Minnesota consumers may already know that negative marks on their credit reports can make it difficult to get new loans or credit cards. They might even realize that derogatory credit report items may lead to higher car insurance premiums. However, most Minnesota residents don’t know that past credit mistakes can prevent them from getting certain jobs. The truth is that some employers include credit report checks in the hiring process. Often, positions requiring credit checks involve handling money or keeping financial records, but this isn’t always the case. As long as they give you notice, any Minnesota employer may check your credit reports when you apply for a position. For this reason, you should know the contents of your credit reports by checking them regularly.
Why Some Minnesota Employers Check Credit Reports Before Hiring
In California, Connecticut, Illinois, and Maryland, employers may not consider credit report information in the hiring process. However, in Minnesota, qualified candidates are often turned down for positions due to negative information in their credit reports. Here are a few reasons why credit-checking employers disqualify applicants with rocky credit histories.
The job involves handling the company’s money.
This is the number one reason why Minnesota employers check credit reports, and probably the one that makes the most sense. After all, it makes sense that banks and brokerage firms want to hire individuals who have a proven record of handling money well. Also, big companies run the risk of being sued by shareholders if they don’t run background checks on employees. For example, a company unknowingly hires someone with a history of mismanaging money. This new hire then loses a large chunk of the company’s money. At this point, the shareholders have every right to sue the company for negligence.
They believe that poor credit management indicates irresponsibility.
Right or wrong, some Minnesota employers believe that applicants who have trouble managing their personal finances will also struggle with work responsibilities. Of course, items like foreclosures and tax liens are big red flags for these types of employers. Yet, small offences like a high credit utilization rate or a history of late payments may be enough to knock you out of the running.
Applicants with large debts are considered theft risks.
The vast majority of Minnesota consumers with negative credit report information would never dream of stealing from their employers. However, some companies aren’t willing to take the risk. Whether it is fair or not, these companies believe that having heavy debts makes employees more likely to steal. To avoid this, Minnesota consumers with extremely bad credit should apply caution to job seeking. For example, they may want to look for positions with companies that don’t handle money at all. This, of course, is just until their credit reports improve.
How Minnesota Consumers Can Improve their Credit Reports and Earn More Job Opportunities
In order to know what employers may see if they check their credit reports, Minnesota consumers should check for themselves. The easiest way to do this is visit www.annualcreditreport.com and request free copies of your credit reports from TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) entitles you to do this every twelve months.
While reviewing your credit reports, take note of any negative item you see. Also, check the dates on these items and remember that most derogatory marks on credit reports stay there for about seven years. If you have relatively new blemishes, you can still take measures to improve your credit while waiting for them to expire. Luckily, good credit activity dilutes negative history. So, pay all of your bills on time, use your credit card(s) responsibly, and try to keep your credit card balances low.
When going through your credit report information, make sure that everything looks accurate. Unfortunately, creditors and the credit bureaus frequently make mistakes that result in credit report errors. Obviously, you don’t want to miss out on a job opportunity because of an error on your credit report. So, you must find these mistakes and have them eliminated.
For Minnesota consumers who find errors on their credit reports, the best solution is to contact Credit Repair Lawyers of America in Minnesota. When you call our firm, our credit experts will connect you with an experienced credit attorney who will fix your credit issues and get you clean credit reports for FREE. Of course, you could try to handle the dispute process on your own, but why would you? It’s much easier to get legal muscle on your side, especially when it costs nothing.
The Free and Legal way to Get Better Credit
Don’t let errors on your credit reports bring your credit score down. At Credit Repair Lawyers of America, we’ve been cleaning up credit reports for consumers since 2008 for free. How do we do it? The law allows us to collect our fees and costs from the defendants in any successful action. This is why our clients pay nothing for the work we do.
Let’s start the conversation about what we can do for your credit. Set up your free consultation today by calling Attorney Gary Nitzkin at (612) 235-4458 or sending him a message through our contact page.
For more information about Free Credit Repair, please visit https://creditrepairlawyersam.com/minnesota/credit-repair/.
