Posted on 10/31/2009 5:34:00 PM PDT by hsmomx3
I have been job-hunting for some time now and applying for jobs online.
I applied for one job in particular which is an office job and received the following email in response to my application and resume:
"I have reviewed your resume and I am very interested in hiring you. Before I can setup an appointment, I would need your recent credit score. Your credit score is required because the position you applied for includes handling company cash and using a company credit card. Don't worry, if your score is low for a legitimate reason, you will have an opportunity to explain why."
Does this sound legitimate to you? I am hesitant to give information such as this.
“I am hesitant to give information such as this.”
What is it?
A lot of companies are starting to include credit ratings in their background checks.
They do so with the assumption that if someone has horrible credit, numerous defaults, and is potentially facing bankruptcy, that they may not be a stable employee.
Whether that is legal or ethical is another issue. Personally, I don’t think it should be a factor if you have bad credit but it has had no effect on your job performance in the past. But that is very difficult to ascertain, so I’m a bit divided on the issue.
It is legitimate. You don’t have to worry about that showing as a credit check, from what I understand. They are getting the score, which is separate from your credit history as it is an interpreted version of your history, coupled with other information.
There have been studies that show that the more financially risky someone is, the less reliable they are in other areas.
I frankly think these scans go way too far, and should be banned unless the person handles cash or is directly responsible for finances.
I’ve seen ones like that mentioned, I think it is a scam. My current employer asked for permission to run my credit/etc.
Yep, sounds legit to me given the position. You need to make sure the information is accurate, though.
I’d certaily get the name of the company and three business references before I gave them any more information if they’re a company you don’t readily recognize. Also check on the Better Business Bureau site and see if they’re listed for anything. Also call the Secretary of State’s office and see if have any complaints for compliance issues or scams.
I guess it depends on one’s credit score. I’d be happy to give mine if I were interviewing (it’s already saving me thousands on insurance). As to what it means...While nothing is absolute, to me a good score means that the person is less likely to be distracted at work by bill collectors, less likely to have marital strife (since money is often a key reason marriages break up), and less likely to steal from me to pay debts.
I’m all for it...in my case, but maybe not if I had a lousy score.
My best hire ever was a 50-something ex-engineer who just couldn't keep his finances straight, and had a bankruptcy. He ran circles around 30 year olds in the office on tech matters. He taught himself SQL, Database Admin and Oracle programming in 6 weeks! If I had run a stupid credit check I would have likely passed him up for some 20-something Millenial a**hole who had no loyalty, would have taken our training and taken the next job offer to come along.
You've had no personal contact at all, so you really don't know anything about who these people are. If you have one of those consumer protection guys on your local news, I'd be tempted to send off an e-mail and see what they say.
Let’s face it, the background checks that most companies run are a waste of time. They’ll catch the obvious warning signs (like a criminal record), but they have no way to gauge how good of an employee you’ll be. It’s pretty much a crap shoot.
And I agree, companies could pass up a great employee by finding someone has a bad credit rating for no other reason than a recent divorce.
Are Dumb?! /s
Don’t give your frickin’ SS# or credit score to someone or anyone for that matter.
It sounds like you haven’t even interviewed with them. Why would they want to hire you without some handshaking and face time?
Besides, if they want to know your credit score they will pay for it as part of your background check.
Don’t answer any more of their emails.
On the other hand, you might call his brother in Nigeria.
I never give my SS# out and did not in this instance. I checked them out with the BBB and they could not be found. I even did a search at the BBB using the company web address and again, nothing could be found.
If they want your information, they will pay to get it as part your background check.
No one ever asks for stuff like that without an interview.
Someone is trying to take advantage of a desperate situation, real or perceived.
What kind of job is this again?
Yep. That 55-year old programer came up with a brillian concept which nearl doubled our revenue. I gave him a huge raise. But a year later he was back to living paycheck to paycheck. Just the way he was. Dream employee but horrid with his own finances.
Telecommuting is extremely common these days, particularl for tech jobs. Half the jobs on Dice are telecommuting.
Couldn’t you have suggested he use one of your CPAs or finance guys?
If we had been allowed to ask for Obama's credit score, he would not be President right now, because he has admitted that he and Michelle were considering filing bankruptcy around the time that George Soros came into their lives.
Then, suddenly, there financial difficulties evaporated.
Assuming the above is true, it's perfectly legitimate and frankly most companies especially in financial services or a financial role require it before hiring.
