One strike, let alone two, and you're out?
March 1, 2011 4:33 PM Subscribe
Will a recently missed payment (or two) kill my chances of getting a job I'm interviewing for soon?
Much like this unfortunate poster, I had literally no money to pay two bills last week (thankfully everything else got paid.) I'm interviewing for a position at a software company this week and most likely will not be able to catch up on those payments until next week when I file my unemployment claim. Will a background check be quick to pick up on these missed payments and put me out of the running for this job?
Much like this unfortunate poster, I had literally no money to pay two bills last week (thankfully everything else got paid.) I'm interviewing for a position at a software company this week and most likely will not be able to catch up on those payments until next week when I file my unemployment claim. Will a background check be quick to pick up on these missed payments and put me out of the running for this job?
The credit reporting agencies don't update that fast. Also, depending on which bills you skipped, it might not show up at all. Things like credit card bills and loan payments will show up, but usually get updated every three months.
posted by amyms at 4:40 PM on March 1, 2011
posted by amyms at 4:40 PM on March 1, 2011
Probably not until the payments are 30 days late, and even then it's not too likely. They could show up eventually on a credit check but mostly things don't get reported until they're 30 days late. Can you make a partial or minimum payment or get a brief deferral or anything like that? Even if they do eventually get reported it's unlikely a few missed bills leading to a lower credit score would hurt you that much. If you aren't already in the range where your credit score would prevent you from getting a software job, it seems unlikely that those two missing bills for a short term would put you into the danger zone.
Also, why wait to file unemployment? It usually takes a while.
Most of all, good luck.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 4:40 PM on March 1, 2011
Also, why wait to file unemployment? It usually takes a while.
Most of all, good luck.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 4:40 PM on March 1, 2011
The only credit check I've ever gone through was for my current job with the government. My credit is absolutely horrible and I still got hired. I think it was basically to check for huge amount of debt and foreign money transfers from sensitive companies.
In fact, I don't know anyone who has had to get a credit check to get hired. I do know a small percentage of companies do require decent credit, I've just never heard of/experienced them.
I should mention that I haven't worked in an accounting/money management type of position/field.
posted by KogeLiz at 4:54 PM on March 1, 2011
In fact, I don't know anyone who has had to get a credit check to get hired. I do know a small percentage of companies do require decent credit, I've just never heard of/experienced them.
I should mention that I haven't worked in an accounting/money management type of position/field.
posted by KogeLiz at 4:54 PM on March 1, 2011
Response by poster: Right now my score is 725, since I'm diligent in making at least minimum payments. I just happened to come up short in February since some unexpected expenses came up.
I'm not sure if this company does credit checks, but I wanted to ask just in case. I'm dying for this job, and not just because I want to get off the dole - this is a job I can really thrive in!
posted by Anima Mundi at 5:26 PM on March 1, 2011
I'm not sure if this company does credit checks, but I wanted to ask just in case. I'm dying for this job, and not just because I want to get off the dole - this is a job I can really thrive in!
posted by Anima Mundi at 5:26 PM on March 1, 2011
What kind of position? If it's a programming position, or something else that requires skill and training, I find it hard to imagine anyone with the power to make hiring decisions caring about this. They're too worried about finding someone who can actually do the job and isn't lying about their qualifications to reject someone like that on the basis of something that doesn't impact their job directly.
posted by baf at 5:46 PM on March 1, 2011
posted by baf at 5:46 PM on March 1, 2011
They're not generally looking for credit scores on the employment credit checks - they're looking for a history of late payments, a bankruptcy, public judgments, etc.
posted by SMPA at 6:02 PM on March 1, 2011
posted by SMPA at 6:02 PM on March 1, 2011
(As Amyms said), I am reasonably confident that credit reporting agencies will not pick up this data so quickly. Two late payments are not going to drag down your credit score anyway and typically companies will not take you off their radars for 2 late payments.
For a background check to include a credit history review, you would usually be asked to sign and return a candidate release statement to the agency doing the background check for your prospective employer. In that release statement, you would have a check box where you can require a copy of any credit report that resulted in an adverse report for you. You should require a copy of the report anyway (ie if you dont know your credit score etc).
posted by justlooking at 7:01 PM on March 1, 2011
For a background check to include a credit history review, you would usually be asked to sign and return a candidate release statement to the agency doing the background check for your prospective employer. In that release statement, you would have a check box where you can require a copy of any credit report that resulted in an adverse report for you. You should require a copy of the report anyway (ie if you dont know your credit score etc).
posted by justlooking at 7:01 PM on March 1, 2011
Best answer: Software companies in general won't check your credit, unless maybe you're applying to be a janitor for a software company, so it won't matter.
