Amen

And that is the major problem with the credit scoring system. Although there is no way of checking, I am sure if one has enough money, their credit worthiness will be considered excellent, regardless of whether they pay their bills on time, or hit a personal bump in the road.

I just don't think a prospective employer being privy to so much personal information should be allowed by law, especially since past due medical bills are included in one's credit report. There needs to be some sort of privacy shield in place. Unless a prospective employee with be working directly with dollars and cents, their credit report should be irrelevant in the hiring process.

Funny thing? When I did work with money but had bad credit, I worked for an employer that didn't check my credit. However, I also know that I was up for a position with a company that did check and lost the position, even though I was not going to be dealing with money at all!

Go figure!

I've worked with people who own a home, use credit cards and make regular payments and were complete flakes when it came to their jobs. A credit score is no indication of work ethics. Anyone who thinks it is, is an idiot. I have to agree with "rivetskull", I'm sure Madoff did have a great credit score.

Ya! And I know a few of Madoff's pukes that are running around saying they are victims too. They still have good credit and their freedom, but they are as guilty as he is. The same type of elite garbage runs many of America's companies and our government. I expect nearly all personal records can be accessed by people with this power and money. They need to make sure you are not more powerful or connected to more powerful people than they are and they don't want to share their riches with anyone that isn't elite like them.

My elite family member told my blue collar step father that it was people like him that would never let people like my step father get ahead. It's the people like Leona Helmsley who stated, "Only the "little people" pay taxes", that use our information against us to gain unfair advantage. The only reason that scum got put in jail is because she let the "cat" out of the bag. Her elite co-conspirators didn't like that she let out one of their secrets to the "little people".

I think prospective employees should be given the credit scores, the integrity ratings, the overall honesty, the personnel policies, the pay scales of the company executives and more of the companies at which they are applying for work. These records should be public knowledge for all companies so the employees can select their most favorable positions. It is a two way street!!!

At my last job, I wouldn't have taken it. They are a bunch of scumbags. I worked for an insurance company. They took bonuses because WE did all the hard work for them and they didn't do a thing. WE worked hard to keep the customers happy but THEY take the credit.

Credit score? I can see a point. If you are in a position that you could be easily bribed, like working for the Government..... Oh, wait, that would be a Senator, President.. scratch that.

Exactly! It's what they cal a Catch-22!

The worst part is that a prospective employer does not have to tell you that the reason they decide not to hire you is because of your credit.

This is a "Catch-22" of the worst kind. There has been talk since the last recession in 2002 of Congress outlawing this sort of thing, but nothing has come of it. As much as I like having increased consumer protections in regards to credit cards, I would much prefer to have my credit report guarded far more closely than it is right now. Especially since there are already too many people up for each position offered, my credit report should not be the deciding factor for prospective employment.

You're right...a background check does a much better job of a prediction of if someone is going to steal or not! A credit check does not do that! Just because someone has lousy credit....for whatever reason.....does not mean they're automatically going to steal from their employer if they work with money! Ridiculous thinking on the part of employers!!

Exactly -- I've not had the greatest credit my whole life, some due to medical, some due to my fault of spending more than I could pay for, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN that I would ever steal from an employer and I have been refused jobs because of my credit. Discrimination at its finest!

Also, recently I was checking on car insurance rates and they would quote me a price and then put me on hold and come back and raise the rate $20 per month. One person told me it was because where I am living is less safe than where I was living before (NOT TRUE - where I was living before had a lot of transients and drug problems, etc. and I am now in a much nicer, quieter neighborhood). Then one person let it slip that they check credit scores to determine car insurance rates.

I can understand checking your driving record and criminal history, both of which can indicate how safe a driver you may be, BUT how in the world does my credit score have anything to do with how I drive. When I told a friend, he said that a year ago his credit score was over 800 but now he's been unemployed for awhile and is facing foreclosure. We had a big laugh about the fact that his driving "has changed so much" since his credit has taken a nose dive that his insurance rates would probably double.

Companies should be doing a complete background check including references anyway regardless if they include a Credit History or not.

If I was an employer and wanted to hire someone as CFO, Controller, or a position that can accept kickbacks/bribes for work it would not be score I worry about, but what I see for who is owed to what. Are any of those accounts putting the applicant in a postition that would make you desperate enough to take money from my clients the company.

If you really were great and I wanted to hire you for something lower without as much free reign with money, then I would definately be willing to discuss options if I had them available.

Even with large sums of money, it really isn't warranted. After all, just because someone has lousy credit does not make them a thief! Someone with perfect credit can be a thief! As someone else pointed out, Madoff surely had good credit!

