Credit Score and Employability

I realize some people may not agree with me here, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous & uncalled for to run a credit report on a potential employee. I understand why a criminal background check might be necessary... especially in certain fields... but what the hell does my credit score have to do with how well I will perform as an employee of your organization?

Last month I was offered a job with Company X. It was a good job & I was going to be doing something I am very good at. It paid $15 per hour & offered quarterly performance bonuses, very good insurance, profit sharing... yadda, yadda, yadda. So, I start the job & suddenly I am informed that the person who handled my sign on failed to get one important piece of paper signed... the authorization to do a credit check. Great. I sign the paper & wait. A few hours later I am informed that the information in my credit report was derogatory & therefore I could not be employed by Comapny X. I tried to explain to my situation to them, but to no avail...Company X has a strict policy that they must adhere to. They were very sorry. So was I!

So just what is my situation? How did my credit get so bad that Company X deemed me unemployable? Well, for 10 years I lived with (7 which I was married to) a man who is extremely Bipolar. He is non-compliant with his meds & instead chooses to drink massive amounts of alcohol & smoke enough pot to stay baked around the clock.

Now... before this starts to sound like I am making excuses & blaming my bad credit on everyone else let me say a little about me. Prior to getting involved with P (the ex) I was married way too young to someone else. It lasted just under 2 years. We had credit cards, a new car, all that shit. We utilized our credit a bit too liberally for our income, but we always paid our bills & kept everything current. When we divorced I was in school full-time & not working. I assumed 1/2 of our debt, as did he. I had trouble getting a decent job & keeping up with my 1/2 at first & things fell behind. By the time I ended up in a serious relationship with P & pregnant with our son, my once good credit was definately falling into the bad zone!

Over the years I worked on my credit & paid off or cut deals with all of the companies I owed. When we moved to Oregon in 2000 the majority of my old credit had been taken care of & I was able to get two new credit accounts in my name that I was using to try to rebuild my credit. I would charge things like groceries & then pay it off immediately with the cash I would have normally used to buy them. All the while I thought I was doing good & working to build my credit back up so that eventually we could buy a house, new car... whatever.

Needless to say P was never very good with money & most of his went to "recreational" pursuits. P had also managed to get himself a few credit cards & ran them up as quickly as he could. He also wrote several hot checks off of our joint bank account. We had seperate accounts, but at one point had opened a joint account for savings, which I quickly stopped putting money into when I realized I couldn't trust him with it. So, while I was re-building credit, he was destroying what little he had. And we were legally married...

So, basically, by the time our divorce was final in 2005 all of his poor financial decisions were turning up on my credit report as joint responsibility. I've pulled my report a few times & attempted to dispute a few things & attach notes to others, but as anyone who has tried to do this can tell you... once something is on there it's not easy getting it off!

So... I have bad credit. I've seen worse, but mine is still pretty bad. It's partially my fault & partially my ex-husband's fault. I understand why it would keep me from opening a new bank account, taking out a loan, or buying a house. What I do not understand is how this should have any bearing at all on what sort of employee I am. If a company wants to know if I will do a good job for them, report to work on time, not steal, go the extra mile, etc, etc, etc... just call my former employer... call my references... read the letters of recommendation given to me by former bosses. I'm good at what I do... & if my credit score can tell you anything at all it's that I need this job! I need the pay check so that I can pay the bills & prevent things from getting any worse than they already are! I'll do a good job for you... I need your money... I have bills to pay!!!

Pitches