Bad credit can harm career aspirations

Your good credit or bad credit might do the talking for you with Human Resources.

With the exception of 11 states, employers can check your credit report before they hire you, especially if you are applying for a job in which you handle money or a corporate credit card. Employers might check your credit report if you will be privy to corporate secrets.

Career-level jobs in finance nearly always involve a credit check. After all, according to Investopedia.com, the employer suspects that if you can’t handle your own finances, why should the company’s finances or client finances be different?

According to Credit Karma, 11 states have restrictions or prohibitions on companies checking credit reports. They are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont or Washington. The practice is also forbidden in New York City.

If you are applying for National Security clearance, you will have a credit check, regardless of where you live.

About 47 percent of U.S. companies require a credit check, according to a 2012 study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Even so, 80 percent of the respondents in the survey reported hiring a candidate even though there was a derogatory mark on a credit report.

If a company does ask you to sign a release authorizing them to pull your credit report, that could be good news. According to the SHRM survey only 2 percent of companies check applicant credit before an interview and 58 percent wait until they are ready to extend an offer.

Regardless of how much bad credit can hurt, good credit always gives the applicant higher marks.