You know everytime I've heard of someone embzelling or stealing huge sums of money from a company or institution, they've always had "impeccable" records and been so "trustworthy". That's how they get their hands on that kind of money. Madoff wasn't the first and he won't be the last.

You both are basically right. Thing is, getting a bill passed that would prohibit all credit investigations would be next to impossible. He!!, the one Rep. Cohen drafted in July 2009 is still buried in committee right now. We do have the Madoffs and Skillings, but because they had money, they weren't looked at while they were doing whatever it was they were doing. And it goes to the points I made about irony. But in this country, people are dazzled with who has money. Most don't look past that.

BS!! No it does not! How you manage your personal finances does not show what kind of employee you're going to be! And for those out of work for months and months (through no fault of their own) and have had difficulty "balancing" their life, does NOT make them an unstable employee!!

life happens and not everyone has the same opportunities in life. The loss of a job, devastating illness, etc. can all take a toll on one's credit report. The depression/recession that we are in and its impact on one's credit report is not a viable measure of an individual's integrity, character, morality or ability to pay a bill.

Yes, well...tell that to all the people who worked for GM, or any of the major contractors within the auto industry. It becomes fairly difficult to pay for a mortgage, car, insurance once all income (and retirement) is stripped away. I know several families who have lost everything and now live in homeless shelters (with young, school age kids- horrendous to have to see). None of these families were living beyond their means (median home price of $70, 000; average Ford or Chevy family sedan priced at around $20, 000) while making their UAW wage/benefits. Every one of these people worked five days a week, a minimum of eight hours a day...so screw you tes, and how you'd judge these good people as "unbalanced", with it "reflecting on job performance", and therefore (by your implication) not deserving of a job!

LS - I agree with you.

It's amazing to me how judgmental some people are! How would you know how a persons life became "unbalanced". Maybe it was someone like you that had something to do with it.

Society (insurance co.'s, auto dealers, real estate, on & on...) has become FAR TOO reliant on a credit history & credit score. It's become the main basis to life it's self!! A person is made to feel like they must "watch behind their backs" at all times. EVERYTHING is based on credit worthiness. This is pure, unadulterated BS!!!

You could say, "credit in all forms, is one of the roots of all evil! I seriously have more important issues to be sleepless about than my friggin' credit worthiness!

Once, Japnese prime minister told George W.Bush that American workers are lazy .Which sounds still true from all posts.Blaming other people for your own ills and screw ups.So,get off internet and find a job.

I have lousy credit due to some bad decisions earlier in life. In my employment I am literally responsible for millions of dollars and personal info for thousands of people. One has nothing to do with the other. In fact I'm a slob at home, and my work area is immaculate. People are perfectly capable of "leaving home at home and work at work"

tes, you have a very narrow minded way of thinking. Do you even remember Enron? Were all of those workers lazy and lose their job because they couldn't manage $$? It was the OTHER WAY AROUND.

You telling people to go get a job when the story is about people potentially being denied a job because of their current situation is mind boggling.

Once, Japnese prime minister told George W.Bush that American workers are lazy .Which sounds still true from all posts.Blaming other people for your own ills and screw ups.So,get off internet and find a job.

That same Prime Minister also told Bush that 1/3rd of the American population couldn't read. A statement he later tried to deny despite two Japanese newspapers having had reporters present when it was uttered.

A prior Japanese Prime Ministers, namely Yasuhiro Nakasone, publicly stated that minorities and blacks were inherently less intelligent.

So, while you are entitled to your views and opinions, I take what some of those Prime Ministers say with a very large grain of salt.

Sorry Tess but I have to disagree with you,

My credit scores took a hit when my wife was fired from her job of 9 years for not being at work WHEN SHE WAS ON VACATION... Credit scores don't report any of these incidental facts - just whether or not you paid your bills on time, a very poor way to determine a person's worth if you ask me... Now figure in all the people that have had a catastrophic illness that runs up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bills not covered by insurance, people that are laid off from work because of the economy or furlowed without pay, etc... and the ability to look at a credit number to determine a prospective employees value becomes ridiculous at best...

Tes....

So what happens when YOU lose your job, send out hundreds of resumes looking for a job, run through all your savings and unemployment insurance and start falling behind in your bills, possibly lose your house because no one is apparently hiring (despite allegations they are) and your credit score goes down because you are delinquent paying bills.....

What then Tes? Are you going to continue to hold your opinion there are valid reasons for prospective employers invading your financial privacy and denying you employment based on your credit score??

