The three numbers that make up your credit score can become a badge by which you get profiled by banks and credit card companies. They are also often checked by companies before hiring an employee at the interview stage by itself. While this is not something that is out in the open, it is quite a common practice. There are arguments on either side, on one hand, there is very little that an employer can learn about a person when it comes to job proficiency, but on the other hand, it is easy to find out how trustworthy they are based on the way they handle debts.
While there is no rule that says a person should be hired regardless of what their credit score is, there is also no rule that says employment can be rejected based only on credit score.
Credit score and credit report is not the same
Your credit score is only the final score that you end up getting at the bottom of your report. They are, however, two different things. The report will be detailed and the score is a representation of the report. It is also not possible to get your report any time you want. You can get it once a year from annualcreditreport.com, but your score can be pulled out at any time you like. The credit report is what employers look at and it is vastly different from the report that you can get once a year, as well as the ones banks use to approve or reject loans. Employers rarely get access to your credit score.
Employment screening
The version of the report that employers get to see, and do often check is known as employment screening. The credit card companies or bureaus have a completely different type of report with a set of details that pertain with employment. The data on the employment screening report will not even have your date of birth. Another important difference between an employer checking a report and you or even your bank checking the report is that there will be no trace of it. Only you will be notified that it ever happened. It is an important distinction as every inquiry will be recorded and will have an effect on the score if too many checks are done, especially by banks or credit card issuers. When an employment screening is done, it has no effect on your score and is not recorded as an inquiry.
What if they do it behind my back?
When you apply for a loan or a mortgage, the bank or loan company that you apply to has every right to run a credit check because they are going to be lending you a good amount of money and as part of their due diligence procedures, it only makes sense that they check up on whoever wants a sizable loan. An employer offering you a job has no need to know these things for it has very little to do with your employability levels. If your future or current employer wishes to check on your credit report, or even get an employment screening report done, you will need to sign off a sheet that authorizes them to do it.
So if you are not too proud of your score or a few mistakes in the past have dropped your score, the chances of it affecting your job now or in the future is slim. Also, any checking that employers do will not reveal too much, will not be recorded, and will not in itself affect your scores. If you need help in getting your scores sorted out, contact a top credit repair company to fix it.