Credit Problems and How they Affect Your Chances for Employment
It seems everybody lately has had some type of credit problem. Whether it is because of a predatory lender, a law suit or you have just been unable to pay your bills you may find yourself subject to judgment by a future employer.
Credit reports have long been a part of background checks, especially when a potential employee may be handling money. So, what do employers look for on your credit report? You may have seen the commercials on TV with the goofy kid singing about his terrible credit report, well it isn’t quite that simple.
Each employer must apply this criteria fairly evenly when assessing credit reports and contrary to popular belief they don’t really look at your “credit score”. There are numerous aspects that an employer may look for. Some of them may include:
1) Law Suits
2) Late Payments
3) Tax Liens
4) Amount Owed
Some of the reasons a potential employer make look at your credit are pretty obvious for instance, if you are going to be a bank teller or are working with large amounts of money. There are other reasons an employer may look at your credit thought that you may not even realize. For example, if you are working in the IT department of a company. They may want to know if you are up to your ears in debt or that you will be a reliable employee. Customer service reps may also have their credit ran, after all many times you will be handling customers credit card numbers or working out issues involving money.
If you work in Tech Support the same rules may apply and you may even have direct access to customers computers where sensitive financial information may reside.
Here are some of the things you can do to protect your credit, not only for the sake of your future employment but your future as well.
1) Try not to carry too much debt. People, especially when they are young tend to rely too much on their credit to get by. If there is something that you really want, save up for it. You will be glad you did in the long run.
2) Apply for credit. This may seem to go against number one but in order to have credit you must use it and use it responsibly. Apply for some department store cards and use them sparingly. Then apply for a Visa or MasterCard and do the same. Make sure (and this is the important part) that you pay them on time!
3) Pay your bills on time. This may seem like a no-brainer but you would be surprised how many people make late payments. When you make a late payment it gets reported to the credit bureaus.
4) Monitor your credit report. You can actually do this for free through the official www.annualcreditreport.com. This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Don’t go to any other so-called “free credit report” sites as they may take all your money and the next thing you know you will be dressed up as a pirate in a restaurant. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Haha look at me and my crazy pop culture references.
