Integrity and Responsibility

• A major reason why employers pull your credit report when you apply for a job is that they assume that a failure to handle money well may translate into a failure to manage work or company assets well. Companies may be unwilling to take a chance on you if your credit report shows a history of irresponsibility. Businesses become more concerned with your credit history if the job for which you are applying is in any way related to the business's money.
  
  

Stress

• Often, people who have credit issues are under a lot of stress. Although this doesn't necessarily mean you don't have the skills to perform a job well, stress can impact your social relationships in the workplace and your productivity. It also can mean you are out of the office more for stress-related health issues like migraines or high blood pressure. If your credit report shows you are swamped with debt, the employer may evaluate you more closely during the interview to see how well you perform under pressure.
  
  

Verification

• Credit reports don't just tell to whom you're making payments or if you've defaulted. They also provide basic information related to your work history, such as the names and addresses of former employers, as the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse points out. Employers use this data to verify the reference information you have on your resume and application, as well as to get in touch with companies for which you've worked previously. In this way, the credit report is a starting point for learning even more about you.
  
  

Considerations

• Some people feel that employers' use of credit reports in the hiring process is an invasion of privacy. Others claim that there is no evidence to support the employers' assumption that poor credit typically means a poor employee. Still others believe that the practice unfairly condemns those with poor credit to a life of debt in a catch-22 situation, as employers won't give employees the jobs they need to pay what they owe. To this end, people are protesting the use of credit reports for hiring purposes in some states, as reported by Thomas Frank of "USA Today" in 2009.