I can just imagine if we interviewed a great programmer and HR told us we couldn't hire him because he has bad credit. Engineering managers would be positively livid.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:42 PM on March 1, 2011
I can just imagine if we interviewed a great programmer and HR told us we couldn't hire him because he has bad credit. Engineering managers would be positively livid.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:42 PM on March 1, 2011
usually get updated every three months.
Some credit card companies do report the missed payment at basically Day 31 after the due date.
posted by salvia at 8:19 PM on March 1, 2011
Some credit card companies do report the missed payment at basically Day 31 after the due date.
posted by salvia at 8:19 PM on March 1, 2011
Best answer: I believe that the whole idea of credit checks being part of the hiring process is a fiction made up by people who are trying to sell you credit report services. Possibly the fiction is starting to become true, since HR is such a dismally evil occupation, some may actually think "Hey, what a great idea."
However, I have participated in the hiring of hundreds of people, at huge companies and small, I've never once heard HR make a peep about a potential hire's credit score.
In short, unless you are working with money directly, or possibly trying to get a job in certain government organizations, you are vanishingly unlikely to find that your credit matters at all.
Personally, I wouldn't work for a company that did that, it isn't their business, and I would hate the precedent set by that kind of intrusiveness into my personal life. Nor would I work for one that discriminates agains currently-unemployed people (which, unlike the credit score myth, does actually happen quite a bit).
posted by Invoke at 9:47 PM on March 1, 2011
However, I have participated in the hiring of hundreds of people, at huge companies and small, I've never once heard HR make a peep about a potential hire's credit score.
In short, unless you are working with money directly, or possibly trying to get a job in certain government organizations, you are vanishingly unlikely to find that your credit matters at all.
Personally, I wouldn't work for a company that did that, it isn't their business, and I would hate the precedent set by that kind of intrusiveness into my personal life. Nor would I work for one that discriminates agains currently-unemployed people (which, unlike the credit score myth, does actually happen quite a bit).
posted by Invoke at 9:47 PM on March 1, 2011
I believe that the whole idea of credit checks being part of the hiring process is a fiction made up by people who are trying to sell you credit report services.
Some auditing standards (PCI DSS comes to mind because that's the one I deal with, I don't know if, say, SAS 70 is the same deal) require "background checks" of potential employees, especially if they're dealing with financial and account information or programs or servers that handle same
The idea is that someone who has a poor credit score and outstanding debts is going to be more tempted to abuse credit-card or ACH data he has access to than someone who doesn't have that kind of outside pressure.
But still, I don't think the OP has anything to worry about here.
posted by mendel at 6:18 PM on March 2, 2011
Some auditing standards (PCI DSS comes to mind because that's the one I deal with, I don't know if, say, SAS 70 is the same deal) require "background checks" of potential employees, especially if they're dealing with financial and account information or programs or servers that handle same
The idea is that someone who has a poor credit score and outstanding debts is going to be more tempted to abuse credit-card or ACH data he has access to than someone who doesn't have that kind of outside pressure.
But still, I don't think the OP has anything to worry about here.
posted by mendel at 6:18 PM on March 2, 2011
Mendel, I was interested to hear that, as I (currently) have terrible credit, and yet I get PCI audit freelance jobs all the time. I guess that freelancers don't have to be checked out the same way, which is an interesting loophole as I could easily snag data during my audit, were I evil.
Regardless, I agree with you, for a standard job not-working-directly-with-money, your credit score is an irrelevancy.
A side story, when I worked for Dell, I had access to their customer database and I was curious. I had *really good* access to the DB, but I was paranoid and somewhat evil, so I took a dump of it, and created a new DB on my development computer. I then issued a SQL query "select first_name, last_name, ccv, expiration_date, credit_card_number from clients", totally expecting to see no interesting information. Nope. I saw everything I'd need to steal from them. Very sad. No one ever mentioned it, which is also sad. I should have been fired, or at least questioned. I wouldn't do that today, but I'm happy to smear the name of Dell, because it is true.
posted by Invoke at 7:22 PM on March 2, 2011
Regardless, I agree with you, for a standard job not-working-directly-with-money, your credit score is an irrelevancy.
A side story, when I worked for Dell, I had access to their customer database and I was curious. I had *really good* access to the DB, but I was paranoid and somewhat evil, so I took a dump of it, and created a new DB on my development computer. I then issued a SQL query "select first_name, last_name, ccv, expiration_date, credit_card_number from clients", totally expecting to see no interesting information. Nope. I saw everything I'd need to steal from them. Very sad. No one ever mentioned it, which is also sad. I should have been fired, or at least questioned. I wouldn't do that today, but I'm happy to smear the name of Dell, because it is true.
posted by Invoke at 7:22 PM on March 2, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by GuyZero at 4:37 PM on March 1, 2011