-12 years to pay it off, but she did. Hospitals, doctors, etc will work with you on that stuff, no reason to tank your credit score for it. I can understand if you had hundreds of thousands in medical bills, say as the result of a no-insurance car accident, but usually the bills are payable. If not, I don't see an employer not hiring you for that reason.

And i highly doubt that you will have a chance to discuss with your future employer why you have those charges.

If not getting a job comes down to something on your credit score, there's a good chance you weren't good for the job anyways and they were just looking for an eliminating factor. I highly doubt that's the first thing employers look at.

you might as well let them see your medical history too while your at it

For some jobs, it is required. For physically demanding jobs, employers have every right to check for things like preexisting back problems. I had to undergo a pre-employment physical, including my medical history, and drug screen. For jobs dealing with money, why not allow them to check for a person's ability to handle their own?

They only reflect positively if you started repayment, otherwise its considered debt.

When I applied for my car loan, the loan officer told me that having the loans out reflected positively on me because, in combination with my current enrollment, it showed that I was actively bettering myself. I had him walk me through my score/history, since to that point all I'd had was a checking account, a small savings account, and those loans, and my score was still pretty good. I don't know how true that is, it's just what I was told was the main reason I was given the loan.

 

[pho_phizzat]

I don't know about where you work, but I had to sign off on two separate documents to allow a background check :shrug:



Your credit is your sole responsibility. There's nothing on it that isn't your "fault," that's why there are so many commercials telling you to actively monitor it. Anything on there that isn't your "fault" can be removed if you can prove it wasn't done by you or under your responsibility. Your spouse falls under your responsibility; are you telling me you were completely clueless that she was spending thousands of dollars? Money doesn't usually evaporate, it tends to turn into stuff.

And I'm tired of people claiming medical bills destroyed their credit. My bro was hospitalized for pneumonia when he was a baby, ran up a $12k bill. Took my mom 11-12 years to pay it off, but she did. Hospitals, doctors, etc will work with you on that stuff, no reason to tank your credit score for it. I can understand if you had hundreds of thousands in medical bills, say as the result of a no-insurance car accident, but usually the bills are payable. If not, I don't see an employer not hiring you for that reason.



If not getting a job comes down to something on your credit score, there's a good chance you weren't good for the job anyways and they were just looking for an eliminating factor. I highly doubt that's the first thing employers look at.



For some jobs, it is required. For physically demanding jobs, employers have every right to check for things like preexisting back problems. I had to undergo a pre-employment physical, including my medical history, and drug screen. For jobs dealing with money, why not allow them to check for a person's ability to handle their own?



When I applied for my car loan, the loan officer told me that having the loans out reflected positively on me because, in combination with my current enrollment, it showed that I was actively bettering myself. I had him walk me through my score/history, since to that point all I'd had was a checking account, a small savings account, and those loans, and my score was still pretty good. I don't know how true that is, it's just what I was told was the main reason I was given the loan.

I am not going to argue with you anymore. i respect your opinion even though i dont agree that it is any of thier business how i handle my life and my finances.



you dont know what i have been through and you dont know what its been like to be in my shoes. i dont know what its been like to be in yours, there for im not going to lecture you and tell you what you should do or should have done.

Its not their business plain and simple. :beer:

 

[Saleen281sc]

I don't know about where you work, but I had to sign off on two separate documents to allow a background check :shrug:



Your credit is your sole responsibility. There's nothing on it that isn't your "fault," that's why there are so many commercials telling you to actively monitor it. Anything on there that isn't your "fault" can be removed if you can prove it wasn't done by you or under your responsibility. Your spouse falls under your responsibility; are you telling me you were completely clueless that she was spending thousands of dollars? Money doesn't usually evaporate, it tends to turn into stuff.

And I'm tired of people claiming medical bills destroyed their credit. My bro was hospitalized for pneumonia when he was a baby, ran up a $12k bill. Took my mom 11-12 years to pay it off, but she did. Hospitals, doctors, etc will work with you on that stuff, no reason to tank your credit score for it. I can understand if you had hundreds of thousands in medical bills, say as the result of a no-insurance car accident, but usually the bills are payable. If not, I don't see an employer not hiring you for that reason.







For some jobs, it is required. For physically demanding jobs, employers have every right to check for things like preexisting back problems. I had to undergo a pre-employment physical, including my medical history, and drug screen. For jobs dealing with money, why not allow them to check for a person's ability to handle their own?

I think there are some people here who need to read up on the EEOC rules and regulations.

