Background Check and Credit check???

flygirl43 · Oct 25, 2008

I'm shocked and disgusted. Credit info has nothing to do with your work capability. What an invasion of privacy. It should be illegal! (Maybe they'll pay us more.....yeah, right!)

Kevin RN08 · Oct 25, 2008

True, your credit info has little to do with your capability. However, it may tell an employer several things including that haven't been mentioned: 1- are you trustworthy, 2- do you have a long history of financial difficulty, 3- are you a "job hopper", 4- are you who you say you are.

For 95% of us these are non-issues, but for the 5% the credit report may identify persons that are dishonest, in severe financial trouble which makes them a risk to steal or commit other illegal acts for financial gain.

You do not have to allow the background or credit checks, simply refuse to sign the authorizations.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Oct 25, 2008

I was told once that every time someone's credit gets checked, it causes the score to go down. Is that true?

RhodyGirl, RN · Oct 25, 2008

I was told once that every time someone's credit gets checked, it causes the score to go down. Is that true?

This is true to a certain extent. If you are applying for credit (ie:credit card, loan, etc) this is considered an inquiry that would drop your score a few points. If you are pulling your personal credit report, or an employer is pulling your report....it won't affect you.

Basically, it only hurts you when you are applying for new types of credit and loans....especially if you are applying for many different credit lines within a short period of time.

LeavingTeaching4RN · Oct 25, 2008

I check mine once a year and I've never had my employment history on it. Strange that it showed up on yours.
It's a catch 22 - you need a job to pay your debts but you can't get hired if you have bad credit. Thankfully, the only debt I have is school loans and medical bills and I still don't like the intrusiveness.

Your credit report only contains info that was submitted by creditors. Only one job shows on my credit report (and btw it's a fictitious job that I made up in college when I was using fin'l aid to pay my bills. Apparently fin'l aid isn't reliable income.) Nonetheless, you can review your credit reports online for free (depending on your state). Then, you can contact the three reporting agencies and have your personal info removed. All those past addresses and employees can be gone.

As far as an employer checking my credit, I only think it's necessary if I'm responsible for the companies financies. I believe it goes to show my money management skills. If I can't handle my houshold finances, perhaps I can't handle the finances of a million dollar company.

I can't see how my credit matters if I'm only doing patient care and not investing or managing funds.

Atheos · Oct 25, 2008

I can see them doing credit reports for correctional nursing.

Having large debt makes someone susceptible to doing something for money that someone with a good credit score won't do. Not saying they WILL do it but they could.

I'm some instances it is highly appropriate. Mostly it isn't.

MN BigJ · Oct 25, 2008

I think it is a perfectly fine request. How well you pay your bills shows what kind of employee you will be. If you don't care to pay your mortgage on time, maybe you won't care to show up to work on time. I'm sure places like McDonalds don't need to worry about credit scores, but we are talking about jobs where you are responsible for peoples lives and employers want to know how responsible you are.

I also don't think it should be a deciding factor on employment by itself. If everything else checks out great then it shouldn't matter what your credit report shows.

ADNStudentTX · Oct 25, 2008

I have been in mortgage business (100% commission sales) for the past 5 years; due to ups & downs in the market, in life (etc) I now have a fairly negative credit report. My experience is that only jobs that have a security aspect (handling other people's money, or jobs in finance) really require a credit check. I would just decline authorization for the credit report, but expect that any employer will require a background check. I have been applying for entry level jobs at hospitals & have not had anyone in the healthcare field ask for a credit check yet.

caliotter3 · Oct 25, 2008

More than likely I also worked at the same hh agency, a very large nationwide one, that was mentioned in other posts. When I was hired the first time, no credit check was done. At one point in time all the external employees were asked to sign a consent form and the extended background check was done. It was done again when I came back to active status after a long leave of absence. I knew that the credit check had been done because of new entries on my credit report showing that this employer was my employer and that they had done the inquiries. I have the same objection as everyone else. Unneeded invasion of privacy. Another objection that I developed was a deep aversion to the fact that my manager apparently took an interest in info from my credit report. Why, and why the subtle and not so subtle remarks, designed to make me uncomfortable? Inappropriate handling of personal sensitive info as far as I'm concerned. I had no recourse. Next time I will refuse to sign the consent and see what happens.

BradleyRN · Oct 25, 2008

I think it is a perfectly fine request. How well you pay your bills shows what kind of employee you will be. If you don't care to pay your mortgage on time, maybe you won't care to show up to work on time.

That is ludicrous. Perhaps they should check to see if you are divorced while they are at it. If you took lifelong vows and then abandoned them, maybe you will abandon your new employer or have trouble following through on commitments.

They should also check to see if you drink alcohol, because if you are into altering your mind, it could be a slippery slope to stealing Dilaudid.

Maybe they should come to your home and see how well it is kept. A sloppy home can only be indicative of a potentially sloppy worker.

I could go on and on with this terribly flawed logic, but i think you get the point. People should respect their privacy more.

The NSA was exposed recently for listening to regular civilians private phone calls. NSA employees just couldnt take the guilt of such a practice and finally blew the whistle. Employers should ask whether or not their potential employees support such a practice, because if they do, then they are obviously intellectually challenged, and would make a poor employee.

caliotter3 · Oct 25, 2008

That is ludicrous. Perhaps they should check to see if you are divorced while they are at it. If you took lifelong vows and then abandoned them, maybe you will abandon your new employer or have trouble following through on commitments.
They should also check to see if you drink alcohol, because if you are into altering your mind, it could be a slippery slope to stealing Dilaudid.
Maybe they should come to your home and see how well it is kept. A sloppy home can only be indicative of a potentially sloppy worker.
I could go on and on with this terribly flawed logic, but i think you get the point. People should respect their privacy more.
The NSA was exposed recently for listening to regular civilians private phone calls. NSA employees just couldnt take the guilt of such a practice and finally blew the whistle. Employers should ask whether or not their potential employees support such a practice, because if they do, then they are obviously intellectually challenged, and would make a poor employee.

Excellent points Bradley.:wink2:

Trigeminy, RN · Oct 26, 2008

My sentiments exactly, good points. After my divorce, I was advised by my attorney and got a second opinion from another attorney to file bancruptcy. Does this make me a bad employee after 17 years? I surely hope not.