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Helen Hecker asked:




If you’re wondering “Why do employers look at your credit report?” I’m going to outline the reasons below. Of course it’s always good to maintain a good credit report and score if you possibly can. But there are times when it may affect your future employment. And you want to know this in advance so you’ll be prepared.

First of all most small businesses and small companies don’t do much in the way of background checks. A background check can include checking your credit report, credit score and history, verification of your identity and your criminal history. Some companies will only check your credit report or they may only check your criminal history.

If you apply for a job with the federal government, they will check all three of these in a background check more than likely.

Private businesses, small companies, large companies and the federal government will do a more thorough background check if you’re going to be involved in handling cash or valuables. This would include bank tellers and other bank employees, chief financial officers, controllers, anyone who works for a brokerage of any kind and financial institutions or financial-related businesses. Jewelry-related businesses will do very thorough checks because diamonds and rare gems can be easily concealed.

An employer cannot use bankruptcy as a reason not to hire you. Although they may tell you another reason, there is no way to know if it’s because of a bankruptcy unless they tell you this. But there is a federal law that says an employer cannot refuse to hire you or promote you or fire you because of a bankruptcy.

One of the main reasons an employer wants to see your credit report is they want to check your employment history and see if it matches and to verify your social security number. If you have applied for a credit card or loan there may be employment information and your future employer can double check this way.

Most employers know that your credit report and credit history are not going to be reliable factors to predict if you’re going to be stealing from them. So they will check your criminal history to see if you have bounced any checks. That is a more reliable way for them to evaluate you. They will also look for evictions, foreclosures, repossessions and collection agencies.

Your employer or future employer does need your permission to check your credit report. If they hire another company to do a background check that includes it, they have to get your written permission first.

If you’ve applied for a job and lied on your application about any recent criminal history or about your identity, experience or your education and your report and history indicates otherwise, you can count on not getting the job.

All of this is a good reason to check your report at least twice a year. That will give you time to correct any serious errors on it. These errors or bad marks may prevent you from getting a job and you may not know why.

You can get one copy of your personal, instant, online, free, annual credit report each year but a second one you may have to pay for unless you see a copy that has been ordered by someone you have given permission to when they are verifying your credit history.

If your credit problems, credit report and score and history are not very serious and fairly recent then most employers will overlook small marks on your report. Employers want good people and don’t want to eliminate you because of a late payment or two. So make sure to get your free report and check it now so you’ll know where you stand and clean up and fix your credit report soon. These are just a few of the reasons that answer the question “why do employers look at your credit report?”. There are other tips you’ll want to know before you apply for a job also.

Gloria