Credit Reports for Employment?

Silas Brown

I have been looking for work in Eugene, OR from out of state. Most of my effort has been put into sending out applications to customer service positions listed in Craigslist.

So far I've gotten two replies.

The first seemed to be a rather obvious identity theft or credit scheme. Before beginning the application process, they wanted me to get a credit report. They recommend a service to this end, which "coincidentally" has the same host as the person sending the e-mail. Also, there is no mention yet of exactly who I'm applying with in the first place. I disregard it and move on.

My second reply is a lot more thorough. It asks about when I can start, and provides an entire application to fill out. It does, however, call special attention to a credit report portion, which it reminds me is equally important. Supposedly this is because of financial decisions that would be made in the job. Huh?

I clicked through to the service this one recommended and it looks like it's a deal where I apply for a "free" credit report and subsequently get nagged to apply for cost services of some sort. I am very very nervous about the idea.

For reference, the second reply is from inlandfirst.com
The credit report service they recommend is yourcreditaid.com

This makes little-to-no sense to me. I've never been asked for a credit report before in my employment history and I feel like it would be almost-entirely irrelevant for a job hunt. Are low-end, untrained positions just a pool of credit scams sitting in Craigslist? Or is this actually entirely legitimate and I'm just being paranoid?

Lord Yod

Barring any rules specific to Oregon on the subject, this seems like a scam to me. Never had to get a credit report for a job in my life. (But then I'm from California, who knows what those hippies do up there)

Thanatos

Many jobs these days expect to do a credit report before they hire you. However, I would consider any job where they expect you to do your own credit report before they hire you to be exceedingly suspicious.

Ruckus

Thanatos wrote: »

Many jobs these days expect to do a credit report before they hire you. However, I would consider any job where they expect you to do your own credit report before they hire you to be exceedingly suspicious.

Seconded. If a company wants your credit report they should request your info and ask you to sign a release authorizing them to check your credit.

Tigress

If a company is going to hire you, they will have you sign a release and do the credit report themselves. Making you do it yourself via a "recommended" service is really suspicious.

Einhander

I live in Eugene.

The job market here is terrible. Unemployment is very high, so the competition for jobs is considerable. Almost every large volume employer in the area has shut down recently. Also, since it's a University town, there are a lot of young people willing to work for low wages (myself included), so the average pay here is fairly low. Unless there is a pressing reason you want to move here (family, enrolling at UofO, a girl), I would reconsider. And if it is a girl, she had better be something special.

The good news is - housing is fairly cheap, it rains all the damn time so the town has a lot of trees, there are a lot of bars, we have some really cool independent theaters, there is an excellent public transit system if you don't drive or want to save a few bucks on gas, since it's a college town there are many young women here, and there is no sales tax.

The bad news is - other than the horrendous job market, the police in the area have had multiple sex abuse scandals in the past few years, there is a lot of coke on the street, and we're right next to Springfield, which before the crackdown was essentially the Meth capital of the western half of the United States. Also, bike theft is rampant and we have a sizable homeless population.

But, if you can find a job and move here, let me know and we can hang out. More forumers in my town is never a bad thing. To my knowledge there are only two of us currently.

Are you only looking for customer service jobs? Do you have a degree? What sort of experience do you have? Do you have housing lined up already? Are you bringing anyone with you? If you're here in the Spring I could get you working on a temporary job with a company in town that would last throughout the summer, but the pay sucks, it's mostly evenings and weekends, and it would only be until the summer ends.

Also, finally, yeah any company that wants you to do your own credit report is a scam. A normal employer will tell you on the application that by signing it you authorize them to check your credit if they want to, which they generally won't. Unless you get a job working at a bank or some sort of position where someone who has a large amount of debt (and thus in their eyes be more likely to takes bribes or steal) would be an issue, they shouldn't need to.

They'll also have the right to do a criminal background check as well, which they generally won't do unless you are handling large amounts of cash or if you are in a position that they will have to insure. If you've had three DUIs, Pizza Hut probably isn't going to hire you as a delivery driver, for example.

Scrublet

Tigress wrote: »

If a company is going to hire you, they will have you sign a release and do the credit report themselves. Making you do it yourself via a "recommended" service is really suspicious.

And even in such a situation where you would have to do your own (which shouldn't exist), you should be using the three main services (Equifax, Experion, TransUnion). FYI if you use Equifax, you won't have to sign up for any services that you later have to cancel.

Dunadan019

just in case you actually decide to go ahead and get your own credit report (which is good to know beforehand anyway). you can get one credit report from the 3 credit providing centers per year. everyone gets it.

you can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index to find out how.

just know that you are not obligated to disclose any credit report that you personally obtain to your employer. my advice is to get the free reports see what your credit looks like and then reply and let them know in general that your credit is good enough for the position in hand. you can even use terms like "good" and "average" etc by plugging your nonspecific information into an online "credit score estimator" there are a couple of these that just follow a formula.

YamiNoSenshi

Dunadan019 wrote: »

just in case you actually decide to go ahead and get your own credit report (which is good to know beforehand anyway). you can get one credit report from the 3 credit providing centers per year. everyone gets it.

you can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index to find out how.

just know that you are not obligated to disclose any credit report that you personally obtain to your employer. my advice is to get the free reports see what your credit looks like and then reply and let them know in general that your credit is good enough for the position in hand. you can even use terms like "good" and "average" etc by plugging your nonspecific information into an online "credit score estimator" there are a couple of these that just follow a formula.

This. It's the only actually free-as-in-free-beer credit report service. FreeCreditReport, despite their catchy commercials, is not free at all. Like most other "free" credit report services, it's actually a credit monitoring service, which costs cash monies. Use the one Dunadan mentioned once every 4 months (rotating services) to keep an eye on your credit.

And to answer your question for the umpteenth time, your employer, should they require a credit check, will have you sign a release and they'll do it themselves. Exactly like you would do in any other financial situation that requires one.

Silas Brown

Hey, guys. Thanks for confirming my suspicions on the credit thing. I'm glad to have so many repeat answers so I don't get tempted at the prospect of work that doesn't actually exist. I'll be sure to grab a legitimate credit report to satisfy my own curiousity, though.

Einhander wrote:

Are you only looking for customer service jobs? Do you have a degree? What sort of experience do you have? Do you have housing lined up already? Are you bringing anyone with you? If you're here in the Spring I could get you working on a temporary job with a company in town that would last throughout the summer, but the pay sucks, it's mostly evenings and weekends, and it would only be until the summer ends.

I'm not picky about my work, but customer service is about all I'm qualified for. I'm currently working as a mainframe operator, but I've only been doing it for a year and I doubt that mainframe operators are in high demand in Eugene. I did a web development internship for a couple years, but it's been a few years since and the particular languages I studied don't seem to be in demand anyway.

I'd take you up on the work offer, but given what you've confirmed about the job market, I don't feel comfortable moving on a temporary job. Too risky for me.

To answer your earlier question, Eugene is a city that I have just fallen in love with over a few visits, and I have close friends there. One is even giving me a place to stay until I find a room, provided I have work.

If I ever make it, I'll give you a shout. Hanging out with fellow forumers is always a good time.

Einhander

Eugene does that to you. I have moved (out of state) I think four times over the years, and always eventually moved back. It's got issues, but it can be a really cool place to live.