20 answers

Background Check - Ravenna,OH

Ladies, I suppose I am only asking for reassurance as I will have to wait and see what the result is. I interviewed with this company back in May or June when I was pregnant, and I was 3 interviewees out of 75 resumes received. I scored very high on the tests (actually a 94% on one, and the same as the president on the other) and the interview went well, however the job was given to someone who was able to take a part time position (two days per week).

I received a call last week from the President who expressed how impressive I am and that the office manager has decided to leave the firm, and he would like to speak with me further about the position. The interview went great. After, I took another test (a wherewithal test online), he contacted me the next day and he and the other partner invited me and my husband to dinner with them and their wives. Dinner was last night and the whole thing went very smooth. He asked me to meet in his office again today. Basically, I have the job - as long as the background check, driving record check, criminal check, reference check and credit check come back ok.

My entire record is squeaky clean, except my credit score is around 500. I know they have not interviewed any other candidates, and they want to fill the position on Jan 3rd (would give me enough time to give two weeks notice by Friday). If everything has gone so well (they've offered me a great salary, vacation, holidays, and a retirement plan - more than what I currently receive) as an employer, would you take all of these other factors into consideration with an average credit score? I racked up debt in college, and have paid a lot off since then. I'm just hoping for some reassurance I suppose, and I shoudl officiall y know by Friday. Is 500 even average?

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

I am very happy to announce that I did secure the position and I am welcome tomrorow, if my current employer does not want me for the full two weeks. He did question a number of late items that showed up back in 2005 on some accounts, and he was asking in more of a "caring" way rather than a "mean" way - he said he wants to make sure we aren't struggling financially. This sure is a lesson, and I hope someone else can learn from this - in this day and age, they can find out any little detail about us, that being squeaky clean and boring actually is a GOOD thing :-).

More Answers

I would get a copy of my credit from each of the credit score keepers like experian, trans union and the others. While you may have racked up alot of debt in college, if you have been making regualr on time payments even the minimum, the debt should be going down and only raising the score. Are you late on any cell phone, utility, credit card, rentals, doctor bills, hospital bills, insurance payments, mortgage, even a library issue. If you have been you will need to start clearing it up by paying up every month on time and catching everything up. If this is the only determining factor is the credit report. I'd spend the time over the next few days looking at the results(you can get the results online of a credit report and print them out) make sure all the debt is yours and see where you are deficient as well as your husband and write up a plan of attack to raise the score. So if you are asked you can have a reply and a solid looking plan to fix things, so if this is the hiccup for the job offer you can return with a solid answer and plan. This will let them know that you can problem solve and have the desire to make good on everything. If this is the issue of not getting the job offer you will know what you have to work on if you can't convince them this isn't a trend for you.

3 moms found this helpful

actually, I was denied a job at a bank because of my credit score.

2 moms found this helpful

I bet you get the job. Think positive!

Blessings.....

2 moms found this helpful

I wouldn't worry too much. I think it would depend upon what type of job it is that you are applying for.. in many cases, bad credit or not, it won't affect the job... if your work background is good and or references, then you are probably good to go.. think positive..

my best to you and yours

2 moms found this helpful

We run credit checks on potential employees and I've never cared about someone's credit score. What we do look for are bankruptcies, excessive late payments (current, not much interested in the distant past), write-offs, civil judgments. Usually if someone has been very candid about their poor credit history and they are not directly handling the bank accounts, we've been known to overlook bad credit as long as the person is impressive in other areas.

On the other hand, if someone LIES about their terrible credit/bankruptcy/etc., forget it! Very recently a woman I thought was a wonderful candidate told us she had a clean credit background. When we gave her the background check form to fill out, she altered her social security number. I happened to catch it before running the check because I had all her paperwork and saw the number differed on her W4. Of course, when I ran the check on the correct SS#, it came up horrible! It's too bad, because I really wanted her for the job - but if someone is willing to fudge their social security #, who knows what other kinds of things they might lie about on the job?

2 moms found this helpful

I think the low credit score should not be a hindrance to you if all of your other factors are as outstanding if they seem to be. Perhaps if it was for a position as an accountant or something similar then it may pose a problem. I'm excited for you, I hope you get the job!

1 mom found this helpful

My comment turned out to be inaccurate. Sorry!

I do think that your prospective employer will not penalize you for that rating. There is much more to the background check than your credit score.

When applying for a loan, a person is given an opportunity to explain the reasons for the score. I suggest that will be the worst that happens.

1 mom found this helpful

We have a foreclosure on our credit and ours is 650. It hasn't hurt us and we qualified for two car loans since. This sounds like a great opportunity. I'll pray that they are not too concerned about your credit score. There are a lot of people now adays who have credit scores that are suffering. Good luck and let us know if you get the job.

1 mom found this helpful

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