Bad Credit and notifying potential employer

[AndyK90]

So I have seen a few topics mention bad credit and employers and I was wondering does it ever make sense to notify them ahead of time.

Currently, I work in investment banking for the public sector and have done so for the last 3 years. My credit was fine until about last year when I had a few medical emergencies and ended up maxing out my credit cards and then got behind on a few payments and they ended up going to collections. I would make the odd payment every once in a while but they were all several payments behind and were in danger of getting charged off. I was stupid and should have taken steps to work with the collections and make some attempt to pay but instead focused on paying other bills that I felt would be more detrimental to miss (student loans, car, rent, etc). So, as a result, these tanked my credit score and it is now in the 560s. 

During this time, I have been actively job hunting as a way to get out of this and just went through a lengthy interview process with a law firm for a non-legal staff position where the firm extended a formal offer. The written offer is pending me completing a background check and im terrified of them pulling the offer based on the bad credit history. 

I was lucky enough, however, that, a few weeks ago a family member decided to help me out and they loaned me money to completely pay off all my credit cards and collections accounts. So as of today, they are all paid off, but non of this is reflected in my credit score or report because the collections and CC companies don't report to credit bureaus until the end of the month.

So my question is, with this employer going to conduct a background check in the next week or so. Should I say anything ahead of time of what they may find? Or is there any way to let them know all the accounts and credit cards are paid off and explain the missed payements?

Everything else in my background should come out clean its just the credit is the issue. 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I wouldn't mention it unless they tell you they're going to run a credit check.

[Anonymous]

^^^ agreed. Being a law firm, they may just be running a criminal check to be sure you don’t have any disqualifying convictions. That being said, any of your lenders with whom you’re current, you could call and ask if they’ll do an off-cycle reporting. Some may, some may not, but if they will, it’ll update in a day or so and could give you a quick scoring boost rather than waiting it out.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Anonymous wrote:
^^^ agreed. Being a law firm, they may just be running a criminal check to be sure you don’t have any disqualifying convictions. That being said, any of your lenders with whom you’re current, you could call and ask if they’ll do an off-cycle reporting. Some may, some may not, but if they will, it’ll update in a day or so and could give you a quick scoring boost rather than waiting it out.

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Typically a credit check is only required in finance and jobs where you could be bribed, so there is a chance they might run a credit check, but those types of jobs would usually advertise it up front so they don't end up wasting their time.

[Anonymous]

Typically yes, but any job where one could be handling money also can be subject to it. When Macy’s opened here years ago, anyone working the floor who would be running a register had to submit to a credit check. If OP’s non-legal job offer includes payouts or accounts receivable, a credit check isn’t out of the question...

[AllZero]

Congratulations on your job offer. Hope you land the job.

In the meantime, start a good will writing campaign, saturation technique. Clean up your credit reports as best you can.

[AndyK90]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I did reach out to the lenders I was current with and asked for off-cycle reporting and a few were able to do so. For now, unless the firm specifically says they are running a credit check I won't mention it. However, if they are, I think I may just be upfront and acknowledge the mistakes I made to get into the situation but show that the balances are paid off now and that I am actively trying to clean up my credit moving forward. 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like about all you can do. I think it was @BES who said up above though that unless a credit check is specifically mentioned, it’s unlikely they’ll do one.

[GApeachy]

It's illegal in some states to run a credit check on potential employees.  

"At least ten states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) have passed laws prohibiting employers from pulling credit reports at all or restricting how and when employers may use them to make hiring or other job decisions." 

I'd read up on how, when and anything else. GL!

[AndyK90]

Thanks for the information @LauraC. The law firm does have offices in California and Illinois which are two of the states on that list. Every office has its own policies but I imagine that if they cannot run credit checks in two states, they probably apply that throughout the entire company. I am more hopeful now but will still be watchful until I have a solid offer in hand.