When 'bad' credit stands in the way of a good job

[babylonsister]

When 'bad' credit stands in the way of a good job

Rick Brooks, a former airport screener who is now unemployed in Racine, Wis., has found that credit checks can be a major obstacle for those in debt to find a new job.


By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY


After a judge found that Rick Brooks had been wrongly fired from his airport-screener job in Milwaukee, the Transportation Security Administration agreed in 2005 to hire him back.

One catch: Brooks had to pass a background check.

Brooks sensed trouble because, he said, after losing his job at General Mitchell International Airport in 2003, financial problems led to missing child-support payments.

The TSA found that Brooks owed $7,700 in child support and would not hire him.

"It's ridiculous," said Brooks, 45, who has not worked since losing a temporary driving job with UPS on Jan 1. "In today's economy, people are losing their jobs, so naturally they won't have income. Should you be further punished by not getting a job?"

The case offers a rare glimpse into the credit requirements some employers set and their potential effect, particularly on people struggling financially.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-12-creditcheckinside_N.htm

[Hello_Kitty]

1. I honestly expect a return of debtor's prison soon.

That's where we're heading.

[onehandle]

2. I've had several potential employees turned away due to their credit over the years.

Pisses. Me. Off.

[Orrex]

3. It's a false and frankly idiotic criterion

A person's credit-worthiness has absolutely nothing to do with their fitness for employment. In fact, it could be argued that the person with shaky credit would be a better hire, because that person would be strongly motivated to retain a paying job thereby allowing the debt to be paid down and good credit restored.

It's yet another means by which the system at large fucks those lower on the income ladder.

[4lbs]

11. For some information-sensitive jobs they do indeed do a credit check.

The last job I 'applied' for, before going out on my own, they did a full financial check on me. That's because the job I was going after involved dealing with computer systems that were housing government and military data.

So, they wanted to make sure that my financial situation didn't make me a bigger target for bribery. If I was tens of thousands in debt, the logic was that I was more likely to take a bribe or sell that data to competitors or other governments.

[Orrex]

14. Okay, in those cases I guess it's not unreasonable

But I know of generic call centers that turn people down because of bad credit history. That's crap.

[4lbs]

17. True. In those instances, it's idiotic to do credit checks.

n/t

[Greyhound]

22. But the facts of history show that criteria to be completely baseless.

Credit history has no bearing whatsoever on the likelihood of an individual being "morally flexible". There are scrupulously honest people with no assets and terrible credit and completely corrupt billionaires, this rationale is totally specious.

[AyanEva]

4. .

I always run into jobs that I can't apply for because there's a credit check. I got sick less than a year out of college and lost my job. With little to no income, I just got behind on things and stuff ended up in collections. I have yet to make enough to pay down my debts. I think I owe about $5000 for different things and there's a judgement against my credit from where we got behind on our rent at my last place because I wasn't able to manage a regular job for quite some time and we only had my sister's income coming in. Just because I have poor credit, really through no fault of my own, doesn't mean I'll steal from a company/organization or something.

It's frustrating.

[TBF]

10. I've been there. Now we only carry a couple of credit cards and pay them off

monthly. Hang in there, if you can keep current now on your recent stuff your score will keep rising as old things are paid or drop off.

ETA: Also don't assume that you'll automatically be disqualified if you have a low score. Some employers go through the motions but will make exceptions. I was able to get a job when my score was low, thankfully, and immediately began paying down balances.

[Initech]

5. Simple fact: we live in a society that hates poor people.

[CrispyQ]

12. You speak the truth.

In America, poor equals "you're a loser." Even if you end up poor through no fault of your own, you're a loser.

America is a harsh place to live.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Being a deadbeat dad is a lot different than simply having a bad credit history

[4lbs]

7. Did you read the entire thing? He lost his job and had financial problems. That led to him being

behind on his child support payments.

Then, as he tries to get a new job, being behind on that child support led to him not getting the job.

Well, how the hell is he supposed to catch up on the payments if he can't get hired because he's behind in the payments?

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. When your income decreases, you can go to court and get your payments adjusted

Payments are based on the parent's income.

[TBF]

8. If you are willing to give the benefit of the doubt, employing the guy makes it

more likely that he'll make the payments. I know some seek to avoid payments and in that case maybe garnish a portion of wages? The only certainty is that he can't pay without an income.

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. If he cannot be trusted to provided for this children, he cannoat be trusted to provide security

[TBF]

19. That's insane. How is he supposed to make payments after losing his job?

Would you prefer he rob banks to make his payments?

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. You can go to court and get you payments adjusted when your income declines

[TBF]

27. That seems logical. Do they do a temporary forebearance or something?

I'd still want to see him get some sort of job so those payments could continue (so many children in poverty - and often they are in single-parent households).

[david13]

9. Child support is a dfferent issue, but,

there is also a paradox. They give the job to someone who doesn't need it. Always wrong.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. Perhaps he needs to work at a job where security is not an issue

[INdemo]

13. Well yes but the many States set support payments much higher

than it would cost to raise a child..Not including saving for college.
Its almost like a retirement plan for the custodial parent.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. Which is why you go to court to get the payments adjusted when you income declines

[Greyhound]

23. Your use of the pejorative exposes your agenda. n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

24. Yes, my agenda has little regard for those who abuse or do not take care of their children

[Greyhound]

26. With no regard to circumstance or reason. How American of you. n/t

[Greyhound]

25. This practice should be outlawed, it is anti-American. We should also make the reporting agencies

liable for inaccuracies, as it is a vindictive employer or creditor can literally destroy a person's life with no consequences other than a difficult to prove, prohibitively expensive, civil action and even then the agency is not held liable.

They themselves admit to a 3% error rate, that's ~6,000,000 people with bad information in their report. The burden should be on the reporting agency, not the people subjected to them.

[SoCalDem]

29. Unfortunately it's an outgrowth of modernity..

Once upon a time, a prospective employer had to write a letter or make a phone call to "check a reference".

People were "free" to list whatever they wanted, when it came to job applications, financial status, former salary levels, etc.

Computerization, and the web, have made these archaic factoids, useless.

For a few bucks (or sometimes nothing at all), just about anyone, can find out just about EVERYTHING, about anyone else.

A few clicks of a mouse, can find out who's had a lien placed on property, who did not pay support payments, who's divorced, how much they owe, and to whom they owe it, and for employers' insurors, probably every prescription drug, or medical treatment a prospective employee may have had.

We apparently have sacrificed privacy at the altar of the instantaneously Google-iciousness of the internet.

[Greyhound]

30. You are right, but we need not tolerate it. n/t

:kick:

[barbtries]

28. i am DAMN lucky

to have gotten my job. credit checks should not be the basis for whether to hire someone. criminal background, okay, but credit checks? a person is looking to get employed, not borrow money.

[FatDave]

31. I'm in that situation.

Had a great programming interview a month or so ago. The techies wanted to hire me badly, but the CFO wouldn't allow me to work for them because of my credit. This country is completely fucked. Bad credit? Well, forget about working or renting an apartment.