Your Credit Report And Your Job
Did you know that your credit report is about much more than just your ability to raise finance and get loans? It’s true, your credit report may affect your employment prospects just as much as it may impact on your borrowing ability.
As employers have become ever more concerned about the honesty and financial integrity of the staff they recruit there has been an increase in the number of companies requesting credit reports on applicants.
Traditionally it was really only companies who employed people in highly sensitive fields such as the finance industry, or the defence, pharmaceutical and chemical industries that wanted a financial report on potential new hires. But increasingly employers in other sectors are turning to credit reporting agencies too. They are using the reports that they obtain to make a decision on whether job applicants are deemed to be honest and have financial integrity.
Obviously the decisions that companies make are not made simply on the basis of someone’s credit history but when it comes down to a tie breaker between two people it can have an effect. Let’s be honest if you had to choose between person A with a proven track record of honouring his or her financial commitments and person B who had a history of late payments and reneging on their agreements who would you hire?
Of course it is not just something that a potential new employer might want to check up on. An employee who is being considered for promotion can also be expected to agree to the company being allowed to request a credit report on them.
It is worth mentioning that although federal law permits employers or potential employers to ask for your credit report they can only do so once they have secured your written permission to do so. Federal law also requires that the company give you a copy of the report they obtain together with a written description of your rights if it has played any part in a negative decision on your employment application.
Naturally there are restrictions on the information that the credit bureaux will hand over to any potential or current employer. The employment reports that Experian provide, for example, do not include your date of birth or details of your spouse’s references if you have one. They also specifically exclude all account numbers to protect your financial security and to meet equal employment opportunity legislation.
Some people may be concerned that applications by companies considering hiring them may affect their chances of obtaining finance in the future but that is not the case at all. The credit reporting agencies make a clear distinction between employment checks and credit checks and future lending enquiries won’t show that a company checked you out. That also applies to other companies that you may apply for a job with.
You can now see that while having a good credit rating is important financially it may be equally important for your employment prospects as well.
Did you know that your credit report is about much more than just your ability to raise finance and get loans? It’s true, your credit report may affect your employment prospects just as much as it may impact on your borrowing ability.
As employers have become ever more concerned about the honesty and financial integrity of the staff they recruit there has been an increase in the number of companies requesting credit reports on applicants.
Traditionally it was really only companies who employed people in highly sensitive fields such as the finance industry, or the defence, pharmaceutical and chemical industries that wanted a financial report on potential new hires. But increasingly employers in other sectors are turning to credit reporting agencies too. They are using the reports that they obtain to make a decision on whether job applicants are deemed to be honest and have financial integrity.
Obviously the decisions that companies make are not made simply on the basis of someone’s credit history but when it comes down to a tie breaker between two people it can have an effect.
Let’s be honest if you had to choose between person A with a proven track record of honouring his or her financial commitments and person B who had a history of late payments and reneging on their agreements who would you hire?
Of course it is not just something that a potential new employer might want to check up on. An employee who is being considered for promotion can also be expected to agree to the company being allowed to request a credit report on them.
It is worth mentioning that although federal law permits employers or potential employers to ask for your credit report they can only do so once they have secured your written permission to do so.
Federal law also requires that the company give you a copy of the report they obtain together with a written description of your rights if it has played any part in a negative decision on your employment application.
Naturally there are restrictions on the information that the credit bureaux will hand over to any potential or current employer. The employment reports that Experian provide, for example, do not include your date of birth or details of your spouse’s references if you have one.
They also specifically exclude all account numbers to protect your financial security and to meet equal employment opportunity legislation.
Some people may be concerned that applications by companies considering hiring them may affect their chances of obtaining finance in the future but that is not the case at all.
The credit reporting agencies make a clear distinction between employment checks and credit checks and future lending enquiries won’t show that a company checked you out. That also applies to other companies that you may apply for a job with.
You can now see that while having a good credit rating is important financially it may be equally important for your employment prospects as well.
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