First off an employer can ASK just about anything he/she wants to about your medical past, credit, etc. However USING that information as a basis for hiring you or not hiring you is where it gets interesting.

Since all of us here can read (I think) you're able to research this stuff for yourselves. All I will say is that as an employer (I have a large contracting business) I better have A REALLY REALLY REALLY good reason for not hiring anyone that has had a previous injury or disability, or is even prone to an injury or disability. PERIOD. And I better be able to explain why I think the applicants injury/previous injury/disability will cause me hardship to the EEOC, their lawyers, and the labor board.
It falls on the EMPLOYER, not the applicant- to prove that a disability, injury, etc will cause a hardship on the business hiring said applicant. :read: and these days..that is next to impossible.

As far as credit checks...unless you have a business or position that requires handling large sums of money..I'm not for them. Not actually sure I support them no matter what position is being hired. People have issues, money problems, personal tragedys, etc. A credit score is no indicator of who you are as a person. Too many variables there.

And the credit check/job hiring relation is already being discussed by our good old Govt as being "discriminatory". I believe you will see credit checks either outlawed, or seriously curtailed as used in hiring in the coming months.

A background check? Sure..I really don't have an issue with that. Esp. for businesses that handle money, require access to private/personal documents, etc.

 

[Never_Enough]

If I"m not handling $ for the company they have no right to run my credit. References & background check only.

 

[Gooch03]

don't know a lot about how credit scores work do ya there sport?

a LOAN is credit.

your rent may or may not get reported to the credit bureau, usually it doesn't. Your ADDRESS will but unless your rental company reports it your rent payments will not go into your credit score.

by BILLS I am assuming you mean utility bills and they also, do NOT show up on your credit report unless you were late and they went into collections and you didn't pay them off before a collection agency reported to the credit bureau.

your credit score is ALL about credit. credit cards, loans of any type, and negative reporting by collection agencies.

so if you have never had a loan, credit card, or been to collections, you will not have a score or it will be very very low. Things like RENT will give you a reference if someone wants to call your landlord but it has zero affect on your credit score

+1. If you think he's a liar pull your credit report and see for yourself! I've paid my cell phone bill since I was 17 and it isn't on my CR. Same with the rent I payed the past year and a half.

 

[RDJ]

Take it how you want it, but the assload of people I've helped over the last couple years that have gone to horrible credit to 800's ficos would probably side with me.

It's interesting that the only one we hear say thinga about how helpful you have been is YOU. I have not seen one member here post up a note of gratitude for your helping them get into the 800s. Everything you can tell people is easily had over the internet for free. what you are not telling people is that once they take the steps you tell them to it still takes TIME to get into the 800s. people with low scores don't get shit removed off their credit nearly as easily as you make it sound.

The 1 bank I tried to talk to about loans was totally worthless and nobody knew shit. When I asked questions the answer I got was, "uhh IDK we just put your information into the computer." That was a "head loan officer" too.

I call :bs: on this. maybe a junior loan officer but the "head loan officer'? :bs: :bs: :bs: they HAVE to know how things work since they have to be able to make supervisory decisons. The only exception to that might be when you play "house" with your sister and she plays the "head loan officer" at the under the table bank.

Unless they have an incorrect address for you, you should've gotten multiple notices before it went to collections. Whatever happened happened so you can only move forward, hence me messaging you. Do you want my help to get it off your report or no?

Frankly from what I have seen of your credit "advice" over the last year and the lack of seeing any evidence that you can deliver what you claim, My recommendation to him would be a pass on your offer.

In a previous post i said that i was fine with background checks, that is totally diffrent, and no credit score is indeed very personal, thats why you have to sign a release before people can check it, I cant just google your name and find out your credit score.

Actually a credit check is no different that a background check, you have to sign a release for the investigating agency to have access to the data necessary to complete a background check. WHICH, by the say, includes a credit check

also in a background check they wont see stuff thats not your fault.

Obviously you have not undergone a real background check, since this statement is 100% incorrect. They will absolutely find out stuff that "is not your fault" and they may or may not give you the opportunity to provide your side of the story

but if my ex wife ran up thousands in debt that i dont know about in my name and its all on my credit report because i dont have the funds to just "clear up" my report why should that keep me from getting a job?? thats bull shit.

this is the kind of shit you should be telling poterntial employers up front if you know they are going to run a credit report on you.

you might as well let them see your medical history too while your at it

a LOT of companies are asking questions that includes your medical history. some are refusing to hire smokers or obese people because the effect it has on their health insurance costs. a LOT of companies require you to take a piss test for drugs all part of your medical history.