Please understand the reasons WHY we have a credit report and credit score in the first place, what it was designed for and understand why employers petitioned to have access.......

If you do not understand how invasive this is and why a background check SHOULD be sufficient to discover someone like an embezzler and that a prospective employer should NEVER have access to our financial information..... there is no hope for you and eventually you too are going to be out here with the rest of us, disenfranchised, unemployed - the main difference is; you are going to be wondering why it happened to you - the rest of us already know.

Sorry Tes, but this is truth. This is what is happening and GOD help us if it is not stopped. Please read Dr. D.... he is absolutely correct in his dissertation. If you have no debt, your score is abysmal.

Tes, I hope your mind is open enough for this.

I have an abysmal credit score. I pay cash for everything. If anything, I should be one of the first considered for a job I am otherwise qualified for. By your logic, I shouldn't be considered.

Start your own business. Ooops. Then the bank won't lend you money to start one.

tes = troll.

So I guess if you have a valid argument, in order to maintain a balanced life and keep my credit history in perfect shape, I should have just refused treatment for my sick child and let him die. Instead I paid for specialists out of my network, paid for his non-standard medications (just one of them cost 400 a month), and now he is doing fine, but now I can't get a job to feed him because my credit is ruined. Your argument is quite ignorant. Did many of the people that were laid off in the past year lose their job because it was their fault, and now that there are no jobs, they are losing income every day, can't pay their bills, and now can't get another job, because they have been late on their bills. You are a silly person that hasn't experienced life. Go do some yoga and get your balance. Life usually has it's way of making people grow up....

efw-1648739

When you go to open bank account,get car insurance,medical insurance,mortgage,life insurance etc they want your credit history.

All these entities to whom you are paying money.

Your employer will be giving you money for your knowledge and hard work,so

you can buy above mentioned services!!!

Why do you have a problem when an employer ask you for credit check???

Tes, Are you even reading these comments? Do you have a job? Have you been out looking for a job recently? People with Engineering degrees are applying for seasonal, hourly work with park districts and such!! Unemployment, through no fault of their own, has caused MILLIONS of people to be late on their obligations. And by your reasoning, a lower score is their fault, and it justifies a potential employer from NOT hiring them, thereby exasperating the situation!

Your last sentence;"Your employer will give you $ for knowledge and hard work so you can buy mentioned services." fails to see the broader point; If that employer determines I am unworthy for employment based on my poor credit score, HOW DOES IT REFLECT ON MY KNOWLEDGE OR ABILITY TO WORK HARD??!

There are multitudes of variables that make up a credit score,(I use to be a mortgage broker) and of the thousands of credit reports I ordered and read, NOT A ONE told me whether or not someone was smart, loyal, dependable, strong, or whether or not they could drive a forklift!! However, I did see a LOT of medical issues ruining credit. Insurance co.'s that don't cover treatment, and demand payment immediately was a HUGE factor. Carrying a ZERO balance on a card could be a negative, as are the number of times a credit check is conducted.

So, by your logic, I apply for 10 jobs, 8 conduct a credit check as if I'm applying for more credit, and my score takes another hit of 10 - 20 basis points. And that's OK?

Stop drinking the kool-aid and open your frigging eyes!

Because, you insensitive boor, the employer is not LOANING me money--they are BUYING services from me. I should be checking the employer's credit, not the other way round.

Tom that is right. Some people have a hard time comprehending the simplicity here.

Unreal.

So what's your story "tes"? Your telling everyone else to get off the internet and get a job while your on the internet clearly not working. Is your husband supporting you, are you on welfare, do you have a job where they aren't watching you and you can spend your day on the internet (if that's the case your the perfect example of why credit checks don't indicate good work ethics).

"tes" is one of those people that posts on MSNBC.com's "Red Tape" blog whenever there is anything about credit ratings, or credit cards or the like, to tell everyone how they need to stop placing blame, and that they are inherently bad people.

My thought is that "tes" works for a credit bureau or one of the information gathering companies, and is paid to spread BS on websites, and to scare people that are already having problems.

"tes" posts under various pseudonyms at various times, and will always say the same thing, no matter how many people post their stories. However, talk is cheap. Either we all need to lobby our Congressman to provide real consumer protections and keep prospective employers away from our credit history, or people like "tes" will continue to tell us all how bad we are....while collecting a steady paycheck at our expense!

