Your credit report may keep you from getting a job offer on clarkhoward.com

A bad credit reputation may keep you from getting a job in a tough market. The best guess is that between 40% and 50% of employers are running credit checks on "would be" employees. And we're not just talking about for jobs in the financial sector.

However, a study from Eastern Kentucky University finds that there's no correlation between credit score and job performance.

So employers are going into battle with the wrong weapon. They're listening to their human resources departments that say to run a credit score on all potential hires -- even though it's a meaningless indicator. Silly, silly, silly.

Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, The Los Angeles Times reports that 1 in 3 credit reports may contain serious errors.

Remember, you're free to see your credit reports once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com.

If you find an error, you must dispute it with the individual credit bureau and the issuer of the credit. Be sure to file both disputes at the same time.

Send all supporting evidence via certified mail and tell the credit issuer that you'll sue them for fiscal damages if the fix is not made in a timely manner.

Don't trust the bureau itself to launch an investigation into your claim of an error. Their version of an "investigation" is sending an electronic transmittal to the credit issuer and asking if the info they have is correct. Sherlock Holmes they're definitely not!

What others are saying

Pure B.S.
To CJ, Z, and others who are defending this abhorrent practice, I would love to see any of you present even the slightest evidence that credit score has any correlation at all to job performance or a person's propensity to steal from their employer. Nothing in the credit score model represents an individual's level of greed, ethics, or morality. The biggest corporate theives of our time have been men like Bernie Madoff and Ken Lay both of whom, no doubt, had stellar credit their whole lives while shamelessly stealing billions from their companies and clients. Making an employment decision based upon a person's personal credit report or score is employment discrimination pure and simple. Saying a person with poor credit is more likely to steal from their employer than someone with good credit is 100% baseless and absolutely no different than stating someone who is black is more likely to steal than someone who is white.
By Ryan77 @ 10/12/09 01:15:00 AMreport abuse
Hiring via Credit Report/Credit Score
Is there a backlash by potential employers if you, as one writer suggested, cross out the consent to credit on your application? And what happens when one's credit score drops dramatically following a year of unemployment? The 6 mos emergency fund was depleted a long time ago. Isn't the whole point of securing a job to save and pay your bills? What's really going on?
By Cynthia @ 06/30/09 06:52:07 AMreport abuse
landlord business
i own a rental house and while i have run credit reports sometimes, they only tell part of the story. as a landlord, i am really concerned about two things:

do they pay their rent reasonably on time without continual problems of bounced checks or real late payments or non-payment?
do they take reasonable care of the property and do the yardwork as required in the lease and pay their utilities so i don't get dunning letters from the utilities?

In the 10 years of the rental business, i have never missed receiving a rent payment and every tenant took decent care of the property. In fact, the tenant that had the worse credit (from seeing their credit report) was the best of the lot and rented for 6 years and took better care of the property than I did when I lived there.

go figure.
By brian @ 06/28/09 05:33:17 PMreport abuse
Why take chances?
Many comments seem to operate on the assumption that an employer's job is to hire you or a landlord's job is to rent to you. WRONG! Both of their jobs are to make money.

You might end up being a great employee or tenant despite your past credit problems. But why should they take the risk? There are plenty of other potential employees and tenants who DON'T have a record of irresponsible fiscal habits (or bad luck or whatever). As someone who knows nothing about you, why should they accept your story of how bad things happened that weren't your fault, no matter how likely it is to be a true story? In the current market, there is no need for them to take a risk on you. Sorry, but it's the truth.

