Why the HELL...

[BlackShanglan]

Huzzah! Go out there and take no prisoners! Let your confidence radiate.

 

[jomar]

Credit checks, JL? Crazy. Criminal background checks would seem more worthwhile.

And what Shang said!

 

[bluebell]

Helen's hellfire resolve (and looking good doing it)

<fantastic Tank Girl bravado snipped>

Oh hell yes.

She's flaughing herself fluffy, the floofy flufflet.

Indeed. I believe I flaughed so hard I went floopy and then flopped on a dinkleball made of flinglits!

"Nuzzle" is quite possibly my favorite word in the world - such lovely associations. But then, "redolent" always manages to play a tight game as well.

*nuzzle, nuzzle, nuzzle*
Shanglan, if you weren't a horse you'd be a rainbow. It's impossibly impossible to dislike you at all. Even the merest smidge; you are so good.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

... Do I have to pass a credit check to work in a bloody call centre? I have a CCJ that occured four years ago. It will be on my record for another two. Because of this, I can't work within most, if not all, of the financial sector.

Why?

I faced the same thing when the owner of my company put me in charge of the call/data center here. I ripped the credit check out of the employment application screening process in favor of stronger internal security and real time accounting. Ideally if you try to move money illicitly, you're going to get caught red handed, or soon after. Of course, our customers have to wait a little bit while higher-ups approve the mailing/wiring of a large sum of money, but in the end it's for the better.

Credit checks are used in lieu of adequate security and accounting. As a manager I'm totally sure of this.

I'm sick of corporations using any and every excuse to pry into people's personal lives. In this case, it's outright class warfare.

 

[Boxlicker101]

LOLOLOL

Here in Florida they do a Credit Search if you wish to rent an apartment. They also did a credit search when I applied to the Hospital.

Did you know that repeated queries to your credit rating can raise red flags and harm your rating?

Cat

It can, but I think they make a distinction between credit checks on behalf of the subjects and those made without it. I expect that most of us who have steady jobs get bombarded by offers of credit cards or loans or things of that sort. Those offering these things do a credit check before making the offers, and the credit reporting agencies are aware of this. On the other hand, if you apply for a credit card, that application goes on your record, and more than two or three is considered to be a negative.

The worst part about thoswe who do credit report is they never verify anything. If somebody says you are behind on payments, they take their word, even though it may be totally bogus. A couple of years ago, my wife and I lived in an apartment for a few months while waiting for our new house to be completed. We paid a small cleaning deposit before moving into the apartment and left the place spotless when we left. The management would not refund out deposit and tried to gouge us for a lot of phony cleaning bills, which we refused to pay. They even got a collection agency after us, but we still didn't pay. We were hoping they would try to take us to small claims court so we could counterfile for the unrefunded cleaning deposit, and prove their claim was phony, but they knew better than to do that. Som, now the phony charge is on our credit report, and will probably stay there forever.

We have written to the agencies about that and other errors on our reports, and they changed some things, but not that.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

It can, but I think they make a distinction between credit checks on behalf of the subjects and those made without it. I expect that most of us who have steady jobs get bombarded by offers of credit cards or loans or things of that sort. Those offering these things do a credit check before making the offers, and the credit reporting agencies are aware of this. On the other hand, if you apply for a credit card, that application goes on your record, and more than two or three is considered to be a negative.

The worst part about thoswe who do credit report is they never verify anything. If somebody says you are behind on payments, they take their word, even though it may be totally bogus. A couple of years ago, my wife and I lived in an apartment for a few months while waiting for our new house to be completed. We paid a small cleaning deposit before moving into the apartment and left the place spotless when we left. The management would not refund out deposit and tried to gouge us for a lot of phony cleaning bills, which we refused to pay. They even got a collection agency after us, but we still didn't pay. We were hoping they would try to take us to small claims court so we could counterfile for the unrefunded cleaning deposit, and prove their claim was phony, but they knew better than to do that. Som, now the phony charge is on our credit report, and will probably stay there forever.

We have written to the agencies about that and other errors on our reports, and they changed some things, but not that.

You should still be able to challenge the landlord. When my wife moved in with me, she had one of those ticking time bombs hiding in her past - hiding from her, no less. We saw it on her credit report and took them to court. But we had the money to get an attorney to make it happen, too. If you don't have that, who knows how hard it can be...

