http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_6892167
More than half of Bay Area residents don't know that a low credit score could result in getting turned down for a job, according to a survey released Thursday by Visa USA.
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Employers are much more likely to look at a job applicant's credit report than credit score, said [Craig] Watts [Fair Isaac spokesman].
"The information we get back from the industry is that few employers are using credit scores,"
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Privacy advocate Beth Givens doesn't think employers should use credit report or credit scores when evaluating a job applicant
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"I don't think employers should use a credit report or a credit score to make value judgments about job applicants," said Givens, founder and director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "The reason is a high percentage of individuals with bad credit report and bad credit scores have experienced a catastrophe or a serious medical ailment."
Although the FCRA allows it, I disagree with the practice. A credit score merely attempts to assess one's likelihood to repay debt. An employer viewing a credit report or credit score has no clue about the circumstances surrounding one's credit woes.
87 percent of those in BK are citing family breakup, medical bills, job loss, or some combination thereof. Of the remaining 13 percent, some percent are citing crime victimization, natural disaster and bad investments. Only a small group are resorting to BK because they maxed their cards and got in over their head, and an even tinyier group is actively engaged in fraud--so long as we're talking personal and not corporate BK.
Of those with past and present credit woes but who are not in BK, it is likely those in trouble because of the BK Big Three (divorce, medical, job loss) is at least 87 percent if not higher. To believe otherwise is to believe that fraudsters will default on CCs but won't file BK.
