I am against requiring a credit check for employment. Whether or not I can (or do) pay my bills with any regularity has no bearing on whether or not I am a capable, competent worker. There is no evidence to support that those with bad credit performer poorly, nor is there any evidence that those with good credit perform better. It is simple discrimination.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. Most people who can afford to pay their bills, pay them. There are exceptions where people who can pay their bills simply choose not to, but we are not talking about them. We are talking about your average person. So, if most people who can afford to pay bills pay them, who do you think will have poor credit? The poor. In addition, most people who come from middle class or higher families have a firm understanding of finances and attend college where they get a formal education on how credit and finances work. You know who doesn’t get this? The poor.
So, by allowing employers to use credit checks in hiring situations, we are allowing them to discriminate against the poor. It unfairly biases the job market.
Eric Roseburg of TransUnion (one of the three credit reporting agencies) supported the use of credit checks in hiring decisions by stating
Retailers lose more than $30 billion a year because of employee theft, he says. Workplace violence costs employers $55 million a year in lost wages. A third of employees provide bogus information on their résumés…[credit screening] is critical to protect the safety of Connecticut residents in their homes and offices, in their cars and in all other places they travel
Excuse me? So people with bad credit are violent, lying thieves? And the credit report is not a criminal background check, it doesn’t divulge a violent or kleptomaniac history. Nor does it really verify resume information since my last employer listed on my credit report was from when I was 16.
Eric, I hope you never find yourself unemployed and uninsured when you become very ill and end up with hospital bills that equal 10x your yearly salary. Because then you might understand why some people have bad credit when they did nothing wrong. And then, God forbid!, you try to get another job but can’t because your employer does a credit check and uses those hospital bills against you. Then, maybe you have to live off your savings and are not able to pay your mortgage, thus spiraling you deeper into a pit that ends in bankruptcy. Good luck getting a decent job in the next 10 years, Eric, when employers all use credit checks and you now have a bankruptcy on your record. . .
I am all for proper employment checks. Background checks, reference checks, testing etc. In some instances, I can support a limited credit check. For a financial advisor, for instance. You can’t really give proper financial advice if you don’t follow it, can you? But even then, I demand it be limited. Specifics need not be divulged and potential employees should be given a chance to explain their credit history.
mac
5 months ago
Quite frankly, it’s none of my employer’s business what’s on my credit report!
I was gonna say what you said about credit risks not being criminals…but you already said it :-)
I also don’t think it’s any of their damn business whether or not I smoke. Weed or ciggies!
I don’t smoke weed, but still. I hate submitting to drug tests just to get a lousy job. I don’t see how a guy smoking on a Friday evening should preclude him from performing his task on Monday morning. drinking doesn’t, why weed?
I don’t drink either, but still.
Michael Lockridge
5 months ago
I heartily agree. It is simply a justified tool for weeding out applicants quickly and easily.
I recall my Father relating his experience in the Air Force. He had applied for flight school, to become an Air Force pilot. So many applicants were being sorted through that rather arbitrary rules were used to cull the applicant herd. In my Father’s case, he was rejected because he could not bite down squarely on a tongue depressor. He had an overbite in those days, and for that was rejected from flight school.
A bump in the road should be a momentary event. This use of damaged credit (which is often just a bump in the road) extends the event over a life-time. Hardly a good system at all.
Mike
the lion
5 months ago
I can understand drug tests in limited situations. For instance, if you are responsible for the safety of others, ok. Drugs can impinge on one’s ability to make sound decisions – just like alcohol. But just for any old job? None of their business. What you do on your time is your damn business. The only time an employer needs to know if you smoke cigs is for health insurance reasons and premium rates. And even then, the group policy is usually adjusted to assume at least some of the workers smoke.
Mike, I cannot believe them cut him because he had an overbite! How does that affect one’s ability to fly? I’m no pilot but…you don’t fly with your mouth…do you?
mac
5 months ago
I dunno Lion.
I’ve been known to fly off at the mouth ;-)