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Employer Credit Checks May Soon Be Illegal

One's credit history relates to character. Why is the Federal government going to tell employers what they can consider when they are interviewing candidates? Ridiculous.
I strongly disagree. I have terrible credit because of unpaid ER bills. I had no way to pay the bills as I had no income and no savings but I didnt qualify for any assistance.

Why do employers need access to your credit rating?
 
An employer should be able to deny you a job for any reason whatsoever.

They shouldn't be able to deny you a job based on circumstances beyond your ability to control, or circumstances which are none of their damn business.

So if you lose your job, and you fall behind on your mortgage, an employer who sees that should be able to deny you the job you are otherwise qualified for and which would help you get caught up?

That's absurd.
 
I really dont think that employers would be worried about your unpaid ER bills. That's not what they are looking for. They are looking for a consistant behavior of not honoring your credit contracts. Anyone would understand your medical bills being unpaid.
 
It's called online bill paying, through my bank. I set up the payments through my bank, they send the checks to whomever I tell them to, when I tell them to send them.
That I get.

No, it speaks to my gypsy nature. Sometimes I don't HAVE a forwarding address. :lol: Sometimes the moves are sudden and I don't have time to immediately notify all creditors. I do notify them as soon as I am able, but occasionally I miss one.

Absolutely no offense meant here. It's just an interesting discussion. Your gypsy nature is a very good reason an employer wouldn't want to hire you.

And I just think it can be a poor way of evaluating someone. Quite frankly, when I'm hiring someone... the last damn thing I'm concerned about is their ****ing credit history. I can't even imagine a reason why I would care.

Me personally? I wouldn't run a credit history on an employee unless there were some weird reason dictated by their job responsibilities. Companies do it allll the time. Homeowner Insurance/Car Insurance just to name two who do it regularly and adjust their premiums BASED on one's credit history.

As for the employer having "every right", I don't necessarily disagree. I personally believe that employers should be free to hire and fire people for ANY reason at all. But, I do think that a credit check is perfectly pointless.

I understand.
 
I really dont think that employers would be worried about your unpaid ER bills. That's not what they are looking for. They are looking for a consistant behavior of not honoring your credit contracts. Anyone would understand your medical bills being unpaid.
Except your credit rating doesnt explain itself. It says you have unpaid bills, it doesnt say why.

It's much easier to believe I tried to skip out on my bills rather than I was too broke to pay them, especially considering it was odd circumstances.
 
They shouldn't be able to deny you a job based on circumstances beyond your ability to control, or circumstances which are none of their damn business. So if you lose your job, and you fall behind on your mortgage, an employer who sees that should be able to deny you the job you are otherwise qualified for and which would help you get caught up?

That's absurd.

Sorry? What country are you from? An employer should be able to hire or NOT hire you depending on how much your throat moves when you swallow. There are discrimination laws in the country that effect who companies can hire, but, sorry, bad credit doesn't enjoy a protected status.
 
Sorry? What country are you from? An employer should be able to hire or NOT hire you depending on how much your throat moves when you swallow. There are discrimination laws in the country that effect who companies can hire, but, sorry, bad credit doesn't enjoy a protected status.

I disagree, unless the throat movement has some sort of applicibility in how well you do your job.
 
Absolutely no offense meant here. It's just an interesting discussion. Your gypsy nature is a very good reason an employer wouldn't want to hire you.
Indeed. But that's a different issue altogether separate from my credit. ;)

Me personally? I wouldn't run a credit history on an employee unless there were some weird reason dictated by their job responsibilities. Companies do it allll the time. Homeowner Insurance/Car Insurance just to name two who do it regularly and adjust their premiums BASED on one's credit history.
Absolutely. And they do it for people who will be working in positions where they are likely to be bribed. I don't agree with their reasoning necessarily, but it's why I couldn't get a higher clearance until 7 years after my bankruptcy.
 
I strongly disagree. I have terrible credit because of unpaid ER bills. I had no way to pay the bills as I had no income and no savings but I didnt qualify for any assistance. Why do employers need access to your credit rating?