As for landlords not running a credit check - you can demand they prove the check was run or they HAVE to refund your money. If you are turned down due to credit, you are entitled to a free credit report, and they have to provide you the info to get it. If they don't, threaten to go to small claims court. It's not worth their time, and they'd prefer to just refund your money.
By CJ @ 06/26/09 09:56:50 AMreport abuse
credit situations
I think that people should be very careful when using credit reports to determine how valuable a person can be to an employer. Many, many people have been impacted over the last couple of years with unemployment of 1 or both spouses and have attempted to keep up with financial obligations and failed. However, they do deserve to be able to get on their feet and rebuild financially. Be careful how you quickly judge others because life has a funny way of coming back around. Just because today is not your time doesn't mean that tomorrow you or your family wont face similar situations.
By casey @ 06/23/09 10:48:45 PMreport abuse
ID Theft Waiting to Happen
When someone applies for a job and a credit check is done, there are usually several people involved in the process. Think of all those eyes that look at you social security number, address, account numbers, balances etc. as the file is handed down from person to person. (not to mention your file just sitting in a filing cabinet where anyone can go and pull it.) With all of this information plus the information on your application such as date of birth, schools you graduated from, etc., anyone can come along and steal your identity. Then, what happens when you leave the company? What do they do with your file then? Do they keep it forever? Does it get moved off-site to a warehouse? Do they just throw it in the trash can? Just think of your file somewhere in limbo. Even years later, you could be a victim of identity theft.
By anonymous @ 06/23/09 09:01:26 PMreport abuse
Credit Freeze
Now I wonder what happens when you have good credit, but you've put a freeze on to protect yourself from crooks. Can the employer still look you up?
By Jim @ 06/23/09 07:08:17 PMreport abuse
Credit Report
1. It is wise to get copies of your credit reports.
2. We had an apartment complex take our money and claim they ran an report, and the turned us down. But they never ran a report--use took our money.
3. Some complexes are the same hidden management company. So, you apply at one complex and they turn you down, then you go to another complex but unknowingly they are the same management company and they turn you down too. But, they never run that second or third credit report, they just take your money.
3. Also, an unscrupuleous landlord, complex manager or property management company may run a illegal credit report on you just to snoop. Long after you are living at the unit, they may want to see what you have been up to: New job? Driving a new car? Living good? Anything they may be jealeous over.

Protect yourself, and a credit report and a freeze assists you in doing that.
By Cautious Cat @ 06/23/09 05:39:29 PMreport abuse
Companies geting useless information.
This just as bad as when paying with a check and Office Depot askes for your telephone number.. Why? Because their expensive security company said so..
Usefullness on a scale of 1 to 10 is 0...
By King Halikman @ 06/23/09 04:20:13 PMreport abuse
This will be fun!
Ok, so we are working on the premise that bad credit scores equal bad people. What do we do with GM, Chrysler, United, Delta, AirTran, NorthWest, the U. S. Government, etc. All of these have had or do have bad credit. I believe that instead of walking out of a potential employer's office, we should cross out the consent to check credit on applications. If an employer wants you to work to the best of your ability to make a contribution to the business they will understand you showing ambition and initiative to protect yourself. If the potential employer does not respect your decision you know to work somewhere else. It would be great if the elected officials would enact some legislation to protect us from this abuse.
By Jason @ 06/23/09 01:59:40 PMreport abuse
credit report
At least for some jobs, running a credit check on potential employees can be prudent. But I do believe that all the facts and circumstances of that credit report should be evaluated by someone who knows what they are looking at. Remember a credit report reflects about the last 7-10 years of someone's financial life. Many times old reckless financial habits are long gone, but still reflected in your report or credit score. But by the same reasoning, someone who is heads over heals in debt and barely able to keep their head above water is a real risk to any employer, either as a distraction from work, probable inevitable garnishments which will lead to the employee quiting to avoid the garnishment which places them in poverty, or the employee stealing or otherwise getting into trouble with the law to try to stay current on payments.
By brian @ 06/23/09 12:47:13 PMreport abuse
Don't Consent
If you don't want the company to run a credit check on you, just don't consent and walk out the door. They have their right and you have your right.
By z @ 06/23/09 12:25:17 PMreport abuse
Nosey Bosses
Applicants should run a credit check on their bosses. If bosses can't manage their own debt maybe they can't handle payroll either.

