Simple question:

Why are perspective employers able to do credit checks? Why is it legal for them to do? If someone has bad credit because of unemployment, how can they improve that without getting employed? It doesn't make any sense to me.

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Political Buddies

Seems invasive to me, unless it's a matter directly related to the job.

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Frrrrrt!

I guess Washington State has done something about this over the past couple years:

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card- ... t-1282.php

And Hawaii is following. This is good news

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Political Buddies

I side with employers on this one. You aren't entitled to work for someone, and if they want to have the most responsible, reliable employee than they have every right to do what they can do make sure they get one.

I think responsibility should be rewarded, and irresponsibility should NOT be rewarded. When I worked at NW hospital, they did numerous checks on me. Criminal, credit, etc. The reason why I was able to get that badass job is because I am a responsible person, who pays his bills on time and doesn't commit crimes. If they didn't do those checks, the job probably would have been filled before me by someone who didn't deserve it and I wouldn't have been hired.

Honesty, responsibility, the ability to manage your finances....all of these pertain to credit checks and also to doing good at your job.


I do not believe people are entitled to a job. You want to get the job? Be better than the next guy in line and you'll get it.

How someone has handled their finances is really none of an employers' business unless the job directly has to do with finances--if someone works at a warehouse, janitorial, construction, any of that, what business is it for them to know how someone has handled their finances? Why not just open the door for businesses to know ANYTHING about their perspective employees? Why have anti-discriminatory policies? If who someone is as a person could get in the way of the job, depending on the personalities and beliefs of the other employees that work there--why shouldn't they be able to discriminate against those things? How about eating habits? "We only hire non-smokers at this job." How about other personal things? Where should we draw the line, and why?

If someone has a criminal background, that's one thing, I agree with you there, but how someone has handled their personal life? Why is that their business? Really?

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Political Buddies

Another thing:

If someone becomes unemployed for whatever reason, and they're not able to get another job in time to get their bills paid, and it carries out for a while, especially in a crappy economy, how is it right and just for them to not be able to get work because they weren't able to get a job quick enough? How is that fair? That puts them in a catch-22 situation.

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Political Buddies

That's just the thing. Employers rarely will check your credit for those types of jobs. I've worked 9 different jobs in my life. The ones that didn't involve handling money didn't require that sort of background check.



Why is it your employers business if you screw over another businesses? Hmm, I don't know....But tell me this: How is it your personal life if you don't pay back your debts? If you vandalize someone's car, they sue you, and you are ordered to pay for damages and you don't do it, they will send you to a collection agency. Why is that your personal life?

If you aren't good for paying back debts, that's shows a lack of ethics. Maybe we're under the assumption that every bank and lender has infinite money and is pure evil, and that if someone is sent to a collection agency it isn't for a good reason? I personally think its wrong to steal, whether its a legal or civil case.

If nobody paid their debts, could we even have any type of lenders? Any kind of financial institutions? I think not. It isn't your personal life if you take loans and then don't pay them back, if you declare bankruptcy at the cost of the taxpayer, or if you are ordered by the courts to pay money that you refuse to pay.




There's a thing called collecting unemployment-- and both Bush and Obama have increased it CONSIDERABLY. You have months to find another job and receive money in the mean time. My girlfriend lost her job right before Christmas. She applied all over. She starts her new job this monday.(Remember, its the worst employment market in like 70 years....and she could still find a job.) In the meantime she had unemployment to look forward to. So no, I don't buy into the fantasy excuse that healthy and responsible people can't find any kind of job for months if they are genuinely looking and therefore its okay to screw other businesses in the meantime.

I sympathize with people who struggle to find employment, or who can't find a job they enjoy. It sucks, I know it. For a short time, I was experiencing it myself. And I've seen people where I live that have had to move out of their homes and move in with friends, etc, to reduce their living costs and debts. But kudos to them for being responsible and adjusting to their situation rather than trying to sustain something they can't while racking up debt and eventually not paying rent to their landlord, or the mortgage on the house. A bad situation still doesn't give an excuse to screw other people over, and that's exactly what you are doing if you stop paying rent or your debts. You can't expect everyone else should cover all of your finances...FOREVER. Eventually people have to take just a tiny bit of responsibility for their own situation. Otherwise they screw someone else around the corner and that's just not right.

The thing is--whether someone has paid their bills on time really has no bearing on how good of a job someone will do at a job. If someone's credit is shitty and they're trying to get it back in order, they're certainly not going to want to slack off on the job.

Someone could have a perfect credit record and still be a shitty worker.

This is why this whole thing doesn't make any sense to me.

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Political Buddies

I just fundamentally disagree. I think a lot can be shown about a person in their credit report. A lot of which is closely related to how they will treat their job. I believe responsibility is a quality that matters to any job. And I'd be willing to bet big that people with multiple collections on their credit are more likely to steal from their employer than people who don't.

I fundamentally disagree with your viewpoint on this. If someone was working a minimum wage job, unemployment is not going to pay the bills. Not everyone has friends they can stay with.

How about people who ended up on the street because they lost their place, and they couldn't get work for a long time until they had a place to stay where they could get cleaned up.

I just think it's fundamentally unfair to discriminate against people with a bad credit history if the job has NOTHING to do with handling money.

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Political Buddies