Are you paying on them? Or did you walk away from them? There's a big difference. And part of that is the character I'm referring to. Once you have a payment plan in place, you can require that the collection agency file with the credit bureau that the account has been resolved. $20 a month will get it done. (Just a helpful hint about cleaning up your credit.) When you walk away, that says something about you, yes?
 
I disagree, unless the throat movement has some sort of applicibility in how well you do your job.

Someone ELSE who doesn't live in the United States. You lied on your Profile. ;-)
 
Are you paying on them? Or did you walk away from them? There's a big difference. And part of that is the character I'm referring to. Once you have a payment plan in place, you can require that the collection agency file with the credit bureau that the account has been resolved. $20 a month will get it done. (Just a helpful hint about cleaning up your credit.) When you walk away, that says something about you, yes?
you can ask the collection to file that, doesnt mean it gets done, or gets done right away...
 
Are you paying on them? Or did you walk away from them?
I told the hospital "I'm sorry, I'm broke." They said "Oh...too bad, pay up."

There's a big difference. And part of that is the character I'm referring to. Once you have a payment plan in place, you can require that the collection agency file with the credit bureau that the account has been resolved. $20 a month will get it done. (Just a helpful hint about cleaning up your credit.) When you walk away, that says something about you, yes?
$20 a month is too much when you dont have it. Feel free to check my math, but $0 a month for 12 months is....still zero.
 
I told the hospital "I'm sorry, I'm broke." They said "Oh...too bad, pay up."

$20 a month is too much when you dont have it. Feel free to check my math, but $0 a month for 12 months is....still zero.

You make MY case. "I'm sorry, I'm broke," isn't an acceptable reason to not pay one's bills. I don't have a lot of sympathy for someone posting on public forums who has zero income. If I even believed it.
 
Someone ELSE who doesn't live in the United States. You lied on your Profile. ;-)

Your response confuses me. Because I disagreed with your value statement, I am lying about my location?
 
Sorry, I don't have a lot of sympathy for someone posting on public forums who has zero income. If I even believed it.
Ok, believe it or not, poor people DO exist.

At the time I dealt with the bills, I had no income. They've been dealt with since that time, but not before my credit got skull-****ed
 
Your response confuses me. Because I disagreed with your value statement, I am lying about my location?

In the United States, employers are under no obligation to hire ANYONE. I kinda' like it that way. One can't discriminate based on age, gender, race, religion. Those make sense. Poor credit/I don't like the tie you're wearing are, fortunately, not a protected class.
 
Sorry? What country are you from?

The United States -- where employment regulations vary widely from state to state. :lol:

An employer should be able to hire or NOT hire you depending on how much your throat moves when you swallow. There are discrimination laws in the country that effect who companies can hire, but, sorry, bad credit doesn't enjoy a protected status.

If it's wrong to discriminate based on gender, skin color, sexual orientation, marital status, whether or not you have kids, and so on, why shouldn't a similar protection apply to things which are arguably none of an employer's business or beyond the control of the applicant?
 
I find it amusing: the assumption that good credit = good person, overall (honest, trustworthy and moral). . . . and bad credit = the opposite of that.

But I was not a thief, immoral, corrupt, dishonest or untrustworthy - yet my credit sucked nards for countless years. It sucked for *no* fault of my own doing . . . when I was married (when I was 17) my ex bounced checks through our account in the last month of our marriage - the account was so overdrawn the bank closed it. The only thing my credit score showed was that I was a dumbass teenager (who isn't!)

I didn't have a clue *until after* I left him and tried to open my own bank account and I'm thankful that my following employers *didn't* do a credit-check and base my employment purely on that.

It took me over 10 years to straighten all that crap out . . . honestly - the credit-rating system SUCKS and gives other people too much power over your life. . . now, they're slowly making changes - all of which I approve of - in order to actually have one's credit *reflect* their personal habits.

But is that employer-related business? NOPE.

Many many many of my employees have been *different* at work than they are *at home* - and that's how it should be. I'm sure some of the best employees I had were scoring in the 400's - didn't affect their work-ability.

If someone's unable to make proper hiring decisions without this type of info in hand - then maybe they shouldn't *be* hiring people?
 
