Employer Credit Checks May Soon Be Illegal

jallman said:

No it does not. I've got a kid that works for me in my department now and he has an abyssmal credit check. But he was straight with me about it...he got credit cards in college, didn't know how to handle them, made bad choices and had to choose between his credit or his education. He's working on cleaning it all up now that he is out of school and he's a great kid. I'd trust him with just about anything. And his story is common with the way credit card companies threw cards at kids.

I can't stand idiotic people who refuse to think and analyze a situation on a human level and instead default to a number spat from a fax machine to tell them about someone's character. It's lazy, inhuman, cold and the kind of apathetic, moronic attitude that's at least 90% of what's wrong with the world today.

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Thats EXACTLY the reason that credit checks SHOULD be allowed! Because you, like most employers, have the common sense to evaluate the situation and make a determination as to your job applicants suitability to your needs. No one is suggesting that someone should have to qualify for a job with a certain minimum credit score. We are just saying that you should have a right to pick and choose your employees based upon what you need and expect out of an employee. If I have the need for an employee with a squeeky clean credit record I should be alowed to search for one. If I can live with an employee with a bad credit record, then I should be allowed to hire one of those also. The government shouldn't be telling employers who they can or cannot hire.

Okay, so what if the job has nothing to do with handling money, and you ask if you can check my credit, and I refuse because I value my privacy?

Are you going to punish me by refusing me any further consideration because I don't think my credit is your business, since it doesn't have anything to do with the duties you'd need me to perform?

TacticalEvilDan said:

Besides, if memory serves, isn't illegal for someone to run a credit check on you without your consent?

If we make it illegal to discriminate based on credit checks, employers will stop checking credit, which means there won't actually be anything to prove because there won't be any discrimination on that front.

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No one is suggestiong that employers run credit checks without employee consent. No one is suggesting that all employers should check credit reports. If an employer has the need for employees with good credit scores, then the employee would have to consent to a credit check when hired. But unless an employee has something to hide (like bad credit), it shouldn't be an issue with the employee. People with bad credit should apply for jobs at companies where credit reports don't matter. Or maybe better yet, people with bad credit should start paying their bills on time!

If you owned a bank, would you really want to hire a bank manager who couldn't manage his/her own money? If you needed to hire a bill collector, would you think that someone who doesnt pay his bills on time would be a good bill collector?

Whats a matter with companies trying to find the best employees that they can find? I really don't see an issue with that.

TacticalEvilDan said:

Okay, so what if the job has nothing to do with handling money, and you ask if you can check my credit, and I refuse because I value my privacy?

Are you going to punish me by refusing me any further consideration because I don't think my credit is your business, since it doesn't have anything to do with the duties you'd need me to perform?

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No, I wouldn't punish you at all. I just wouldn't offer you a job. I have no obligation to you, and you have no obligation to me. You would be welcome to apply somewhere else. But more than likely, if a company checks credit reports, there is a reason that they do it. It takes extra effort on their part to check someones credit, if they didn't have a good reason to do so, then they wouldn't do it.

Now lets say that you value your privacy, so you refuse to tell me your name or provide me with an address. Then I ask you if you have any skills and you say that you would prefer not to provide me with that information because you value your privacy. I ask you if you are a legal citizen and you say that you choose to opt out of answering. I ask you if you are a high school graduate and you decline to inform me. I ask you if you have ever been convicted of a violent crime and you say "maybe I have maybe I havent, it aint none of your bitness". I ask you if you are physically capable of performing the job and you say "thats for me to know and you to find out". I ask you if you mind getting dirty (because working in a print shop can be very dirty) and you say "whats it to ya". I ask you if you like working in an indoor enviroment and you respond "nunya". Should I be required to hire you?

A job applicant certainly has every right to choose to not disclose information. An employeer should have every right not to hire someone who chooses not to disclose information.

imagep said:

Now lets say that you value your privacy, so you refuse to tell me your name or provide me with an address. Then I ask you if you have any skills and you say that you would prefer not to provide me with that information because you value your privacy. I ask you if you are a legal citizen and you say that you choose to opt out of answering. I ask you if you are a high school graduate and you decline to inform me. I ask you if you have ever been convicted of a violent crime and you say "maybe I have maybe I havent, it aint none of your bitness". I ask you if you are physically capable of performing the job and you say "thats for me to know and you to find out". I ask you if you mind getting dirty (because working in a print shop can be very dirty) and you say "whats it to ya". I ask you if you like working in an indoor enviroment and you respond "nunya". Should I be required to hire you?

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That's hyperbole inflated into the retardosphere. You're talking about items that are lawfully required or which have a direct bearing on someone's qualifications.

A credit report does not have any such bearing, unless you handle a lot of money, or need a security clearance.

imagep said:

Whats a matter with companies trying to find the best employees that they can find? I really don't see an issue with that.

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I don't have an issue with that either, but there are very very few circumstances under which a credit report has any actual bearing on someone's qualifications. I don't think that such a check should be permitted otherwise.

rivrrat said:

As someone who has a ****ty credit history, I don't see how it relates to character in the slightest.

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Someone who's skilled at reading a credit report would look for reasons why debts weren't repaid. If the person shows a pattern over a number of years of borrowing money and not repaying people they've promised to repay, especially when they had the income to service their debt, then I think that says something about the person's character. On the other hand, I'm not really sure how many employers are skilled at reading a credit report.

Ahlevah said:

Someone who's skilled at reading a credit report would look for reasons why debts weren't repaid.

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In all honesty, how many employers do you think are going to look that closely?

Hoplite said:

In all honesty, how many employers do you think are going to look that closely?

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I don't have a clue. Maybe there's someone out there with an HR or credit analysis background who can forge a guess.

Hoplite said:

In all honesty, how many employers do you think are going to look that closely?

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Hiring employees is a big deal. I would expect that if they care enough to make an effort to aquire the credit report that the would care enough to look that closely.

imagep said:

Hiring employees is a big deal. I would expect that if they care enough to make an effort to aquire the credit report that the would care enough to look that closely.

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Two companies I worked for checked everyone's history - and they were just routine businesses: a hobby shop and a movie theater.
:shrug:

Oddly - both of those businesses are out of business.