Bad credit is bad news for job seekers

With unemployment at record highs in some parts of the country and higher than normal at best in others, job seekers are finding that their credit rating can make or break their job search.

An article in the Wall Street Journal by Kristen McNamara covers the topic and she writes "Concerned about rising rates of employee theft and fuduciary issues, more employers are conducting background checks on applicants for some positions. Companies say the information can offer insight into a candidate's level of responsibility. "

And why not? With a deluge of applicants for open positions, it makes sense to not only hire the best candidate and one with good credit over one equally qualified with spotty or poor credit.

Not all collection agencies report to the credit reporting agencies. If your company uses a collection agency to collect your bad debt, make sure that agency reports your accounts to the credit reporting agencies so that it affects your customers or patients credit adversely. Depending upon the agency, the accounts don't go on the credit report immediately because the agency uses the reporting tool as a "carrot", your customer or patient can pay the debt BEFORE it lands on their report thereby helping to protect their credit.

Here at JP&C, we get payments for our clients on past due accounts that are as much as six years old because the consumer needs to clean up their credit for employment, insurance and loan application reasons to name a few.