It's just a fact of life these days.
For a real estate company but now I am going to toss this one out and forget about it. It has been years since I really had to do extensive job searches and this was a new one.
Yes, the company will pay if they want the info. bad enough.
Thanks to all who replied.
It may seem unfair that the purpose of the job may be to improve the very score that will prevent you from getting the job but that's the way it is.
They can perform a credit check if they need the score - though I think they need your permission. You don’t have to go out and buy it for them.
Skip it. Someone is just being lazy and trying to weed out interviews based on an arbitrary score.
Personally, I have hired people and found out later they had financial problems which many times were no fault of their own or life just happens.
But, I would never ask for this kind of stuff upfront.
Either you and your boss are going to get along together, communicate well and you do your job or you are going be at each other real quick.
In which case you will be as we say in Silicon Valley “Back on the Beach”. (ie, without work),
You are going to work with other humans for 8+ hours a day. You should ascertain whether you are going have a shitty day, every day or be able to pleasantly work with your team.
No reason to feel awful all day. You will just beat down when you get home and dread getting out of bed the next day.
You need to interview your potential employer, just as much as they need to interview you.
TEAM work, not I work.
My wife is a Human Resources consultant and handles issues like this daily. She says it’s legal for a company to ask for a credit score if the job requires handling company money. Otherwise, no.
I agree telecommuting is common, in fact our Hosted Telephony solutions make a job like yours a sinch.
Still, they need to really be concerned about how well you work together and your ability to self manage.
Skip them.
A company needs what is called a "Permissible Purpose" to run a credit check. A job application is not a permissible purpose unless you consent.
they have to get consent to run the credit report, which they may do, and then see if the applicant offered an accurate reflection of his score.
I would consider this to be in the same pattern as asking a potential employee who they plan to have care for their three children, all under age five, while they work, and how do they plan to get to work since they have no car. You simply can’t do that anymore, you have to hire them and then jump through the hoops to fire them if they don’t work out.
NO!
That smells like a scam.
Are Dumb?! /s
Don’t give your frickin’ SS# or credit score to someone or anyone for that matter.
It sounds like you haven’t even interviewed with them. Why would they want to hire you without some handshaking and face time?
Besides, if they want to know your credit score they will pay for it as part of your background check.
Don’t answer any more of their emails.
On the other hand, you might call his brother in Nigeria.
I’m with you on that!!!
It stinks to high heaven.
Scam-ola to be exact. If your are a member of NAACP, SEIU, AARP, or have the latest NAZI PARTY badge, regularly pay exhorbitant finance charges and are a healthy meal for the financial parasitesi you may get the ultimate score, (may require a bribe). If you just pay on terms, well, what good are you?
NO! It is NOT legitimate! A legitimate employer can run a credit and/or background check on you as a condition of employment, but they cannot require your social security number or date of birth prior to making you a written offer of employment (which may be conditional on various things, such as credit check, criminal background check, drug screening, etc), and they need those things to run a credit check. This sounds like a total scam aimed at getting your personal information for purposes of identity theft. You should check with local law enforcement about whether this is something you ought to report and if so to what authority (probably federal, because if it’s happening online it’s almost certainly an interstate operation).
And another clue that this is a scam: they say they’re interesting in “hiring” you, not in interviewing you. No legitimate employer is going to express an interest in “hiring” someone they haven’t even interviewed yet.
“My wife is a Human Resources consultant and handles issues like this daily. She says it’s legal for a company to ask for a credit score if the job requires handling company money. Otherwise, no.”
Bankers can actually lose a current job if their scores drop. But seriously, if you are interested in the job, tell them you decline to give that out and see if they waive it, at least until there is a job offer on the table, pending satisfaction. If they won’t, try somewhere else.
I know it sounds funny, but some places will try to see how compliant someone is by making an odd request. Some, of course, are stupid and some are dishonest and some are lazy. This isn’t necessarily malevolent. I can run a credit report on employees, but wouldn’t without their permission. Even if they were applying as CFO, they would present it in person, at the interview, but not before. Odd request, IMNSHO.
It’s becoming more and more common. Whether you comply with their request is your decision.
Had the same thing happen a couple weeks back on an interview process. Company called for a phone interview. Called back and scheduled a face-face. Then, called the day before the in-person interview and said I would have to bring along my current credit score/report.
I told them to pound sand.
