How Do Credit Checks for Employment Work?

First, it’s important to understand that employee background checks of all types – including credit checks – serve a common purpose: to help screen out unqualified applicants. Reviewing credit reports is one way that an employer can conduct due diligence when screening applications, and is part of helping to ensure that only qualified candidates make it through.

Although a credit report is not, by itself, proof of anything, employers may review it for certain behavior patterns, like:

• Money management. Employers are more inclined to check the credit of applicants for money-related jobs, such as accountant or retail clerk. An employer may feel that a solid history of handling money well shows an ability to handle the company’s finances well, too. Of course, the employer may also see the inverse. Poor management of personal finances could be a warning sign that may indicate potential issues with managing the employer’s money in the future.
• Reliability. Some employers may use a credit check to gauge an applicant’s ability to handle money responsibly, which could give them an overall sense of the applicant’s reliability.

Credit reports may be used as part of the background checks conducted for security clearance for some jobs.¹

Beyond looking at candidates’ financial history, employers may use credit reports to verify information provided elsewhere. For example, credit reports may include your past employers, so they may be used to confirm your job history or to reveal undisclosed gaps in employment.² Among other things, credit reports may be used to verify your identity because they include your Social Security number.³

Whatever the motivation for doing a credit check for employment, employers don’t see everything. Here are some of the things that they can see:⁴

• Information tied to your identity
  This may include your name and your recent addresses.
• A record of credit accounts and payment history
• Certain public records
  This may include any bankruptcies

However, employers do not see some other information, including:⁴

• Your credit score
  Although they’ll see a lot of data about your credit, employers will not see your credit score.
• Your birth date
  To help protect candidates from age discrimination, the credit reports employers see omit your birth year.
• Income
• Marital status
• Information related to medical bills (except for some above $500)

The use of credit reports for employment background checks is far from universal, partly because some employers may not believe they’re relevant to job performance or because of concerns about their fairness. Currently, several states and cities have laws limiting or prohibiting the use of credit checks for employment purposes.⁴

Additionally, several laws exist to protect people’s rights as a job candidate. If you’re job hunting, it pays to know:⁴

• Employers must get your written permission to pull your credit report.
• Employers must give you a warning, and a copy of the report received, if they are rejecting you based off information in the report.
• Employers must give you an official adverse action notice if they do not hire you because of the contents of the report.

Since your credit report could be vital to your employment candidacy, it’s important to be proactive about having a positive credit report. The following practices can help:

• Pay your bills on time.
• Use a sensible amount of available credit.
• Limit applications for new credit (unless you’re rate shopping).⁵

Consider maintaining a variety of different credit accounts, for example, both credit cards and loans.

Finally, if you’re planning on looking for a job, it’s a good idea to get copies of your credit reports from all three national credit bureaus so you know exactly what’s in it. You don’t want a potential employer to surprise you. And if your report includes errors, you’ll want time to correct them.