Bad Credit --> No Job

[ysabetwordsmith]

This article reveals that employers are now screening job applicants and refusing to hire people who have a poor credit rating. Because, of course, there's no reason why unemployment or underemployment should wreck someone's credit rating; only poor character does that.

If karma is on the bounce, the people perpetrating this nightmare will shortly find themselves unemployed -- no big trick in this economy -- and on the receiving end of it.

Comments

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

This isn't new: when I submitted my very first job application, back in my teens -- my teens, mind you, before I was legally old enough to be able to owe anyone money -- I was rejected because I didn't have any debt and therefore "had no reason to come to work regularly".

[kadiera.livejournal.com]

In some industries, it has nothing to do with character, and everything to do with security. I've held jobs where decent credit was a requirement, because it was one less thing someone could use to leverage employees into doing things they shouldn't - most of those jobs required security clearances beyond just your credit score.

Even in my more mainstream day job with an auto company these days, there are a lot of rules about influences from suppliers, and worries about proprietary information.

[christinathena.livejournal.com]

I agree. Credit has nothing to do with job performance. Even if a person has bad credit because they're bad at budgeting and the like, if the job they're applying for doesn't involve things like managing finances, how does it affect their performance?

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

That's ridiculous!

[daphne-lage.livejournal.com]

When the company I worked for started doing this, my boss at the time brought it up in conversation. I asked him why the company had to do this. his reply:

"If you owe a lot of money, a person may be more likely to steal."

I just looked at him and replied, "Then what was the CEO's of Enron and Worldcom's excuse? These were millionaires who did the stealing and destroyed their companies in the process."

He told me to get out of his office. >;)

[wheezinggirl.livejournal.com]

I work for a staffing company. Some of our clients do require a credit check. In my experience, it is generally for one of two reasons.

1) for a job that involves heavy financial involvement, including access to a companies financial information.

2) for a job that involves confidential information. We have a company that runs background checks and credit checks for other companies so they need for their employees to be trustworthy and not to go around stealing other peoples credit information.

I'm not saying the practice is perfect, but a company does have to protect its information as well and besides a person just saying "yeah, I'm trustworthy and good with finances" this is one way to get something more to go on. The number of applicants that lie on resumes and in interviews is astounding.

Also, the companies that do require a credit check have certain criteria that they are looking for. They don't automatically dismiss candidates for a couple of items that have been paid late, they are looking for specific behavioral patterns.

[anamacha.livejournal.com]

paying things late a couple of times doens't result in a bad credit score. Racking up a few grand of debt because you're a stupid student who was never taught how to manage finances, then never being able to pay on those bills becasue you can't hold down a job -- THAT causes atrocious credit.

Personal experience speaking, here. Guess I'll try and find a job that's not financial or confidential, hmn?

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

This article reveals that employers are now screening job applicants and refusing to hire people who have a poor credit rating.

They've been doing this since at least 2004; I've walked out of seven or eight job interviews since then when I was asked to sign a credit report release form.

The beautiful irony is that every credit inquiry lowers your credit score. So now...

there's no reason why unemployment or underemployment should wreck someone's credit rating;

...we have the most direct relation of all-- interviewing for jobs, if you do so frequently over the course of a few months, will do exactly that.

[natasiakith]

Wallgreens has been doing this for at least six years. I complained to some government official at the state level, as it seemed more than a little discriminatory, and they blew me off..

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

They have been doing this for awhile in the financial profession. I barely made it in when I worked there. I probably wouldn't make it in, now.

Pretty soon, we are going to have two completely separate economies. It is already happening.

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem with money is that it's only useful if people have enough of it. I remember watching the Christmas special about the greedy overlord who took all of his people's money. In the winter, they made money out of ice, and they thrived; but in the summer when the ice melted, they were all poor. I thought they were stupid. They all had goods to exchange and skills to share. Why not simply use something else than money all the time?

And that's exactly what more and more people are doing: drifting away from the cash economy. If you don't have enough money to meet your needs, then you start using money only for things you can't get any other way, like electricity. For other things, you start trying to find people you can share, trade, exchange, or barter with. If you can do things that people need, you can get them to do things for you. If you have stuff like a car or a washing machine, you can share those and borrow someone else's lawn mower. Because eventually people find alternatives if they can't get things the usual way.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

I have seen this in certain communities. In fact, in certain religious communities, both Christian and other. The problem is, we all get caught up into thinking that we need all the "stuff" that we see on TV. If we can get past that... if we can get back to realizing that we can do stuff for one another and barter, and we don't really need to do all that much business with big corporations... this may become inevitable. That will make Renn. Fairre geeks the one-eyed kings in the land of the blind.

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Where I live, it's a challenge just to keep the car running and the water on. Wanting stuff from on TV is not really the problem.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, me too.