I was recently retrenched due to operational costs. Initially it didn’t really worry me much as I have several years’ experience in the IT Field. I would be able to find another position quite quickly, I thought. I was in for a surprise!
Several years ago due to some bad investment decisions, I lost money and this also caused me to be listed with several credit bureaus. In the mean time I have made arrangements to pay the outstanding amounts off. There are many people out there that made similar bad financial decisions.
I mailed my resume to probably close to 100 employment agencies. I have applied for several positions online. Some of the employment agencies are straightforward and say that a client will not even consider a person for employment if the person has one listing at a credit bureau! Some of the employment agencies do not even bother to contact me again.
Yes, I do have bad credit, but I am not a criminal!
I am really disturbed about the fact that employers actually judge a person on his credit record and not if the person can do the work!
If a person is employed and seeks other employment with a higher salary, it means that the person wants to improve their lifestyle. Or it can mean that the person needs to have more cash available to settle their monthly expenses. And if that person has a poor credit record it means that person will not be able secure another position. This means that the person will then eventually have to apply for debt review or bankruptcy.
It is unconstitutional that an employer or an employment agency can do a credit check on a person. And even if a person works with money, a person cannot just assume that because the person has a bad credit record, the person will steal!
Having a poor credit record doesn’t mean a person cannot do the work!
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