Should Employers Do Credit Checks On Applicants?
It seems that more and more companies are checking the credit of potential candidates as part of their background check process.
I didn’t have a lot of luck finding good information about this but if I had to guess, I’d say that this would be much more important in jobs that require money management. I can see why a company who is recruiting somebody to manage their finances would want to look at how the candidate manages personal finances as a predictor of how good a job they’d do. But, on some level this credit checking business irks me.
I can honestly say that I handle my work business in a much different way than I do my personal business. I don’t manage money at work and if I had to guess why the credit checking irks me I’d say it’s because I’m not so good at money management. I don’t have terrible credit but I sure wouldn’t want my ability to get a job to hinge on it.
Don’t worry, they can’t legally check your credit without your consent so if you are interviewing with a company who has this practice, they’ll ask you to sign a release.
Regardless of where you stand on this issue, it’s yet another reason we all need to keep a close watch on our credit reports to make sure everything there is accurate. It sure would be rotten to get passed over for a job because of something inaccurate on your credit report.
If you’ve had experience with credit checks during the hiring process, we’d love to hear about your experience.
Tags: background checks, credit checks, interview-chatter, job interviewsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Ethical Dilemmas
1 opinion for Should Employers Do Credit Checks On Applicants?
Brad Shorr
Aug 8, 2008 at 11:16 am
When I was in the corporate world, I routinely did credit checks on applicants. While it may seem intrusive to some, I think it is a good practice for employers. Stability and reliability are important attributes in any employer-employee relationship. If we found that an applicant had sketchy credit, we wouldn’t necessarily eliminate him or her, but we would address the issue up front, which is a lot better than addressing it later, for all concerned.
In the same vein, candidates ought to check the credit of companies they are applying to. You probably don’t want to commit yourself to a company that is being sued, has enormous debt, is extremely slow pay, etc.
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