Employer Credit Check

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

The below outlines my financial situation. I am looking to apply to a new job/company sooner then later. Things are not working out well at my new job due to the work enviroment/culture.

I am looking to apply to a new job in the area of finance and i expect a credit check to be performed on me. Here is the catch.... i don't want to apply to another new job/company and me be at risk of not getting it due to a credit check.. so i am trying to hold off as long as possible until my financial picture improves a little more.

My financial situation is as follow below. How does my situation look do you think? Should i be afraid of getting a credit check?

* No accounts in collections, ever.

* No bankrupcy declared, ever.

* No charge-off's, ever.

Revolving Debt
Bank Card $6,891.00 / $7,000.00
Bank Card $6,197.00 / $10,000.00
Bank Card $5,329.00 / $9,300.00
Retail Card $0.00       / $4,800.00
Bank Card $0.00        / $4,200.00

Bank Card $0.00        / $2,700.00
Bank Card $0.00        / $2,000.00
Bank Card $0.00        / $1,250.00
Bank Card $0.00-       / $1,000.00
Retail Card $0.00      / $700.00
TOTAL: $18,417.00 credit used out of $42,950.00 

Installment Debt
Auto $9,108.00
Student Loan $3,300.00
Student Loan $2,650.00
Student Loan $1,200.00
$16,258.00

Total Debt : $34,675

[nax]

My employer has pulled mine 3 times over the years with various promotions. I requested a copy last time and basically all they saw was a paid tax debt that dropped off my report the next month anyway. So for my case they were only reported baddies, I’m not sure if that’s what all employers get or not.

[Anonymous]

Most credit checks done by an employer are more in search of derogatory info (collections, charge offs, etc.) contained within a report than they are concerned with high utilization.

If your reports are clean, I wouldn’t be too concerned with it at all.

[simplynoir]

You have one card considered "maxed" by scoring standards and two other cards at <50% so it's not ideal. What kind of dent can you make on the maxed card to at least bring it down some so it's not "maxed" out any longer? What kind of payments are you making on those three cards? Minimums, 2x/3x times min payment required, etc?

[Anonymous]

To add onto the above:

1- This weekend i applied for a bank credit card and was approved for that $2700 limit card noted above.  Although this hurt my credit score by 3 points, i think it was okay. This is because the employer credit check does not show your score. Thus, this move lowered my overall credit utilization.

2- For the last few weeks - i have been paying down my bank card debt. (There was originally an additional 6k in bank card debt that i had)

3- I have taken notice to when all of these accounts report to experian monthly. So when i have money i can use to pay off debt... each week it revolves around accounts that will be reporting to the credit bureau within the next 10 days or so, so it reflects on my credit report within 1-2 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Last week i made a $400 payment on the bank card thats 3rd down on the list. It has $5,329 left on it. It reports to Experian on May 9th. 

In regard to the bank card thats nearly maxed out - it reports to Experian on May 22nd next. Ideally, i would like to pay around $400-$500 towards that debt before it reports next.

[Anonymous]

Again, paying down your debt is certainly a good thing, however, for most general employment positions, your credit position is fine.

[Revelate]

Shouldn’t be an issue.

My recent bank position did get a credit report but the big one is the financial crimes database not what’s in the report frankly.

If you want to pay down some of that revolving debt go for it... I don’t encourage anyone to carry any debt on a credit card unless it is at 0% or there is no other choice, but it isn’t likely to hurt at all frankly.

[CreditInspired]

Hi OP and welcome.

Initially, I thought you had no worries since there were no derogatories on your reports. But I decided to Google it and your concerns may have some validity. I found this article on nerd wallet that does talk about high balances
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/credit-score-employer-checking/

Before reading this article, I thought a job that required a TS clearance would be the only one concerned about high UT.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for your comments so far.

1 - Do you think I should concentrate more on allocating extra payments towards the bank cards? Or - the student loans? The student loans could be paid off quicker, due to their balances vs the bank cards...but, then again I feel like credit card debt is worse to have when compared to student loan debt.

2 - Ideally how much do you think I should cut my debt down to...before I go apply to new jobs, with the risk of getting a credit check pulled on me?