Some states ban using credit reports to eliminate potential hires

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More than half a dozen states have now passed explicit laws to ban employers from using credit reports to rule out potential hires for jobs where no handling of money is involved.

All I can say is it’s about time! For jobs involving direct access to funds, I get it. Certain jobs involving money involve trust so it’s reasonable to rule out candidates who have poor credit and might be tempted to steal. But to decide for other positions that you are a not suitable candidate based on your credit report is just plain dumb.

Really though, why wait for a state to pass a law to raise the IQ of your stupid company if you’re in charge of hiring? Wake up, be human and be humane. Your job when you’re hiring is to get the best trained and most reliable people who have the best attitude.

Too many people have sick kids or they went through an illness that left medical bills piling up and that’s what ruined their credit. Now you want to not hire that person who fought their way through illness because their credit isn’t healthy?

And finally, what is wrong with the rest of the states that haven’t passed laws against this practice? Get with the program!

Speaking of scores, if you are obsessed with credit scores and you’ve got great score, give it a rest. I read a Bloomberg report about how people are obsessed with getting an 850 on the FICO scale.

My executive producer Christa was completely focused on getting a perfect 850. In truth, she never cracked 800, topping out around 797. You’ve got to realize if you’re at 760 or above on the FICO scale, you’re golden and you can basically do any borrowing you want to do.

I checked my CreditKarma.com score recently and it came in at 769. I ran several “what if” scenarios to see how I might raise it, but every scenario I suggested didn’t budge my score more than two or five points.

Once you’re doing well with credit, leave well enough alone and just pay your bills on time!

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