 

[BlackShanglan]

*nuzzle, nuzzle, nuzzle*
Shanglan, if you weren't a horse you'd be a rainbow. It's impossibly impossible to dislike you at all. Even the merest smidge; you are so good.

*laugh*

*sheepish look*

Ah ... you might not want to get too committed to that position unless you've checked in on the thread on the Editors' Forum.

Sometimes I'm a bad horsey.

 

[Just-Legal]

Credit checks are used in lieu of adequate security and accounting. As a manager I'm totally sure of this.

Ditto - they didn't want to run one on me while I was opening other people's store cards, or while I was handling the payroll of eight other people... *headdesk*

--

I'm so sick of application forms already

 

[Just-Legal]

Sooooo... I got yelled at for not applying for Jobseekers Allowance, by a member of staff in the benefits office. It was rather bizaare, I went in for official documentation of my NI number (never received my card. Another story), explained a bit about what was going on and was told if I didn't pass the credit checks for the two jobs the agency was putting me forward for to come back next week and sign on.

Weirdness.

 

[bluebell]

*laugh*

*sheepish look*

Ah ... you might not want to get too committed to that position unless you've checked in on the thread on the Editors' Forum.

Sometimes I'm a bad horsey.

Fiddlesticks. You were perfectly funny, fair, and civil- as you always are.
After all, what's a horsey to do when faced with an uncharitable dog, really?

Now. All this horse talk makes me want a lump of sugar.

Sooooo... I got yelled at for not applying for Jobseekers Allowance, by a member of staff in the benefits office. It was rather bizaare, I went in for official documentation of my NI number (never received my card. Another story), explained a bit about what was going on and was told if I didn't pass the credit checks for the two jobs the agency was putting me forward for to come back next week and sign on.

Weirdness.

Darling, don't take this wrong, but I'm starting to think your whole life is Weirdness.
And now I feel compelled to *hug* you big. With a giggle or two.

 

[Just-Legal]

Darling, don't take this wrong, but I'm starting to think your whole life is Weirdness.
And now I feel compelled to *hug* you big. With a giggle or two.

You only just noticed? *giggle* It is very, very weird. *hugs lots* Giggles are good ya know?

I have cheesy chips, and tomorrow is my day of rest from jobhunting. I'm good

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Sooooo... I got yelled at for not applying for Jobseekers Allowance, by a member of staff in the benefits office. It was rather bizaare, I went in for official documentation of my NI number (never received my card. Another story), explained a bit about what was going on and was told if I didn't pass the credit checks for the two jobs the agency was putting me forward for to come back next week and sign on.

Weirdness.

Jobseekers allowance? What's that?

 

[Just-Legal]

Jobseekers allowance? What's that?

Its unemployment benefit basically, like welfare, but they kick your butt (well, they're supposed to) about getting a job.

 

[SlickTony]

I think the rationale is that they don't want anyone involved in even the more remote arms of financial institutions to have a motivation to start looking for inside angles. Of course, weeding out people with bad credit doesn't stop those who are simply greedy rather than desperate.

Or unlucky.

 

[SlickTony]

Credit bureaus are of the devil. However, I don't see how they're ever going to be brought to heel, much less be done away with, short of a breakdown of civil society.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Its unemployment benefit basically, like welfare, but they kick your butt (well, they're supposed to) about getting a job.

Now that's a good idea. Is that an American thing? I could have used that back in 2000.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Ditto - they didn't want to run one on me while I was opening other people's store cards, or while I was handling the payroll of eight other people... *headdesk*

--

I'm so sick of application forms already

There should be liability insurance incentives for more stringent security.

A credit check on an employment applicant - and a criminal background check, for that matter - is like super strong car alarms and an engine kill system on a car. A tow truck beats them all, and so does a random greedy employee. I use this analogy because the tow truck would typically only be used by a determined criminal; and likewise, a determined criminal will defeat both criminal and credit background checks to pilfer a financial institution, both from outside and from within. These checks do not at all protect a financial institution from its most dangerous and determined predators, or even casual thieves with no previous background but who, say, fall into dire straits.

Strong internal security and honest security auditing should be part of liability insurance underwriting. There are industry standards (ISO's) for this. It would save the business a ton of actual liability (and its attendant damage to the company's reputation) and thus save it from insurance premium increases in the future.


See, Roxanne & Amicus, I can be a friend of the free market some times.