Disqualifying Job Applicants based on Credit History

hoolahan, ASN, RN · Dec 20, 2002

Originally posted by Gator,SN
Personally I think that this a total BS and why should they get away with this invasion of privacy?? WHose business is it how much I spent on my living room furniture or how much student loan debt I have??? If I have credit cards to pay do I get a bigger raise this year???? WHen do I get to see their credit report?? I have thought about this many times over the last year, and personally I think that this should not be allowed to continue.
Sometimes I think that this is just another way to look down their nose at people.......If I am qualified to be a nursing assistant or an RN, and I do a good job, then that is all that matters. If I can't cut it then PA is a voluntary employment state: they can fire me, no questions asked. Maybe if I am heavily in debt, they they will give me a job and expect me to be grateful? Or maybe since my credit is good they think that I will be easy to manipulte in order to protect it?? WHO knows, but their is always an angle.

Gator

Couldn't have said it better myself!!! WTF??

Sleepyeyes · Dec 20, 2002

I agree Gator, my credit history is no one's business except mine and who i do business with.

the idea that my car insurance or my employability can be based on how much debt i have, is utter b.s.

i don't care what my credit report says; i'm not letting my family starve so i can pay that magazine subscription that i never ordered in the first place....

flowerchild · Dec 20, 2002

Credit report does not have anything to do with a persons trustworthiness, responsability, accountability, nor if someone is a great nurse or not. A credit report only reflects a persons ability to pay bills, their SO's ability to bills, and that they are luckey enough not to have any tragidy in their life that would affect the ability to pay bills. I heard recently from my mortgage broker that 65% of Americans have a C- to D ratings, which isn't very good, and that only 2-3% have an A rating. More people have F's than you would think.

KC CHICK · Dec 20, 2002

I agree that it would feel like an invasion of privacy. That it doesn't seem right for someone to check your credit rating. At least they're telling you that they are doing it. Any number of agencies and credit card companies could be checking your credit rating right now and you wouldn't even know it.

The employer is looking out for his/her best interest.....NOT YOURS. By looking at a low credit rating (regardless of reason), and not hiring that person, they may be attempting to avoid future problems with an employee that has financial or family issues that might cause that employee to call in when they are scheduled to work. I've seen people call in because they have such issues. There may also be a negative trend with employees that have that kind of credit rating.....there has to be a reason it's done.

I'm not saying this to upset anybody on this board. I'm well aware that there are bad things that happen to good people beyond their control...that's life. But, employers are looking out for number 1....themselves.

At least you didn't have to go through a polygraph test or psych consultation like my hubby did when he was applying for a job at his police department. Talk about stress!! There are way worse things you could go through to get a job other than a credit check.

Anne:D

Flo1216 · Dec 21, 2002

I have horrible credit. I messed it up when I was 19 years old and stupid . I am a different person now at 27 than I was when I was 19.Becoming an RN would allow me to make more money and perhaps PAY MY DEBT and clean up my credit. I do not think it is fair for a potential employer to punish me for a mistake that happened 8 years ago that has nothing to do with the position I am applying for.And also sometimes people fall into financial hardship and have no choice but to live off of credit cards. I was 19 and needed a place to live and had no money and no car and not much job experience(no one will hire you without experience) and I had to live off of cash advances and such. There are a lot of debts I have paid off that are still on my credit report now. Maybe I shouldn't get a job working as a credit counselor but my credit certainly shouldn't prevent me from becoming a nurse.

Flo1216 · Dec 21, 2002

KC CHICK-I would rather go through the polygraph and pysch eval then have my credit checked. In my case, it would be far less embarrasing.

bewbew · Dec 21, 2002

I am just so shocked that this invasion of privacy is allowed!!!!

Then again..........it's just Big Brother...........

I mean, with a nursing shortage, I don't believe the health care industry can worry about people not paying their bills years before....

flowerchild · Dec 21, 2002

Perhaps the credit report is a way they get you to illicit information that is illegal by federal law for them to ask. A self insured hospital and others would be greatly interested to know that the reason for the poor credit is that hubby was hospitalized and now has a chronic condition that resulted in loss of income plus massive medical bills. They wouldn't want to hire that kind of liability. Seems the hospitals and other employers always find a way around the law to get the info or what ever it is they want. There are thousands of reasons people end up with poor credit and it is none of the employers bussiness nor is it legal for them to ask you those questions. I think that pulling the credit report should be illegal too unless someone is working with large amounts of cash. Nurses rarely deal with the financial part of the biz. Why is this legal???? What a crock of you know what.

Glad2behere · Dec 21, 2002

KC Chick,

No one can check your credit without an expressed WRITTEN AND SIGNED CONSENT. Anyone that has had has a grounds for legal action. Your credit can be checked only if you sign the form, and that form does entitle them the right to pull a CB every 6 months if their is an abnormalcy, skip, default, in the note.

That is how most creditors find you. One skips out, and then applies for an apartment somewhere halfway across the nation.

The address is automatically recorded and so is the firm doing the inquiry. I never laughed so hard in my life once when a guy who owed money on a vehicle had skipped out...couldn't be found for a year! Lucky as can be, I pulled a CB on him and he was at that moment attempting to buy anew vehicle on the east coast. I called the dealership, the repo man followed him home! He never even figured out the stroke of luck i had. Right there on the CB was his address, just recorded by the dealership!

I will reiterate that a CB is the quickest, most economical way for the employer to verify you are who you say you are and not possessing several SS nos. They have an extremely big liability here to governmental agencies. I sincerely doubt that credit worthiness is the real issue, may be a small part in similarly qualified candidates, but certainly not as a protocol for employment. The stability of your residences, which is also shown on a CB, will have more influence on their decision. If you change residences often, you will also change jobs often, there are documented studies out there that support this. I say this because I know too many nurses who have crappy credit, but have much better residence history and they seem to be hired all the time.

fab4fan · Dec 21, 2002

Sure, let's add one more thing to make nursing positions harder to fill! :rolleyes:

Gator,SN · Dec 21, 2002

As I has stated in 2banurse's post, employers must guard themselves against SS fraud, and a credit bureaus will show immediately if the adress you state in the app is accurate. Lot of people out there with multiple SS nos, and a CB will instantly verify this as well. If you are Jane Doe from Idaho and say you have lived there all your life in Boise, what were you doing in Mt Pleasant Texas for the last 3 years with Bo Pike's SS no.? Makes you look a little risky doesn't?

I guess what I should have stressed is that regardless of my current address, for my employment position, I had to submit to a child abuse and a state police clearance as well as submit copies of my drivers license, SS card, and references. Two additional forms of ID were also required and the urine test for drugs. OK, well I am taking care of people so I accept that, had to do all that for nursing school as well and expect to have to prove my RN license and give some sort of ID # for that eventually, but my credit report is not going to tell them as much about me as the above mentioned forms of ID. The CBI report is just over the top.

As for signing the form to ALLOW them to pull my CBI, yes I signed, but I did not feel as though I had any other options-- if I wanted a job.....

This will continue to be the norm and other companies and hospitals will start to do this because people need jobs and this is a formality of getting one, unless people ( A LOT OF PEOPLE!!)refuse to let this practice continue.

Also I just wanted to say that my employer KNOWS exactly WHO I am....I worked there for 5 years and quit to have my son and if that is not good enough, I was BORN there!

Gator

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Dec 21, 2002

MEdicare requires that persons hired in healthcare facilities not have been convicted of any Medicare fraud---could that also possibly appear on credit report along with posting on Medicare website.