Given the nature of the economy, right now, I can imagine that a lot of folks have suffered declining credit scores, for a variety of reasons. But, to base an employment decision on a snapshot of volatile data such as a credit report is simply unethical, in my view.
The notion of using the company credit card, or handling company funds is pretty lame, too. IF the company doesn’t have proper controls in place to minimize their exposure, then they deserve all the fraudulent use they enjoy.
And, of course, the company can order a credit report on their own time and money, if it’s that important to them.
Checking credit is a time-honored method of screening out flaky people, particularly individuals from legally privileged groups that are prone to screaming “discrimination!” whenever you dare to say no to them.
In housing, credit checks are ubiquitous in many markets, since you can’t really look at skills / lifestyles / background when deciding who to rent to. You might know intuitively that somebody is a troublemaker, but to keep the fair housing extortionists away you need to be using objective criteria.
Potential employers have a right to ask, but it would be a good idea to call the hiring manager directly so you know it’s not a scam.
It is likely that a reasonable employer will look for a long history of irresponsibility, or blatantly dishonest behavior (mortgage fraud, defaults on investment multiple homes), rather than recent trouble paying the bills due to the lack of income. If you had good credit for 6 out of the last 7 years, but slipped up 2 months after a layoff, the overall trend is largely favorable. If you are chronically in trouble, that is a red flag.
“There have been studies that show that the more financially risky someone is, the less reliable they are in other areas.”
Yeah there are also studies showing that looking at a womans breasts is equal to exercise for men. The credit scoring companies were most likely behind that study.
IMO its just another excuse to pry into someones personal life. If a person is unreliable it will show up in other areas of the interview process. Bad credit can have many causes, such as loss of a job.
I tried, repeatedly. He had a wife who sabotaged him at every turn. Unlike what others here say, workers with financial problems, awful spouses and bill collectors are more likely to lose themselves in work, rather than be distracted away from working. His job was his joy, his solace away from his real life hell. Sweet guy too, tore me up to see it.
I doubt that it’s legal when the employer hasn’t yet made a contingent offer of employment. The personal information needed to run a credit check is information that it’s illegal for a prospective employer to ask for prior to making a formal offer of employment. Even if it’s couched as “voluntary”, I doubt it would be legal, any more than putting a date of birth space on an application form with an “optional” label on it. It’s simply not legal to ask an applicant’s date of birth (though if the job is one that has a legally mandated minimum age, such as operating dangerous equipment, the application form or interviewer may ask if the applicant is at least that minimum age.
I believe in most states, any employer may run a credit check on someone they’ve made a job offer to. Lots of jobs don’t involve directly handling company (or clients’) money, but there’s still a big risk to employers from an employee who’s in bad financial straits (especially of long duration, suggesting habitual financial irresponsibility), and has above-average incentive to steal or sell sensitive company information about clients, etc. It’s even more worrisome if the scope of the applicant’s financial problems is such that the compensation being offered for the job clearly isn’t going to enable the employee to get their personal finances in order. If you’re 8 months behind on your $4000 a month mortgage, and applying for a full-time job that pays $30,000 a year, your financial problems are clearly going to be getting worse, not better.
I’ve had potential employers request my SSN as a means of tracking me through the interview process. Thats very poor practice as they are unlikely to control it properly.
There are also many cases of scumbags asking for this information to commit fraud. Make sure they are legit.
Where my husband works they run a credit check on you before hiring you. They don’t handle any money but they don’t like to hire people who they might have to deal with wage garnishes.
It's also illegal.
In the application package we hand prospective employees there is a form that asks for your signed permission to do a criminal and credit background check if offered a position. They don't have to sign it, but I would never hire someone who did not. Also in that form is a disclaimer that if any derogatory information is found, employment is contingent on passing both.
Your point in the second paragraph is right on target
I have interviewed literally thousands of people. I always bring up the financial aspects at some point in the interview process
I am very blunt and ask them "How much money do you need to make to be a happy productive employee, I am asking you not to pay you as little as possible, but if you need to make "X" and I am paying you "Y" and it is lower than "X" you will be a very unhappy employee pulling a second job or always looking to upgrade your job, so let's be honest about it. Can you live an "Y" because I would hate for you to waste my time and yours if you can't and leave in three months"
“He taught himself SQL, Database Admin and Oracle programming in 6 weeks!”
That employee sounds like an absolute dream. If he ever needs another job ... ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.