Bad Credit= No Employment for Millions? Unfair? You Bet!

After 16 yrs as a Loan Officer I am one of the many tens of thousands in the Real Estate Industry who can no longer make even a small living in this field. So I have been looking for a job in a different field where I can use some of my background in sales, customer service and credit. It has been a very frustrating and exasperating experience. I can not believe that the Internet is pretty much the major way to apply for a job, I find this to be incredibly tasteless and totally unprofessional not to mention anonymous and impersonal. Just the way Company's like it!

Nothing seems to work in this particular recession and networking, job fairs, job banks etc., are just as frustrating. My big concern is that Company's are using discrimination as a weeding out process to reduce the onslaught of applicants whether they are viable or not. Here are the areas that seem to be a theme in many job listings:

1.) Must have a degree (BA, BS min) prefer Masters - for a Customer Service Manager or Bank Teller job? What happened to a viable candidate who has experience to actually do the job??

So Basically, if you have 15 yrs Customer Service or Teller experience and are super at what you do, if you don't have a degree - DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT APPLYING! dDiscrimination? I do think so.

2.)Youth oriented Company, position is fast paced, need high energy, at least 1 hr experience, must show up everyday, great for college graduate - this screams out loud "no one under 30 wanted" which is saying in a nutshell - we want to pay low, we don't want the health insurance costs or anyone who may get sick or when they are there ...move or think like a turtle. Are you kidding me, I had no idea that if your over 30 your basically useless. Discrimination? A huge yes.

3.) In depth background check - Some job listings will blatantly say...if your credit isn't good OR have a bankruptcy don't apply - when the only check that should really matter is CRIMINAL.

Credit Histories weren't intended for job discrimination or a reason to charge higher insurance rates, CREDIT was intended as an indicator of risk exposure for creditors when making loans, period. Now everyone over the last several years have been using Credit histories to discriminate against people who apply for jobs, insurance, rentals and just about anything they can to either weed people out or make a higher profit and our government ushered that along and NO ONE is doing anything to stop it. AGAIN, CREDIT HISTORIES AND SCORES ARE TO BE USED AS INDICATORS OF ONES ABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY TO REPAY AND EMPLOYMENT IS ABOUT ONES ABILITY AND EXPERIENCE IN THEIR FIELD! PERIOD!!

In this recession (worst ever that was created by our government) millions of people have lost their jobs (through no fault of their own) what do you think our credit scores will be after we have run out of money because we have had to use up our savings, retirement accounts and unemployment to pay the mortgage and bills because we still can't find a job?

Bankruptcy's and Foreclosures are rampant and will continue if Company's are allowed to continue using a persons economic hardship (credit background) as a basis on whether or not to hire. Discrimination? A Huge, Huge, Huge yes!

There should be Criminal background checks done and they have been done for decades, an employee needs to feel safe in their work environment and Company's need to protect themselves, so a Criminal check is understandable. That check is enough to learn about a persons character and has been completely sufficient for years and years. Educational background checks are normal also, CREDIT is not.

I don't understand how businesses are getting away with this discriminative behavior, all the unemployed, people looking for better jobs, people who need to cover their health home or autos with insurance, educational loans etc., will continue to pay dearly now and in the future if this is not stopped.

We need to call, write and email our Government, state reps and senators to complain and demand a stop to credit being used to discriminate against all of us.