You know that bad credit makes it very hard to get a mortgage. You know it makes your insurance policy more expensive. And you know that potential employers may deny you a job because of your bad credit history. But that one cost of bad credit may be extinguished soon.

Current law really lets them kick you when you’re down. You lose a job due to no fault of your own. You can’t pay your bills and your credit gets bad. Then, Halleluia! A job offer! But then they do that credit check and rescind it! Nightmare!

That may be coming to an end. Studies have shown that while credit history can be predictive of insurance experience, it does not indicate that your job performance will be any different from that of someone with good credit. Hence the new proposed law.

HR 3149, dubbed the Equal Employment for All Act, is before the Senate committee now, and it would make it illegal for employers to use personal credit reports in the hiring process for most positions. Almost half of employers today pull consumer credit reports in addition to conducting background checks as part of their employment screenings per the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.

The items on a credit report which are most likely to affect your chance at getting a job are pending debt lawsuits and having accounts in debt collection.   Luckily, for those with mortgage credit problems, mortgage foreclosures and medical debt are least likely to prevent you from getting a job.

The bill does have three enemies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Why should the credit bureaus care? Guess how much money they earn selling credit reports to employers and you’ll see the obstacles facing this bill. If you don’t want your bad credit keeping you from getting your next job, weigh in with your Senator and get this sucker passed.

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