Anyone have a job offer rescinded for bad credit?

[qsr]

Last time I checked, BK was legal and a perfectly rational decision, particularly in this environment. The truth is that people who have to make hiring decisions don't really know what they are doing, so they figure this is a good way to screen applicants.

[Bell30656]

and, as an employer you probably know that it's illegal to consider bk in itself as a factor in hiring decisions.

Music12, your vast knowledge of the law overwhelms me. Please quote the law that states that a bankruptcy or other credit issues may not be used when making a hiring decision (in my state or federal). I'll give you a hint... You won't find it. You may not fire an employee because they have filed bankruptcy but a PRIVATE employer may legally reject an applicant based solely upon a past bankruptcy. Hence the reason that we have an HR department to advise us and lawyers to write our policies.

Logansdad, you may be right. But if I was making the hiring decision on my own employment, I probably would not have hired me. I also didn't say that I wouldn't and/or haven't hired anyone with a bankruptcy or lousy credit but I have reviewed the situation more in depth before making the decisions. I'm more interested in a whole picture rather than a single part of the picture. What has happened since the bankruptcy plays a big part in my thought process.

We are all responsible for the decisions that we make and we must suffer the consequences of them. *Note* We not only do credit bureau checks but also do a criminal background check, a Validex, MVR and substance abuse testing.

[ApresMoi]

Here in CA a credit freeze does not prevent an employer from checking up on you. The 'exceptions' are in the fine print.

You could put a freeze on your credit report at each of the 3 CAs if state law allows. A lot of people do this anyway to avoid potential identity theft issues.

[mtbc]

Music12, your vast knowledge of the law overwhelms me. Please quote the law that states that a bankruptcy or other credit issues may not be used when making a hiring decision (in my state or federal). I'll give you a hint... You won't find it. You may not fire an employee because they have filed bankruptcy but a PRIVATE employer may legally reject an applicant based solely upon a past bankruptcy. Hence the reason that we have an HR department to advise us and lawyers to write our policies.

Solely? You may want to check http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=21679 and the mention of Leary v. Warnaco, Inc., 251 B.R. 656 (S.D.N.Y. 2000). Are you aware of some later case that overturned that?

[Bell30656]

Great, as you can see from the earlier post that stirred up all the controversy, I demonstrated that I would never base my decision solely upon the bankruptcy.

As a person that hires and a person who has been there, I find that bankruptcy won't eliminate someone from my search but it is a red flag to me. If the bankruptcy is several years old, then I consider the track record since the bankruptcy.

The text that I copy and pasted that had the word solely in it was from an attorney's site that I found on a Google Search. I agree the word solely shouldn't be in it. However, I stand by the statement that a bankruptcy can and should be considered by employers when making hiring decisions. What many people don't consider is that your credit report most likely looks better with a bankruptcy than with all that collection stuff showing up as open.

[helpmeout]

Do you think that an employer shouldn't consider the decisions that you've made with your own finances when getting ready to offer you a position? The employer is considering putting you in a position of trust. They use many things to gauge whether or not they believe that you will make good decisions with their data, money or just business in general.

As a person that hires and a person who has been there, I find that bankruptcy won't eliminate someone from my search but it is a red flag to me. If the bankruptcy is several years old, then I consider the track record since the bankruptcy.

The job you are interviewing for today credit may not matter but what about the job you may get promoted into? Ross Perot who ran EDS for many years wouldn't hire smokers. He defended this by saying people that make bad decisions with their own health are more likely to make bad decisions that his business depended on.

What an employer should consider is the track record of the future employee with their job. I am filing for bankruptcy in a couple of weeks. My filing has not impacted the quality of work I do at my job. I may have made some bad decisions in my personal life but I am still very good at my job. And if a potential employer doesn't want to hire me because of something that has absolutely nothing to do with my job performance, then that is his/her loss.

I can see where someone would take personal decisions into consideration when there is no work history. But where there is, that is what the decision should be based on. Not their personal life.

[mtbc]

Yeah, my impression from past cases is that the "solely" has typically been narrowly construed.

[DiamondsR]

So the decision someone who has filed bankruptcy because of medical costs should be seen as a red flag that that person has made "bad choices with their finances" or t hat their parents made "bad genetic choices in the selection of mates" ? Sounds pretty discriminatory. The decision to divorce and have the other party fail to pay child support (I guess the decision to marry the wrong person in that case would be indicative of poor reasoning) should be seen as a character flaw barring one from employment? Bad marriage partner choice and therefore incapable of working with certain companies?

As my sister put it, "if they don't want to hire someone who was honest and responsible enough to file bankruptcy, you shouldn't want to work there or patronize their business."
There are more and more people declaring BK for external reasons (and budgeting will only save you for so long if you are UNEMPLOYED for longer than 6 months).