Actually, I think that checking on anyone's credit for stuff like this is intrusive.
By Janey @ 06/23/09 11:56:50 AMreport abuse
Credit Report
There should be a law against using a credit score for anything other than credit. People who have been turned down for job based on a credit report should sue for discrimination.
By Monglorp @ 06/23/09 11:47:50 AMreport abuse
Credit Score
A couple of years ago I paid off all my debts, I applied for a job last year and "off the record" my credit score was too low, even though there was no debts. It's unfair but thats the way it works
By Marla @ 06/22/09 10:05:10 PMreport abuse
No way it's meaningless!
If you're an employer, and you WANT to hire someone who's irresponsible with credit, be my guest! Oh sure, they're still likely to be responsible in helping you run your business! :)
By PM @ 06/22/09 05:50:49 PMreport abuse

Pure B.S.

To CJ, Z, and others who are defending this abhorrent practice, I would love to see any of you present even the slightest evidence that credit score has any correlation at all to job performance or a person's propensity to steal from their employer. Nothing in the credit score model represents an individual's level of greed, ethics, or morality. The biggest corporate theives of our time have been men like Bernie Madoff and Ken Lay both of whom, no doubt, had stellar credit their whole lives while shamelessly stealing billions from their companies and clients. Making an employment decision based upon a person's personal credit report or score is employment discrimination pure and simple. Saying a person with poor credit is more likely to steal from their employer than someone with good credit is 100% baseless and absolutely no different than stating someone who is black is more likely to steal than someone who is white.

By Ryan77 @ 10/12/09 01:15:00 AMreport abuse

Hiring via Credit Report/Credit Score

Is there a backlash by potential employers if you, as one writer suggested, cross out the consent to credit on your application? And what happens when one's credit score drops dramatically following a year of unemployment? The 6 mos emergency fund was depleted a long time ago. Isn't the whole point of securing a job to save and pay your bills? What's really going on?

By Cynthia @ 06/30/09 06:52:07 AMreport abuse

landlord business

i own a rental house and while i have run credit reports sometimes, they only tell part of the story. as a landlord, i am really concerned about two things:

do they pay their rent reasonably on time without continual problems of bounced checks or real late payments or non-payment?
do they take reasonable care of the property and do the yardwork as required in the lease and pay their utilities so i don't get dunning letters from the utilities?

In the 10 years of the rental business, i have never missed receiving a rent payment and every tenant took decent care of the property. In fact, the tenant that had the worse credit (from seeing their credit report) was the best of the lot and rented for 6 years and took better care of the property than I did when I lived there.

go figure.

By brian @ 06/28/09 05:33:17 PMreport abuse

Why take chances?

Many comments seem to operate on the assumption that an employer's job is to hire you or a landlord's job is to rent to you. WRONG! Both of their jobs are to make money.

You might end up being a great employee or tenant despite your past credit problems. But why should they take the risk? There are plenty of other potential employees and tenants who DON'T have a record of irresponsible fiscal habits (or bad luck or whatever). As someone who knows nothing about you, why should they accept your story of how bad things happened that weren't your fault, no matter how likely it is to be a true story? In the current market, there is no need for them to take a risk on you. Sorry, but it's the truth.

As for landlords not running a credit check - you can demand they prove the check was run or they HAVE to refund your money. If you are turned down due to credit, you are entitled to a free credit report, and they have to provide you the info to get it. If they don't, threaten to go to small claims court. It's not worth their time, and they'd prefer to just refund your money.

By CJ @ 06/26/09 09:56:50 AMreport abuse

credit situations

I think that people should be very careful when using credit reports to determine how valuable a person can be to an employer. Many, many people have been impacted over the last couple of years with unemployment of 1 or both spouses and have attempted to keep up with financial obligations and failed. However, they do deserve to be able to get on their feet and rebuild financially. Be careful how you quickly judge others because life has a funny way of coming back around. Just because today is not your time doesn't mean that tomorrow you or your family wont face similar situations.

By casey @ 06/23/09 10:48:45 PMreport abuse

ID Theft Waiting to Happen

When someone applies for a job and a credit check is done, there are usually several people involved in the process. Think of all those eyes that look at you social security number, address, account numbers, balances etc. as the file is handed down from person to person. (not to mention your file just sitting in a filing cabinet where anyone can go and pull it.) With all of this information plus the information on your application such as date of birth, schools you graduated from, etc., anyone can come along and steal your identity. Then, what happens when you leave the company? What do they do with your file then? Do they keep it forever? Does it get moved off-site to a warehouse? Do they just throw it in the trash can? Just think of your file somewhere in limbo. Even years later, you could be a victim of identity theft.