 

[PureSound15]

Wow. Lot's of horrid, incorrect, information in this thread about credit.

<- Does it for a living.


Credit in itself is incredibly complicated. I have seen more than 100 people in my career that are over the age of 40 and have NO credit score (For reference, "no score" clients are typically given the same rate as C paper).

Too much other crap in here to even comment on.

 

[oilwell1415]

don't know a lot about how credit scores work do ya there sport?

a LOAN is credit.

your rent may or may not get reported to the credit bureau, usually it doesn't. Your ADDRESS will but unless your rental company reports it your rent payments will not go into your credit score.

by BILLS I am assuming you mean utility bills and they also, do NOT show up on your credit report unless you were late and they went into collections and you didn't pay them off before a collection agency reported to the credit bureau.

your credit score is ALL about credit. credit cards, loans of any type, and negative reporting by collection agencies.

so if you have never had a loan, credit card, or been to collections, you will not have a score or it will be very very low. Things like RENT will give you a reference if someone wants to call your landlord but it has zero affect on your credit score

I should have put a little more time into my post. The person I was replying to used the term credit in a way that I thought meant credit cards. When I said it wasn't about credit that is what I was talking about. Obviously a loan is credit.

You don't have to know much about credit to know that everything I listed can ruin your credit, and that was the point. Everybody you owe anything to can hurt your credit. I had zero credit until I was in my early 20's because I always saved my money for things I wanted and paid cash. When I finally decided to get a loan (for an airplane of all things) I couldn't get one because I had no credit history or any other history of financial responsibility. They asked me for proof of utility accounts or rent payments and I didn't have any at the time. That tells me that those things matter, or at least did at the time.

Since someone mentioned messed up ways your credit can be hurt, here's a good one. I used to rent movies from Blockbuster when I was in college. One day I got a call from a collection agent for a late fee that BB claimed was from years prior. This was the first I had ever heard about this late fee and I had rented tons of movies since they said the fee was charged. The collector said he was going to come and collect from me, but needed directions. I happily gave them to him, told him to expect a war when he got there, and asked how much they claimed I owed them. It was 37 cents. He decided there wasn't any sense driving 2 hours to argue over 37 cents that I wasn't going to give him anyway. The next day I went by BB and talked to the manager who still wanted the money. After much debate it was finally decided that they screwed up, but they still wanted me to be responsible for their mistake.

 

[Njc0las]

bla bla bla

Hilarious coming from you. How's your non-fico score watch subscription workin out for you? You must've forgotten about when I schooled you on that. Let me remind you..

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...490-changes-credit-scoring-2.html#post8078122

As for scores not hitting 800 overnight, yea it takes time to work your way through the disputes/letters etc but I've seen quite a few people (myself included) have 100+ point jumps based off of 1 letter writing spree. If you take care of a few things, your score will jump as soon as the creditors update your file (assuming it didn't kill your average age etc.). You wanna talk shit when I offer to help that dude but you don't even know what you're talking about. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if that dude's story is true it will be easy to get that off his credit. I even offered but he didn't respond. Seems suspicious to me.

 

[Dominator]

I'm still waiting to see what you "schooled" me on.

Well you wanted to see it, so here ya go....

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/road-side-pub-17/437809-credit-reports-scores.html

You really spouted a bunch of diarrhea out of your mouth back then too. Trying to tell me I'm wrong for telling people to go to annualcreditreport.com to get their free tri-merged reports for free each year. Only after you thought that it was freecreditreport.com!:-D Then saying that alternate scores to FICO "aren't your real scores". I think it's pretty obvious that you work or are in some way connected to Fair Isaac. I guess I would be butt-hurt too if my company's annual sales continuously declined, my competitors were taking away a lot of my market share, and they had a better off-the-shelf predictive model and custom scores.

But I think one of your best moments was when you were trying to tell people that annualcreditreport.com was not as accurate as going directly to the bureaus! "Uhh are YOU serious? Yea it will give you A report. But it's not as 100% accurate as going to the bureau and getting one from there for free." And you seemed to think that the credit bureaus give all their credit reports away for free!!!

And lastly, you still refer to the people you supposedly help and offer advice to as "retards". You are quite a classy guy!

 

[RDJ]

Hilarious coming from you. How's your non-fico score watch subscription workin out for you? You must've forgotten about when I schooled you on that. Let me remind you..

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...490-changes-credit-scoring-2.html#post8078122 .

You didn't "scool" me on jack shit. too bad this isn't in smackdown. I just refinanced two houses so I could really give a shit about your worthless advice.

