OUCH! Has this happened to anyone?

[findingPeace]

A friend of mine got hired at a Doctor's office & then they called her back a few days later and said that they had run a credit report. Seen her BK and said they couldn't give her the job, because of it!! OUCH! Happened to anyone else?

If its past your 7-10 years and you go to a job & the application ask ever filed BK do you still have to answer yes, since your BK is gone from your records??

[justbroke]

They can't deny your application solely for a Bankruptcy. She may want to call them back and tell them that.

If its past your 7-10 years and you go to a job & the application ask ever filed BK do you still have to answer yes, since your BK is gone from your records??

I answered yes as I was taking a lie detector exam. (And my BK was recent.)

I have recently had a new security clearance (not a renewal) and told them about my Bankruptcy and a sordid list of financial detail that not even my mother knows. I passed. I think it was my honesty.

[queenfluff]

That sucks. This is one of the MAIN things I am afraid of. More and more companies are checking people credit report. It sucks because just because you had to file for bankruptcy does not mean you can't do a good job. Some people look at it like a felony I think. Sometimes I wonder if they check and even if you aren't bk if you owe alot on your bills they assume you are not responsible and will look you over. It isn't fair.

I could understand if it was a job at a bank or something but a doctor's office - that seems a bit obsurd.

[kenshirley]

So they deny they told her that she would not be hired because of the BK.
Prove otherwise.
Many companies today have strange hiring polices.
If you have not noticed there are lots of highly qualified folks out of work today that will work for a lot less money than they were making not to long ago.
I would say to tell your friend to move on.

[blankslate]

I could understand if this was someone in current collections with current debt and not wanting them to handle money in the office. My friend's office manager diverted $250k to herself while he was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. However, someone who filed for bankruptcy got themselves out of that debt and I would see them as less of a risk because they wouldn't be desperate to pay those debts anymore.

[CarrieOakey]

Unfortunately the law doesn't provide any protection for this kind thing (as such - there are protected classes, but it can be virtually impossible to prove your case in this situation). They don't have to give you a reason for not hiring you; and in the same way, in 49 states they don't have to give you a reason to fire you (Montana has some exceptions to that, but they're few and far between).

It's their loss.

I agree that bk actually - to me - shows more responsibility than just letting the bills go; and it takes courage to stand up, see the problem and deal with it, which is what we do with bk.

[Recessionist]

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act - IF they decide not to hire you based on any infomation gained during a background investigation, they must tell you that is why they made the decision, and they must give you an opportunity to appeal based on incorrect information. eg. If a previous employer gives different dates of employment from what you put on your application, or if you get a false positive on a drug screen, or if there is incorrect information contained in a credit report, and that information has lead the prospective employer to make a decision not to hire you. In this case, it appears the prospective employer made a decision based on "correct" information though.

Does every prospective employer tell someone they didn't get a job when something comes up in their background check? No, they don't, but they are supposed to under the law. Plenty of people are confused as to how the FCRA applies to pre-employment background screening.

Here is information about how the FCRA applies to pre-employment background screening.

http://www.publicinfoguide.com/pre-e..._screening.asp

[justbroke]

So they deny they told her that she would not be hired because of the BK.
Prove otherwise.

I agree Ken. Somethings are not worth fighting over. However, it wouldn't hurt to ask them if they knew that. I would do it just to see if they held their position. Of course, if they retracted the "because of BK" statement, I would probably move on. Just like my recent clearance... I would have just moved on and I would have "understood" the position it put the employer in should I take bribes or payments to divulge what I learned.

[CarrieOakey]

The problem is that the term "background check" has no specific legal definition, nor does it offer any type of specific instruction or interpretation. Each state (and sometimes it varies by local rules too) can have its own interpretation of what exactly the umbrella term "background check" entails. It can apply to a credit check only; to a credit-plus-criminal check; just the criminal check; local warrants; higher security agencies and virtually any combination therein. And despite the attempts to have such things governed correctly and enforced the reality is it very, very rarely happens.

