Credit Checks Should Absolutely Be Barred in Employment

because, after all, how is one EVER to get his or her financial life in order if he or she cannot get a job because of these stupid screening tactics?

Somebody is making a killing off of these credit checks, and I believe that is the REAL reason so many outfits are doing them.

Since there is NO evidence at all people with weak or lousy credit are worse employees than those with "perfect" ratings, I hope Rep Cohen's proposed legislation becomes law.

More:

At the federal level, Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, is pursuing his own legislation that would prohibit employers nationwide from using credit checks to discriminate in hiring.

Supporters of such laws say they are necessary because an increasing number of employers are doing credit checks even though there is no proof that bad credit is a marker of risky employees.

Furthermore, they say the practice unfairly tars the huge pool of people whose credit was damaged by layoffs, medical bills or other factors beyond their control. They also say it disproportionately screens out minorities.

“Bernie Madoff had a pretty good credit score,” said Matthew Lesser, a Connecticut state representative who introduced a bill early last year that would have limited employers’ use of credit reports.

“And yet there is this consistent message that if you have a bad credit score, there is something wrong with you.”