Background Check - Ravenna,OH

I would get a copy of my credit from each of the credit score keepers like experian, trans union and the others. While you may have racked up alot of debt in college, if you have been making regualr on time payments even the minimum, the debt should be going down and only raising the score. Are you late on any cell phone, utility, credit card, rentals, doctor bills, hospital bills, insurance payments, mortgage, even a library issue. If you have been you will need to start clearing it up by paying up every month on time and catching everything up. If this is the only determining factor is the credit report. I'd spend the time over the next few days looking at the results(you can get the results online of a credit report and print them out) make sure all the debt is yours and see where you are deficient as well as your husband and write up a plan of attack to raise the score. So if you are asked you can have a reply and a solid looking plan to fix things, so if this is the hiccup for the job offer you can return with a solid answer and plan. This will let them know that you can problem solve and have the desire to make good on everything. If this is the issue of not getting the job offer you will know what you have to work on if you can't convince them this isn't a trend for you.

I bet you get the job. Think positive!

Blessings.....

actually, I was denied a job at a bank because of my credit score.

I wouldn't worry too much. I think it would depend upon what type of job it is that you are applying for.. in many cases, bad credit or not, it won't affect the job... if your work background is good and or references, then you are probably good to go.. think positive..

my best to you and yours

We run credit checks on potential employees and I've never cared about someone's credit score. What we do look for are bankruptcies, excessive late payments (current, not much interested in the distant past), write-offs, civil judgments. Usually if someone has been very candid about their poor credit history and they are not directly handling the bank accounts, we've been known to overlook bad credit as long as the person is impressive in other areas.

On the other hand, if someone LIES about their terrible credit/bankruptcy/etc., forget it! Very recently a woman I thought was a wonderful candidate told us she had a clean credit background. When we gave her the background check form to fill out, she altered her social security number. I happened to catch it before running the check because I had all her paperwork and saw the number differed on her W4. Of course, when I ran the check on the correct SS#, it came up horrible! It's too bad, because I really wanted her for the job - but if someone is willing to fudge their social security #, who knows what other kinds of things they might lie about on the job?

I think the low credit score should not be a hindrance to you if all of your other factors are as outstanding if they seem to be. Perhaps if it was for a position as an accountant or something similar then it may pose a problem. I'm excited for you, I hope you get the job!

I run these checks at work for this purpose, and they actually don't really see your overall score, but they see a total of what is on your credit. Such as Bankruptcies, past due accounts, big debts etc.

They will look to see if you are financially struggling and could be a potential for embezzlement, but if your position doesn't involve too much opportunity for this, they won't care.

I agree with most that credit scores NORMALLY shouldn't affect the hiring process. However, every position I have been with in the past 7 years have run one, and I have never had any problem (my credit score has been anywhere from 600 to 720).

I know one of my past employers needed me to get a corporate credit card for travel purposes, so they run it before then to see if you would have any issues acquiring that.

Another reason, as many others have stated, if you are involved heavily in the purchasing or with money handling, it could be a factor.

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I can't imagine a credit score impacting the hiring process...good luck!

I just read a few weeks ago, that the average credit score in the US is 687+. If that's true (I think it was on CNN, but I didn't verify the facts) your score is unfortunately well below average. BUT, after great tests, interview and screening processes, it's unlikely that ONE thing will cause someone not to hire you. Especially, if your debt is older. If you had bad debt very recently, they may think "huh," but it's doubtful. Does this position work heavily with money, purchasing, and budgeting? That's the only reason I could see them relying heavily on a credit score. Otherwise, it shouldn't carry so much weight.

With all that said, I don't think a good company would decline hiring you based on your credit score. Not when everything else has been successful. I don't think you should really worry about it!

The problem with a low credit score is that the position you're applying for is the office manager, which, typically, involves handling money.

The prevailing wisdom for hiring is that someone with a low credit score will be more likely to steal from the company if push comes to shove.

Studies done recently have actually proven otherwise, but that doesn't mean every employer got the memo. You might consider giving them a heads-up on the reason your credit score is low, though that could backfire, too.

We have a foreclosure on our credit and ours is 650. It hasn't hurt us and we qualified for two car loans since. This sounds like a great opportunity. I'll pray that they are not too concerned about your credit score. There are a lot of people now adays who have credit scores that are suffering. Good luck and let us know if you get the job.

Hi S.,
Wow, that's a lot of checks in my opinion. A FICO score of 500 is definitely in the "bad range." How the company translates this to the job that they're offering is what is important, I would guess. But it sounds like you are otherwise a shoe-in and I wish you much, much luck! Sooo many people in this country have bad credit scores right now, however, due to the recession so I would think that they'd take this all into account.

http://www.bad-credit-advisor.com/fico-credit-score.html

That is not average that is high risk. I cry and mine is 620 thanks to a spiteful ex.

Do you even have a good excuse if they ask? I mean running up student loan debt doesn't do that to your credit score not paying or not paying on time does.

If the ability to make good financial decisions is part of your job you may not get it for that.

My comment turned out to be inaccurate. Sorry!

I do think that your prospective employer will not penalize you for that rating. There is much more to the background check than your credit score.

When applying for a loan, a person is given an opportunity to explain the reasons for the score. I suggest that will be the worst that happens.

Usually when they run a credit check for employment purposes it is just to make sure you don't have any judgments or liens. I interviewed once for a law firm who said they would run a credit check, but just to be sure I didn't have any outstanding debt with any of their clients. So you should be fine.

I was hired to work for Citibank almost 4 years ago, and my credit is probably the worst of any person on this site!!! and I worked in the credit card division doing customer service/sales. so every day I had access to hundreds of credit card numbers etc. I think that if everything else about you checks out great then your credit score doesnt really factor in. If everything else came back bad or only so-so then the credit score would probably be more of a factor.

Its sounds to me that you got the job. If everything else checks out, then I think the credit score will have no affect. The credit check may have to do with a job if you'll be handling money.

Awesome for you! Congrats

It would have been a bigger deal a few years ago. Since the market crashed not that long ago... my understanding is that scores that would have meant an automatic rejection before the crash (and before the dot com crash)... are looked at far more leniently. In a few more years, a low score will mean an automatic rejection again. So do what you can to build that up!!!

This is from talking with one of my brothers who is in business and his friend from the London School.

((Although, interestingly... while bankruptcy can still tank govt. jobs, the LACK of a bankruptcy in certain fields and levels of fields can tank private ones. Which I think is peculiar in some ways, although I suppose it also makes sense. If a person doesn't have sense to restructure in their private life when that's the best option to stay solvent / aka when a business would be stupid not to... then they don't want that person. It was mindblowing to me when we filed 13 a few years ago, and his boss was stunned when he recieved the paperwork from HR that would pull our payment directly from our check. "You HADN'T yet??? Why did you wait so long? Oh. I forgot! You're not a business major. Welcome to the big dogs club!" and called the entire office off work for the rest of the day, and drug all the seniors and managers out for a "bankruptcy party" on the company's dime.))