Will Bad Credit Effect Job Opportunities?

[jaydani]

I am looking to start clinicals in Fall 2011. I will be completing the rest of my prereq's this spring. The clinical stage at my school is full-time. They discourage us from working. I have bills to pay (credit cards). If I fall behind on paying while completing clinicals, will it effect my job opportunities when it comes time to look for a job? I am really stressed out over this. Does anyone have an answer to this question?

[care365]

hmm... I just had an interview at this rehabilitation/convalescent home and got hired. They are currently in the process of doing my background check and drug check, etcs. I'm sooooo worried because I have bad credit but I dont have any criminal record. Do you guys think I will still be able to work there even if they find out that my credit is bad?? So worried!!

[diane227, LPN, RN]

It can affect your ability to get a job. More and more workplaces are checking your credit history as part of pre-employment screening and often will discount candidates that have a poor credit history.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Just so everyone knows, the federal government is now addressing the matter of credit and criminal backgroud checks as part of hiring processes.

The EEOC has brought a lawsuit against Kaplan Inc for failing to hire several persons who had "adverse" entries in their credit reports and or did not pass the company's criminal background check. The commission feels it has a strong case in that such actions have a disparate impact on minority groups, who they feel (or by research can show), are affected and or kept out of the workforce by these sorts of hiring practices.

Federal government's position is that credit reports frequently contain incomplete and or incorrect entries. Also there is the question of how long something from one's past represents who they are today. This probably has more to do with criminal records, which unlike adverse credit entries follow a person around for life.

New York, and a few other states have limits on how a criminal record can affect a person being hired, but there is not a nationwide standard, nor any particular federal law on the matter. There are however federal laws regarding the hiring of persons with certian criminal convictions in areas of healthcare, but IIRC that only applies to facilities receiving federal funds.

For the record, Kaplan strongly defends it's position/hiring practices and looks forward to fighting in court.

You can "Google" this using keywords: "disparate impact", "EEOC", "Kaplan"