Credit checks to obtain jobs?

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by tld221

this just happened to my mom - she works as a teller and they pulled her credit report. its not awesome, the only thing major on it is an old unpaid cell phone bill. the company she applied to told her she had to get a statement saying she was making payments before they continued to consider her for the position.

insane. i mean it makes logical sense, but this post-9/11 world we live in has gotten ridiculous.

Companies have been doing credit checks on potential employees for YEARS. Anyone who is in the position of dealing with money (directly or indirectly, budgets, merchandise, managing operations, managing people & salaries, etc. - they require a certain level of presumed responsibility. When you apply for a job, there is usually a line on the application about a credit check.

As far is it not being "fair" - companies exist to make money. They are trying to protect their bottom line. Many companies use third-party vendors to provide credit, employment, and salary checks on potential employees. Often, they provide the employer with an employability rating. That is, regardless of why your credit is poor, or why you were fired at your last job, etc., they can easily pre-weed out possible risky hires. It's like recruitment. They get hundreds of submissions, but only one person (or a few) are being hired. Screening out based on numbers is the quickest way (just like recruitment makes cuts based on GPAs.

If you have lower credit, and know that this may be an issue, talk to the hiring person about it when they mention that they will be doing a credit check (or when you read it on your application - you DO read those, right?), usually at the end of the interview.

Look into financial planning if you think that your credit may prevent you from getting hired, renting, etc. You can show that you are working to fix it, and that often means more than simply a "number".