Feb 2, 2012

For Job Seekers, a New Push to Keep Financial Skeletons Buried

Posted by Wendy Weber

Interesting piece by Anna Maria Andriotis for the Wall Street Journal: click here.

In this difficult economy, many job seekers have negative credit histories, not necessarily because they are not responsible with their finances, but due to other factors. A trend is emerging in which a number of states are banning companies from conducting credit checks on prospective employees.

It has traditionally been assumed that a bad credit report is an indication of poor work habits and decision-making, and general untrustworthiness. Though this may be true in some cases, many otherwise responsible people have suffered financial setbacks due to circumstances beyond their control. And credit checks can turn a bad situation worse, preventing someone who genuinely wants to pay their bills from securing employment.

According to Persis Yu, staff attorney at the National consumer Law Center, the movement to ban credit checks would be “a game changer for people negatively affected by this economy.”

In