Your Credit Report Can Affect an Employee Background Check

Did you know that if you have bad credit, you could possibly be turned down for a job? That’s what happened to Jack. He had been out of work for two years, due to a severe automobile accident in which he nearly lost his life. This accident and subsequent long recovery period caused him to not only lose his previous job, but also to accumulate a large stack of medical bills which he could not pay, as he had no job and therefore, no insurance. Things had begun to look much better in Jack’s life. He had applied for, and was offered, a great job with a well-known company that would pay him $20,000 more yearly than he had earned before his accident. He was on top of the world at the idea that he would once more have the job stability that he craved. He signed the paperwork agreeing to a background check, never realizing that he was also signing away his chance at the job he wanted.

Jack was heartsick when he received a letter telling him that the job offer had been withdrawn. The letter went on to say that he was considered a poor security risk because of his financial situation, and was unsuitable for the position. This just didn’t seem fair to Jack. But increasingly, employee recruiting managers of companies large and small are using credit information to help them choose the right person for a job.

The idea behind using a credit report for job criteria is simple. Employers believe that if a person is having money problems, they would be more apt to steal from a company or be bribed with cash by an outsider who wanted access to company secrets. They feel it would be too tempting for a person who needed money to work around money or any valuable that could be sold. Jobs such as a bank teller position, jewelry or electronics salesperson, or a retail cashier are all the type of employment that could be affected by a poor credit rating. Financial executives, such as people who work in accounting or with brokerage firms are also under close scrutiny.

Your credit report can come back to haunt you even if you already have a job. Any employer can legally require you to agree to a background check even if you have been working for a company for a decade. If during the course of your tenure with the company, you have been evicted from your apartment, had your car repossessed, or had any bill you owe turned over to a collection agency, don’t be surprised if you find yourself unemployed or turned down for that big promotion you were up for..

If your credit information is going to be used by a company to deny you a job or fire you from your current job by law they must first inform you of their decision and give you a copy of the report. You should also have your rights explained to you. Once whatever action the company takes against you is official, you must be told which company they obtained the information from. This is to give you a chance to dispute what is in the report.

But, what if the information in your credit report is incorrect? Suppose you have been the victim of identity theft, and have a lot of unauthorized charges that you have been working to have cleared from your records? You should have a fraud alert placed on your credit report to alert employers to the fact that this information is there through circumstances beyond your control.

It can be a struggle to get your credit report clear no matter what circumstances led to it becoming less than perfect. But, it’s worth whatever time you have to spend on the matter in order to ensure that you won’t have problems when the time comes for a promotion, or when you have begun the search for another job.
Contact: http://www.bcpro.net/