Got Bad Credit?

Your credit report has a lot more to do with your life than you know. Jim Hightower wrote a very disturbing article in a local newspaper, The Herald Democrat, 8/17/08, about our soldiers being tagged as high risk if they have deep debt and getting their security clearance taken away! If you think that's sad, there's more that pertains to you. Did you know that employers have been checking credit reports of potential employees? Why, you ask? Apparently, they use your credit report to determine if you are responsible and trustworthy. If you have bad credit they don't think you could possible be a good employee. They don't realize that being in deep debt can be because you need a job to pay it off. So being penalized by potential employers for bad debt makes it near impossible to get a job and start paying off your debt. A job is separate from your personal financial life and they should not be allowed to check your credit. Of course, they hide behind the idea that it is your choice to give them access it. Right, and if you refuse I bet they trash your application immediately.

I'm sure, by now, everybody knows that auto insurance companies check your credit report to determine how high your premium will be. The worse your credit is, the higher your premium is going to be. It's similar to purchasing a car: If you have bad credit your APR is going to be higher than if you had good credit.

Here's another: If you have an education loan and can't afford to pay it, then the original creditor turns it over to a collection agency and they charge double and triple APR, charge you a fee for their service, and then you end up owing twice the original amount. And if you begin paying them monthly, the pay off amount fluctuates every month usually higher than lower, so you can't see a definitive end to getting this loan being paid off. Doesn't all this seem illogical to you? If you had a hard time paying stuff off before, your bad credit causes companies to charge higher APRs because you are a risk.

For more on the soldiers story go to MinutemanMedia.org or heralddemocrat.com