By anonymous @ 06/23/09 09:01:26 PMreport abuse

Credit Freeze

Now I wonder what happens when you have good credit, but you've put a freeze on to protect yourself from crooks. Can the employer still look you up?

By Jim @ 06/23/09 07:08:17 PMreport abuse

Credit Report

1. It is wise to get copies of your credit reports.
2. We had an apartment complex take our money and claim they ran an report, and the turned us down. But they never ran a report--use took our money.
3. Some complexes are the same hidden management company. So, you apply at one complex and they turn you down, then you go to another complex but unknowingly they are the same management company and they turn you down too. But, they never run that second or third credit report, they just take your money.
3. Also, an unscrupuleous landlord, complex manager or property management company may run a illegal credit report on you just to snoop. Long after you are living at the unit, they may want to see what you have been up to: New job? Driving a new car? Living good? Anything they may be jealeous over.

Protect yourself, and a credit report and a freeze assists you in doing that.

By Cautious Cat @ 06/23/09 05:39:29 PMreport abuse

Companies geting useless information.

This just as bad as when paying with a check and Office Depot askes for your telephone number.. Why? Because their expensive security company said so..
Usefullness on a scale of 1 to 10 is 0...

By King Halikman @ 06/23/09 04:20:13 PMreport abuse

This will be fun!

Ok, so we are working on the premise that bad credit scores equal bad people. What do we do with GM, Chrysler, United, Delta, AirTran, NorthWest, the U. S. Government, etc. All of these have had or do have bad credit. I believe that instead of walking out of a potential employer's office, we should cross out the consent to check credit on applications. If an employer wants you to work to the best of your ability to make a contribution to the business they will understand you showing ambition and initiative to protect yourself. If the potential employer does not respect your decision you know to work somewhere else. It would be great if the elected officials would enact some legislation to protect us from this abuse.

By Jason @ 06/23/09 01:59:40 PMreport abuse

credit report

At least for some jobs, running a credit check on potential employees can be prudent. But I do believe that all the facts and circumstances of that credit report should be evaluated by someone who knows what they are looking at. Remember a credit report reflects about the last 7-10 years of someone's financial life. Many times old reckless financial habits are long gone, but still reflected in your report or credit score. But by the same reasoning, someone who is heads over heals in debt and barely able to keep their head above water is a real risk to any employer, either as a distraction from work, probable inevitable garnishments which will lead to the employee quiting to avoid the garnishment which places them in poverty, or the employee stealing or otherwise getting into trouble with the law to try to stay current on payments.

By brian @ 06/23/09 12:47:13 PMreport abuse

Don't Consent

If you don't want the company to run a credit check on you, just don't consent and walk out the door. They have their right and you have your right.

By z @ 06/23/09 12:25:17 PMreport abuse

Nosey Bosses

Applicants should run a credit check on their bosses. If bosses can't manage their own debt maybe they can't handle payroll either.

Actually, I think that checking on anyone's credit for stuff like this is intrusive.

By Janey @ 06/23/09 11:56:50 AMreport abuse

There should be a law against using a credit score for anything other than credit. People who have been turned down for job based on a credit report should sue for discrimination.

By Monglorp @ 06/23/09 11:47:50 AMreport abuse

Credit Score

A couple of years ago I paid off all my debts, I applied for a job last year and "off the record" my credit score was too low, even though there was no debts. It's unfair but thats the way it works

By Marla @ 06/22/09 10:05:10 PMreport abuse

No way it's meaningless!

If you're an employer, and you WANT to hire someone who's irresponsible with credit, be my guest! Oh sure, they're still likely to be responsible in helping you run your business! :)

By PM @ 06/22/09 05:50:49 PMreport abuse

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Jun 22, 2009 -- Your credit report may keep you from getting a job offer

What others are saying