Background/Credit Check, Bankruptcy

[markjrn]

As I type this, a colleague of mine is filling out an application for a position at another facility. The background check states that it checks EVERYTHING (pretty personal!) including bankruptcy, which she declared a couple of years ago.

She was wondering if she needs to worry about not getting this job because of the bankruptcy? How much does credit play into whether or not someone lands a job? It seems like it shouldn't make any difference.

Thanks for any input. Unfortunately I don't have much help to offer her.

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

If you had to file a bankruptcy 15 years ago do you know if it will still show up on a credit check? Will it show up on a background check? What is a background check anyway? :)

My understanding is that a bankruptcy stays on your credit report for ten years by the three reporting agencies (Experian, Transunion and Equifax) before it is expunged.

Background checks can include a lot of information that I can't even BEGIN to

list, so I'm providing a link which will hopefully answer your question:

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm#2

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Twice?

Yes, twice. My late mother was chronically ill for years. When she was working and had group insurance, her coverage was inadequate and she got stuck with thousands of dollars of unpaid medical and hospital bills which forced her into bankruptcy. The same thing happened, when she had Medicare coverage and had to declare bankruptcy a second time. It was only after she and my late father were later able to buy Medigap coverage through AARP that kept them solvent until they died.

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

I've never filed bankruptcy, but my thoughts on the whole matter of an prospective employer doing a credit check is this:

GIVE ME A JOB,

AND I'LL BE ABLE TO PAY MY BILLS!

Simple enough...

You SAID it! :yeahthat:

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

Thanks for your answers everyone. CseMgr I'll check on that link! :)

I"m guessing that 10 years is right. I recently checked my credit score and it's above 800. I've had good credit for years. And it was about 5 years ago that I started getting lots of credit card offers too. Don't use them though. I am going to use my credit card to pay for school.(LVN) It will cost $2,500. Heck I could earn more than that in the summer but since I will be taking anat/phys 2 I figured on working only part time.

[smilechaser36]

It really is a vicious circle. Cant get a job to pay the bills, cant pay the bills without a job. HHMMMM! Really, there is little freedom left.

[Undecided7]

I had a chapter 7 bankruptcy in when I was in nursing school and I've never had a problem getting a job- despite having to sign all those forms giving permission to check credit, etc. Either it wasn't checked (by 4 different companies) or it didn't matter. I also had changed jobs a lot and moved around. The other thing I find interesting is I have NEVER had an employer call ANY of my references. I'm guessing most employers may go off their impression from your application and interview unless they suspect something is up. Maybe they assume that if you consent to a backround/credit check that it must not be that bad.

[buildingmyfaith57]

when they do a background check, do we or i have the right to get a copy of that back ground check? and as for the credit check i agree that none of their business.

[celeste7767]

Nothing surprises me anymore. This is not the country I grew up in. We are all victims of the Corporate-Government marriage. I took my husband who has a very serious and rare illness to Houston to see specialists; since my son lives there it was convenient for us to live with him for the 2 years we were there. Unfortunately, while we were there, our home was vandalized and burglarized to the tune of more than $90,000. State Farm dropped us. Our new insurance costs double what State Farm's was and our deductible is $1000 instead of $500. We also had to take more than $12,000 out of our limited retirement fund to finish repairs and purchase items not covered by the insurance. My health is failing and I can no longer work, thank God. We are living on $1300 a month and had to file bankruptcy. Our new homeowners insurance said they could not give us their lowest rate because of the bankruptcy. Now what does the cost of our homeowners insurance have to do with bankruptcy??? We aren't the criminals who caused the damage to our house. The guy who did still has not been sentenced but has never worked, is 52 years old and we will never see a cent of restitution from him. There is nothing that is guaranteed. No ones 401K will definitely be there when you need it. (Remember Enron??) No ones pension will definitely be there. (Remember the Teamsters??) No soldier in Iraq is guaranteed the best equipment to help him save his life and come home.( Remember the parents who have been sending flack jackets they bought at army surplus stores because their sons wrote and told them they weren't issued any? And they have been given the M16 rifles that jammed so frequently in the Viet Nam war that they quickly pulled them back then and replaced them with the M14's??) I am 57 and I could give a rat's ass because my life is winding down but no one is going to be eligible for hire after the age of around 35 or so. Anyone who lives into their 30's is going to suffer either a divorce, medical problems, a death in the family, bankruptcy or any of the hundreds of other things that befall us as human beings during a normal lifetime. Looks like everyone working in any profession anywhere will be 21-25, unmarried, childless, and in perfect health. Employers want a Utopian workforce. Good luck to them. As far as all you nurses, keep your heads down, don't talk about anything but the weather, smile at everyone unless the situation calls for a serious demeanor, agree with EVERYTHING your administration does, says, and asks of you. NEVER , NEVER, NEVER ASK WHY OR HOW COME OF ANYONE IN AUTHORITY. Never question anything done by President Bush or his administration. Remember, they have satellites that can read the printing on a quarter and they can hear conversations in your home as well as in your car. If you're going to say anything that could possibly be construed as subversive to your employer or government, only say it outside and take a boom box with you and turn the volume up to 10.

"IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT." Author unknown

[indigo girl]

I couldn't agree with you more. What is surprising to me is that more of us aren't questioning why this is happening. As I do my job search in Connecticut, each agency I apply to has different questions. One wanted a urine drug screen, so I dutifully peed in a cup, and I could understand the rationale for that. A criminal background check is pretty standard, and I can agree with that one. But, I do have to draw the line on credit checks because it truly has nothing to do with my work. To me, this is just information gathering, and what's in one computer can easily end up in another. People have different relationships to money. Some just don't believe in credit, they pay cash. The idea of any kind of debt might be abhorrent to them. And you know, considering the staggering amount of debt in this country, what's wrong with that.? In a job search, you are not applying for a credit card so if you've had a bankruptcy, for whatever reason, it's nobody's business. IF an HR rep told me that how I handled money was a sign of how I handled responsibility, I would know that I was talking to someone who knew nothing about nursing, and I would have a problem relating to that kind of thinking. I could do it, but I wouldn't want to. If they think that way, why would I want to work for someone who thinks it's OK to invade my privacy, and judges me by standards that I don't agree with. It would be a poor match. It would also signal to me, that perhaps I would be just a cog in the machine to them instead of a real person with different beliefs. I want to be treated with the same respect that I would accord to my employer. So I'm taking a stand on this privacy issue. There is too much information gathering happening everywhere much of it designed to sell you something. Everytime someone at a check out counter gives out their phone number, I am staggered with surprise. Don't they get enough telemarking calls to know better? An interesting book, "The End of Privacy" by Charles J. Sykes, the attack on personal rights--at home, at work, on-line, and in court, is highly recommended.

[princess_emef]

I think employers should consider the abilities of the person and not just their credit history. If they have a bad credit report, the person should be given the opportunity to explain. I am a victim of identity theft and my credit is messed up as a result of that. I have just enrolled in a nursing program because I was not getting a job in my previous degree. So I go through all this trouble to finish school only to know that, I will not be given a job because of my credit?? This isn't fair. I think one should be given the opportunity to explain. I am still doing all I can to clear up my credit.

[Tarsha]

I just went to the link that was posted and it says that by law companies are not allowed to use bankruptcies as a way to discriminate against hiring you.

[xpressit]

I think it's good to get a sense of the company you are applying to, and the person you will be hired by. I just got employment with a company that states on the release, that they may check credit, character, medical history, as well as criminal background. After signing, I asked the person processing it all, how long the background checks would take. She told me that they only checked criminal history, not the others. That was a relief because my bankruptcy was just finalized. The other thing is that the company was looking for someone with my background (in nursing) and the director (hiring person) seemed to be rather open and appreciative of my skills. So, it worked. I was hesitant when I saw the release. And I very much agree that big brother is looking at whatever he wants to these days. But, I was out of work, and needed to take some risk.