Did you know that Maryland is one of the states that allows employers to check your credit and to use your scores as a basis for hiring?
Apparently, some employers like to check credit scores because they somehow believe that your score is tied to your integrity. The truth of the matter is, things happen. You could have an outstanding credit score and as a result of a layoff or emergency, find yourself unable for a while to pay bills. However, nothing regarding your integrity changed. Circumstances changed. Perhaps you had a horrific car accident and did not have enough sick days on your job to continue paying you. So again, how exactly are you to pay all your bills?
Employers say such checks give them valuable information about an applicant's honesty and sense of responsibility. But lawmakers in at least 16 states from South Carolina to Oregon have proposed outlawing most credit checks, saying the practice traps people in debt because their past financial problems prevent them from finding work.
Fortunately, in Maryland, this practice hopefully will end soon:
In Maryland, where the state Chamber of Commerce opposes a bill banning most credit checks, employers at a recent legislative hearing said they are not interested in applicants' credit scores.
Instead, they said, they are concerned about things like debt collections and legal judgments rather than poor credit because of medical bills or school loans. They also said companies give job applicants a chance to explain their credit problems.
Last year California lawmakers voted to curb the use of such checks, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill under pressure from Chamber of Commerce leaders who called it a "job-killer."
But Maryland Delegate Kirill Reznik, who drafted the bill being considered in his state, said people struggling to get jobs need help.
"We are in the great recession and this creates a vicious cycle," Reznik said. "People lose their jobs, that naturally precipitates them getting behind on bills, their credit scores go down, they are trying to find a job to pay off the bills, and employers won't hire them because of their credit score."
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