While ideally companies can be held responsible for basing their decision solely on a credit check, realistically it's not going to happen too often, if at all. The poor employee has the burden of proving that their financial background was the only reason they weren't offered a position, and as we all know (probably) all it takes is for one interviewer to say, "Just didn't seem like s/he'd be a good fit". Bam. No case.

True, companies are obliged to tell you if the only reason was because of information gathered from ABC. And though it's terribly unfair, this is nigh on impossible to actually prove.

[HHM]

It's unfortunate that this sometimes happens, it's more related to the ignorance of the hiring party than the reality of the risk BK poses to the employer.

However, of the 7+% unemployed in the nation, 99/100 have nothing to do with the employees bankruptcy (actually, more to do with the employers bankruptcy).

[francis]

Help may be on the way!

I think its terrible that anyone should be denied a job because of their credit.It never used to be that way.And it shouldnt now...Theres a senator in columbus,ohio r.miller that whants to introduce a bill to stop that from going on.Because,it is a form of discrimination.I hope his bill passes....

[justbroke]

I think its terrible that anyone should be denied a job because of their credit.It never used to be that way.And it shouldnt now...Theres a senator in columbus,ohio r.miller that whants to introduce a bill to stop that from going on.Because,it is a form of discrimination.I hope his bill passes....

That bill has about as much chance of passing as the "cram down" homestead mortgages in Bankruptcy did. It's not really a form of discrimination on its face. It's not a protected class of people (the Bankrupt). Sure, the code says that you can't be fired or denied employment for it, but then they use that word "solely" as the modifier in the sentence. All an employer has to say is they were Bankruptcy and they were not a good fit for the job based on the interview process.

Unfortunately, that's the state of things. I don't think this will change.

[CarrieOakey]

I think its terrible that anyone should be denied a job because of their credit.It never used to be that way.And it shouldnt now...Theres a senator in columbus,ohio r.miller that whants to introduce a bill to stop that from going on.Because,it is a form of discrimination.I hope his bill passes....

The problem is that discrimination is not illegal except for a very few protected instances (if it is because of your race, color, creed, religion, national origin, etc.). Most discrimination - the type people mention most often - is actually legal.

You could have Ben and Bob applying for the same job; Ben has a bit more experience than Bob although their qualifications are similar. But Ben has longer hair than Bob; the manager hires Bob because he doesn't care for men with longer hair.

Completely legal.

Completely unfair perhaps, but unfortunately, completely legal.

[Ifonly]

Unfortunately, completely legal as others have stated.

I lost my job after six months due to my personal debt. Get this - I passed a background check upon hire and revealed that my current credit score was possibly in the high 500's (at that time it was actually in the mid-600's) and was told, "oh, we don't care about that".

Do a supposedly great job, get a raise after six months, get fired two weeks later because I "might" steal and I'm a risk (turns out the person who said they didn't care never revealed it to THEIR higher-ups).

I told them that if I would steal, don't you think I'd have better credit (because I would have stolen already)?

Interesting thing is the termination was a self-fulfilling prophecy because it pushed that balance of just hanging on right over the edge.

Since I'm an upper level accountant, I basically consider my career somewhat over due to this practice of running credit. Oh well.

[JoeBankrupt33]

I filed ch 7 in 2001, was laid off, then found another job in 2002. This was the first time that I ever had a company check my credit, and I was scared s#!+less, especially since they hired me, then ran my credit and background check about a week later.

So, instead of sweating bullets waiting for the background check to come back, I went to the guy's office and I told him everything upfront - that I filed BK and that I was 4 months late on my mortgage. He said OK, and (I can't beleive to this day that this happened) they gave me a loan for $3000 to help bring my mortgage current. I got the money on the day before the foreclosure sale and overnighted a certified check to save the house.