You appear to be one of the elite shrinking numbers who are untouched by the economic conditions that millions are currently suffering from! Many, many of those suffering, were not long ago, most probably employed, saving for their futures & that of their children; they still had a job, their child not gotten ill and sent medical bills sky-rocketing, and God only knows what other problems they faced, and perhaps, may have had the same opinion you seem to have. They however, were less fortunate then you and now face the realities of the failure of a nation's economy through no real fault of their own. Their jobs now gone, their credit destroyed, their homes lost, and many with children whose futures are no longer secure. You may be among the fortunate who will never see this but to put down others because they they ARE there and thinking that the credit report should be the 'god' that deems whether people receive the chance to go back to work and rebuild is total ignorance. The world was a whole lot better off and happy before the invention of that horrible creation. I have little or no credit myself, but it is because I have always paid cash, I have never had a credit card and I do not have charge accounts and has nothing to do with my ability to pay my bills since I don't have any except utilities paid monthly to begin with. That makes me not worth hiring??

Tess - you are obviously an illegal who came here and bought a 7-eleven with a US government loan. If they had done an immigration ck on you, it's obvious that you would have never received that loan in the first place.

I've met this kind before, this is a person who believes because she has a small business loan from the US government, that she is in fact an International Tycoon.

I'll bet you have a sign posted in your store window right now

"WELCUME

We Clothes Today

Plees Come Back Tamorow"

Hey Tess!

Instead of sitting around here posting on the internet and harassing people who are trying to find jobs, you should be back at YOUR OWN JOB making Slushies. Now get back to your job and mind your own store!

Tes - Reflects on job performance? For as long as I have had a job, my whole life!!! I have never once had to submit documentation of my financial status to prove my ability to do my job. Meanwhile due to outrageous medical costs I have quite a few medical bills that have piled up. How does the inability to pay for medical costs that no one controls from the set my own price doctors, have ANYTHING to do with work? Seriously only a moronic idiot would put those to together. What right does anyone have to view my credit report? Are they going to pick a bill and pay it? There are a lot of people out there who have lost their jobs, or just can't afford medical bills and other situations. That does not mean that these people are not worthy of a good job. Which in most cases takes care of the bad debt. Job=bills paid. I do think that is how it works best. I do have a problem with insurance companies checking and anyone else checking. Outside of medical bills I have nothing on my credit report. No credit cards nothing. I do not call in sick regularly on average maybe twice a year, I never use all my vacation time, I do not use company time or resources for my own personal use. But according to your post I should not have insurance at a reasonable rate, a job or anything. You nor anyone else has any kind of right to judge me much less rate my performance as an employee or anything else. Walk in the shoes of anyone in the state of Michigan alone from last year right up to now and tell me what YOUR score would be. Then stick around and we can give you a good ol Michigan a$$ kicking. Post with common sense because only an idiot would think that in times today that people would put an overpriced medical bill before feeding their families.

RE:have not had a mortgage payment, car payment or credit card balance for over 20 years

What are you a bum??

Really, other things enter into the mystery of how a credit score is determined. Example:

We bought a home (credt score check takes place), three years later wife and I get transferred. Sold the house quickly, too quickly actually, so we rented short term for a few months (credit score checked.) We moved into a temp apartment till the house was ready (credit score check) we go to settlement (credit score check). We bought some furniture with one of those zero interest for a year (we could afford to pay cash but thought... hey draw interest for a year on the money and just pay it off in a year (credit score check). Due to simply checking our scores for legitimate reasons stated above, our scores took a serious hit. WTF??? We've never missed any payments, both have good jobs, longevity in our jobs, good salaries.... yet our few credit card interest rates go up due to the credit checks. they said... too many inquiries in succession, plus a history of moving around a lot. Does that make any sense? I don't think so. Even as we aggressively pay off credit cards, the lower the balance goes, the lower they make our available credit, so our debt to available credit ratio keeps getting worse. Again, no sense to that calculation they make.
Screw them all. by year's end they will all be paid off, and the banks can take our cancelled credit cards and swipe them between their butt cheeks!!! As you might imagine... BofA was the first culprit in all this.

i totally agree! We cancelled all of our credit cards & have been living credit card free for almost 2 years! I love it! Our credit score took some hits for very similar reasons. This system is insane. boa was the first one to go!

"David-423398 What are you a bum??"

You, sir, are a M O R O N. I hope you can read that. Likely his house is paid off, his car is paid off and when/if he bought new paid outright for it, and he has lived w/o using credit cards because Dr. D has paid cash for his needs. (Using the ubiquitous "masculine" vs. she/he) Because of the fact that Dr. D has paid cash for the last 20 years instead of charging everything, there is NO credit history except for utility bills and they don't count for much. The only big "counts" in credit worthiness are mortgage, lines of credit, and auto loans. Anything else is a big goose egg.

