When we’re just about done in the hiring process, we check the applicant’s credit — with their express permission. For a company like ours, which serves in a fiduciary role, it would not be in our clients’ best interest to hire someone with bad debt, or do anything else that could raise our level of risk.
Ours is just one example of how important your credit score is, and we are not the only company to do this. With credit checks going down in price, even retail outlets have employed them to screen applicants.
I think that most people don’t pay attention to their credit scores until they decide to buy something like a home, car, or commit to a lease. It’s a rude awakening for them to realize their credit score is preventing them from getting financing.
As for monitoring your credit, it may be worth purchasing credit monitoring. Each American is entitled to three free credit reports every year. There is one major caveat: the free reports do not include your FICO score.
I do not recommend accessing the free report feature on the credit agencies’ own websites. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion do not make it easy to get the government-mandated freebie — throwing a gauntlet of confusing pop ups and deceptive wording at the user.
Rather, I recommend going to freeannualcreditreport.com, which seems to strip the confusing maze of advertising from the user experience.
You can improve your credit score by knowing what goes into it:
- The different types of credit that you have
- How long you’ve had other credit accounts
- The percentage of your available credit that is used
- Your timeliness in paying your bills
I don’t want to brag, but JHA has achieved expert-level consumer credit literacy. I’m not just the CEO — I was my first client. Contact us to learn more!
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