A credit score or FICO score developed by the Fair Isaac Company is used to determine if a consumer will pay their bills on time. It is using by most business when considering approval for a loan, credit card or service provided. A credit score is calculated using five main factors. Payment history accounts for 35% of your credit score, the total amount of debt owed accounts for 30%, the length of credit history (how long you have had credit) accounts for 15%, new credit (if you have opened any new accounts within the past 24 months) accounts for 10% and types of credit (revolving or installment) accounts for 10%.
Many employers use credit scores as a factor in hiring applicants but must have the applicant's permission before pulling their credit report and/or credit score. If you have bad credit you may not be hired for a job or may lose your job after being hired. In many cases potential applicants have bad credit due to a layoff, illness, medical bills or unfortunate circumstances but does not necessarily mean they can be bribed or will not be honest hard-working employee on a job.
For those of you who feel that using your credit as a factor in hiring is unfair you will be happy to know that Wisconsin State representative Kim Hixson recently authored a bill to have credit scores added to the list of discriminatory assessments in addition to race, gender, age, and disability which is prohibited under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972.
The bill called Assembly Bill 367 would remove individual credit history as a factor in hiring unless it was related to the job for which the applicant applied such as those who seek employment in the financial industries.
Contact your state representative and ask them to support representative Hixson's Assembly Bill 367. This will be one less thing for job seekers to worry about.
No comments:
Post a Comment