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I find it amusing: the assumption that good credit = good person, overall (honest, trustworthy and moral). . . . and bad credit = the opposite of that.

But I'm not a thief, immoral, corrupt, dishonest or untrustworthy - yet my credit sucked nards for countless years. It sucked for *no* fault of my own doing . . . when I was married (when I was 17) my ex bounced checks through our account in the last month of our marriage - the account was so overdrawn the bank closed it.

I didn't have a clue *until after* left him and tried to open my own bank account.

I'm thankful that my employers *didn't* do a credit-check and base my employment purely on that.

It took me over 10 years to straight all that crap out . . . honestly - the credit-rating system SUCKS and gives other people too much power over your life. . . now, they're slowly making changes - all of which I approve of - in order to actually have one's credit *reflect* their personal habits.

But is that employer-related business? NOPE.

Many many many of my employees have been *different* at work than they are *at home* - and that's how it should be.

Damn skippy.

There's nothing like equating credit rating with personal responsibility or moral character for creating a viscous cycle in which poverty begets poverty.
 
I find it amusing: the assumption that good credit = good person, overall (honest, trustworthy and moral). . . . and bad credit = the opposite of that.

But I'm not a thief, immoral, corrupt, dishonest or untrustworthy - yet my credit sucked nards for countless years. It sucked for *no* fault of my own doing . . . when I was married (when I was 17) my ex bounced checks through our account in the last month of our marriage - the account was so overdrawn the bank closed it.

I didn't have a clue *until after* left him and tried to open my own bank account.

I'm thankful that my employers *didn't* do a credit-check and base my employment purely on that.

It took me over 10 years to straight all that crap out . . . honestly - the credit-rating system SUCKS and gives other people too much power over your life. . . now, they're slowly making changes - all of which I approve of - in order to actually have one's credit *reflect* their personal habits.

But is that employer-related business? NOPE.

Many many many of my employees have been *different* at work than they are *at home* - and that's how it should be.

I agree that employees are very different at work than at home. True enough. It's really a damn shame when someone's credit is effected by the actions of someone else. People getting divorced and bitter often run up credit as a way of getting even with their soon-to-be-ex. There are plenty of good reasons why responsible people have bad credit.

I rent properties as a licensed Realtor. I explain to people that we're going to run their credit as part of the decision whether or not to rent to them. I've had people give me lengthy explanations for why their credit sucks. I'm totally up for them and, if their explanations make sense, they're good as gold to me. Had one guy tell me his credit was screwed up because of a car he bought he really couldn't afford. He said, "I fixed that problem, though. I gave the car back to the bank." Hellooooo? When I pulled his credit, he had a half-dozen bad checks on it written to a gambling casino. Hmmmm......
 
In the United States, employers are under no obligation to hire ANYONE. I kinda' like it that way. One can't discriminate based on age, gender, race, religion. Those make sense. Poor credit/I don't like the tie you're wearing are, fortunately, not a protected class.

What does this have to do with where I live? :confused:
 
What does this have to do with where I live? :confused:

Sorry. Ha! I thought you'd get it. My point was that in the USA we have no such restrictions on employers. So, if you believe we do or should, "What country do you live in?"
 
Sorry. Ha! I thought you'd get it. My point was that in the USA we have no such restrictions on employers. So, if you believe we do or should, "What country do you live in?"

I know what the laws are, I was responding that way because I thought you were discussing a value, not a legality. I personally believe it should be illegal for an employer to discriminate against anything that is not job related. Appearance things may be appropriate if it is a job where appearance matters though.

I live in Georgia, which is a state of the U.S.A. and I have no plans to move.
 
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I know what the laws are, I was responding that way because I thought you were discussing a value, not a legality. I personally believe it should be illegal for an employer to discriminate against anything that is not job related. Appearance things may be appropriate if it is a job where appearance matters though.

I live in Georgia, which is a state of the U.S.A. and I have no plans to move.

Who gets to decide what's job related? The government? You? Fortunately, IMO, what you personally believe is not the law of the land.
 
Who gets to decide what's job related? The government? You? Fortunately, IMO, what you personally believe is not the law of the land.

A combination of who writes the laws and the courts input I assume.
 
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