I will reitierate - you, sir, are a moron.

Scotties Rule - I thought he was being sarcastic and not literal.

I agree!!! Another company making money from others misfortunes! Sounds just like insurance companies, if you ask me! We all know where the insurance industry has led us.

You spent 20 years in banking and had never heard of a credit score until a couple of years ago?

How does even handling huge sums of money have any direct bearing on your credit rating and your job performance? Or do you believe that the temptation would be to great to resist theft for most? If so, then you have a very low regard for the majority of your fellow people. In the late 80's I lost my job and was unemployed for several months until I decided to start my own business. The cost of starting a business and other incurred expenses meant my credit stunk being vastly overextended, yet the business I had started put me in direct control over 7 figure sums. I can assure you the temptation to even touch those funds never crossed my mind. And these days having paid off all debts years ago, all mortgages and sold my business, the lack of any open credit lines means that once again my credit score is poor due to no open loans.

You appear to suffer from the same misconceptions that many companies hiring do.

The insurance companies doing this has always rubbed me the wrong way. I always pay up front 6 months in advance for the whole policy and argue with them when they say they have to check it anyway. What am I gonna do? Stop payment on the check?

I prefer to just put the monthly amount into my ING savings and let it draw interest then make a lump sum payment twice a year.

Exactly! This has just gotten out of hand. Companies need to learn skills of good judgement when hiring and not dig into our past.

Tax liens would definitely show up for many of them and for many companies that's a no-no.

Hope you are never at the receiving end of a pink slip or a bad physical report. In a time when we should ALL BE PULLING TOGETHER it's refreshing to see how it is becoming more apparent, the line of the haves vs. the have nots.

The "haves" have food, a roof over their head, reliable transportation, healthcare, a job and now added to the list an unblemished credit report (thereby "insuring" their hireability"... HORSE DUNG!

The "havenots" simply have not.

tes, pray you never go through a divorce, or have some medical ailment, or lose your job! Because based on your reasoning, you too will become an unstable employee!! Credit checks are BS in determining if a person will be a good employee or not!!

Why you have to go through divorce? UNBALANCED LIFE????????

Medical illness?? Unhealthy living? UNBALANCED LIFE STYLE?????

Tes,

Drug test are necessary because if your under the influence of drugs you could accidently kill someone .

Criminal check is necessary because your business may deal with children and also the person could kill you.

however, Credit checks are not necessary. its an invasion of privacy and the congress should make law that blocks ALL businesses from even asking for this information and if a person volunteers this information, Employers cannot accept it and have to shred the info.

I think we all know that credit scores are often not correct, what do we want working people or worried people. What is going on, who are making the rules, how can we ever get back to more sensible ideas.

Everyone should stop responding to anything "tes" posts - he/she is either an idiot or pushing buttons to get a reaction.

Read post#7.7

tes, most of us read it and ignored it although I do admit I went back and commented.

Yet let me pose this to you, most Europeans rely far less on credit than do their American counterparts as they prefer to use Debit Cards. Under the flawed credit rating FICO system that would give them a lower score due to the lack of open credit lines. Does that mean you would consider European workers to be less capable of performing some of those jobs?

BTW tes, what's the credit score of those workers at Toyota?

Ref Tes.....

Absolutely true.

Whoever he or she is has no clue and will eventually suffer the consequences of their ignorance. Grammer construction leads me to believe they might not actually speak/read/write English as the native tongue.

Tes- U r just a HOE. I dont have a credit card to my name. and. im doing just fine My wife and i live paycheck to paycheck like so many others and they r probably doing just fine too! When i got married i went boa and tried putting her on my account, they ran a check and it wasn't perfect. So, they told me i couldn't add her. You knpw what I told them to close my account right then and there. SO, PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR @$$! I'll probably have some comments some good , some bad. But, i'm still surviving! God bless the USA!

Tess:

We know you are def NOT from this country by the mixing of singular vs plurals. You must be one of the free handout immigrants that got a free small business loan financed by the United States Government. Either that or they should have checked your green card while they were checking your credit. Now go back to your 7-Eleven and make your slushies.

You need to make a home-made sign for your store "

"WeLcome!"

"We Clothes Today" LOL

Exondaii

Good point! There are so many reason people of good character may have a poor credit score. There was a time when my credit score was in the pits, because of a bad marriage. It took a lot of hard work and self-denial, but I finally have an excellent score. If I were in the business of hiring a person with bad credit score, I would be inclined to give the person a chance to explain and then I would go from there.