I even offered but he didn't respond. Seems suspicious to me.

Maybe he realized he could do it without your advice. It's not that hard and your "offer" of help is pretty worthless in the grand scheme of things since anyone with half a brain could use the internet and not have to give the details of their private financial matter to some random internet dude.

 

[Njc0las]

You didn't "scool" me on jack shit. too bad this isn't in smackdown. I just refinanced two houses so I could really give a shit about your worthless advice.
Maybe he realized he could do it without your advice. It's not that hard and your "offer" of help is pretty worthless in the grand scheme of things since anyone with half a brain could use the internet and not have to give the details of their private financial matter to some random internet dude.

Nice spelling. Why change the subject? Nobody cares or is talking about you refinancing anything. The point was that you were positive you were right about your fake credit scores and you weren't. That's all. As for medical collections dude, obviously he didn't figure out how to fix it with the internet. HENCE his post. I'm done caring about this. Think what you want. Ignorance is bliss.

 

[WildCobra]

WOW THIS GUY KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT EVERYTHING :kaboom:

if/when I have a business I will run a credit check on every employee. I doubt it will be the final say one way or another but there are a LOT of things that a credit report will show that should be part of the decision making process.

for the most part, the biggest issue that businesses deal with is employee theft. whether it is office supplies that people think will not be missed, parts going out the back door (auto supply for ex.) or a bartender/waiter giving away free food/drinks to their freinds it is all employee theft if not done with permission.

if you are not honest enough to manage your credit, or pass a background it is not likely you will ever work in a business I control

 

[RDJ]

WOW THIS GUY KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT EVERYTHING :kaboom:

butthurt are we? butthurt because you got called on for using
03DSGSNAKES pictures without his permission? Butthurt because I posted your lame ass PM to me in the public forum? or just butthurt because you are a douchebag whose mommy finally kicked him off her tit?

 

[ON D BIT]

Do you think employers shouldn't be able to run criminal background checks as well? They're used for virtually the same reason - to determine if you are a responsible individual.

What happens if someone does not purchase anything if they do not have cash to pay for it? Would this not be an example of extreme responsibility? And yet their credit score would be 0. Should they not get this job they are applying for?

The fico score is based on debt. What happens when one does not have debt?

 

[RDJ]

. Ignorance is bliss .

you would certainly be the one to know all about this. as a matter of fact, ignorance is the ONE thing you are really really good at.

 

[mcdover]

As an employer, I have "real world" expierence with hiring and firing. Any information I can get is extremely helpful with my decision on whether to hire someone or not. I have never interviewed someone where they told me that they are habitually late, are lazy, don't work well with other, or have money problems that will affect their job performance. In other words, people are going to tell you what you want to hear in order to hopefully get a job. You have to be able to read between the lines and make an informed decision on ALL the available information at your disposal, becauase ultimately, a one bad hire has the possibility of bringing an employer to it's knees.

All that being said, I fully support credit checks on applicants, even on positions that do not handle money. I'm not saying a credit score should be only factor cosidered, but it's a valid piece of information that can help complete the "real" picture of an applicant, not just what they provide you during an interview or what they put on their resume.

All of you who think a person with bad credit has no effect in non-money handling positions are sadly mistaken. Do you think collectors just call them at home? Do you think employees just handle personal financial issues when they get off work? Have you ever had an employee served by a uniformed sheriff's deputy, in front of a customer, for a lawsuit over an unpaid credit card account? Have you ever had an employee unable to come to work because their car got repoed?

I could go on and on, but what I've come to realize is when you hire someone, it's, ultimately, a crapshoot. All you can do is gather all the information you can and make an informed decision.

 

[mcdover]

Oh, one more thing. I have a really strong suspicion that a HUGE majority of the 45 people who voted no, have dings on their credit and have never run a business or hired anyone in their life.

 

[FX4 SAPPER]

Oh, one more thing. I have a really strong suspicion that a HUGE majority of the 45 people who voted no, have dings on their credit and have never run a business or hired anyone in their life.

I have relatives that went their entire lives with good to perfect credit only to be hosed by medical bills after they lost jobs. Collections ****s your credit up as well, whats more important to your family, paying the medical bills or keeping the roof over yours and your families head and keeping them fed? sadly this is a much more common than not scenario with the blowconomy and i dont think that should be held against someone trying to get back on their feet. Now if its blatant dereliction of responsibility on credit or loans, thats another thing, but i dont see how its fair for the people like i have mentioned.