[momisery]

IF an employer can use the credit rating or BK filings, I think they should be able to give you a shot of truth serum too and find out what your really like. There are a lot of good people who end up in a BK. It is a legal tool, and business uses it a lot. To use it to say someone can not be trusted to handle money because they filed a BK is foolish. Lie detectors could be used or maybe truth serum.. Since we going to decide what someone is all about based upon a credit report or a filing of a BK.. lets really find out what EACH prospective EMPLOYEE is all about, and maybe the ones already working for you too.. totally sick I think, and this is being used as a tool by business imho to keep people from filing. If you want a job, you better live in a maytag box and keep paying us.. geesh.. This is foolish to be using this to decide if someone is honest enough to be a teller for gosh sakes.

[momisery]

Diamond your so right. I work with two ladies right now that if they lost their jobs for 3 months they would be in trouble. Hubby has been out of a good paying job for about 2 years, out of a job totally for 1 year. In that year he has tired several commission ony jobs because no one will hire him. He is almost 60, and now has COPD and of course aches and pains. He looks younger, they are very interested until they pull the DL to verify his background and boom it is over with. His background has been great, but as of Dec. he will now have to deal with all the above issues and a BK too. Did you plan on this? NO, in fact we spent our savings and 401K's trying to avoid it, and the FACT that we would be QUESTIONED about our honesty and ability to deal with our EXPENSES is maddening. Business simply kicks people to the curb to cut back on their expenses and many of them still go BK. People can not kick each other out into the streets or toss out a mother or child. We are the blame for our finances when the real reason we are all here is because wall street and washington have been so far under the covers together for 30+ years that they have not been watching our jobs and our well being as tax paying citizens. What I would like to know is are these "great" businesses who are deciding not to hire us, the very same ones that have taken our money to get us into trouble, that have wanted tax breaks from us so our taxes keep going up, who have driven up the cost of medical and then decided to toss this expensive item back into the laps of the employees who had and have no control over this monster .. are these the same "honest" "trustworthy" and "dependable" businesses the will not hire a bk person?? Nice, huh?

[mtbc]

Of course, bankruptcy isn't necessarily because of one's own bad financial decisions, so much as quite simply marrying somebody who turns out to make bad decisions, and married life (partially depending on the state) commingling things enough that those decisions bring both of you down. I am not in this situation, but: if I had the choice between, say, filing joint bankruptcy and then divorcing, or getting the person I love in trouble for fraud for forging my signature on credit applications, I'd probably go for the former out of concern for them. Which in no way would affect my ability to run an office!

The above isn't my situation, but I do have related mitigating circumstances which is why, although my employer knows of my bankruptcy, they are actually transferring a bunch of company book-keeping over to my bailiwick. For single people, I can kind of see your point better.

[logansdad]

Bell..I think it is feeble minded to judge people for something that you your self did.



just sayin

[Bell30656]

I love feedback... many times it changes the way I think about things and other times it just makes me state my feelings more clearly.

Helpmeout said:

I can see where someone would take personal decisions into consideration when there is no work history. But where there is, that is what the decision should be based on. Not their personal life.

So if a person committed a crime such as murder, theft, child molestation or whatever that shouldn't be considered in the hiring decision? After all it is in their personal life not work related.

Logansdad

Bell..I think it is feeble minded to judge people for something that you your self did.

I met with the Controller and my boss prior to my filing for bankruptcy. I offered to resign or purchase a surety bond if required. The fact that I had been with the company for more than a decade helped but the major reason that it wasn't an issue is because of my work history within the company. *Note* I was also very clear that while some of the debt were from my failed marriages over the years, many were mistakes in judgment that I made.

My biggest point to filers is that yes, you have this black mark on your credit report that COULD sway an employer away from hiring you. Prepare your explanation and your answers to the objections you expect prior to applying for the job.

mtbc, I'll bet the reason they are moving additional responsibilities over to you and your department is because of your proven track record with the company. You work performance can really overcome just about any personal situation.

momisery, I suggest your husband consider working as a consultant to those type of companies on an independent contractor basis to get in the door. Many times the manager doing the hiring may believe that with the amount of experience your husband has that they can't afford him. Age discrimination is clearly illegal. Older employees generally have a better work ethic than younger employees.

When seeking employment stress the positives on your resume, save the negatives for when you are face to face at interview. Prepare for the negatives and be ready to overcome the objections but don't dwell on them. I once had a guy who was on parole convince me that he could be the best salaried facility operations manager we ever had during an interview. He showed me his ankle bracelet and told me that the only time he could leave home was to go to work, so he wanted position where he could do lots of work and since he was salaried we wouldn't care how many hours he worked.

[backtoschool]

There are many industries that do not consider bad credit a barrier to hiring. The insurance and financial industries are the least bankruptcy friendly industries out there. Most other industries will consider the entire background and employment picture, and many many industries only do a credit check to verify id.

I would assume any job in an insurance company or a financial firm will require a credit check. But of course there are always exceptions.

Many companies will also simply require an explanation of why you filed for bankruptcy. I know that on wall street, they do extensive background checks on each candidate and often will weed out candidates with bad credit, but if the person is not directly dealing with money, and has the skills they need, they will still hire that person. I had no problem getting jobs on wall street even with bad credit.

Don't be discouraged. There are plenty of jobs that will not consider bankruptcy a barrier.

[momisery]

So, wall street is worried about our "ethics"? lol