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Here is something you might not understand or know. Nowadays your credit score affects more than you realize. It used in many places as a measure of trustworthi

Here is something you might not understand or know. Nowadays your credit score affects more than you realize. It used in many places as a measure of trustworthiness. You can have trouble renting an apartment (depending on the market and landlord) with debt that went to collection. Also you pay more in insurance premiums. Your potential employer may pull your credit report as part of a background check and decide not to hire you because you didn't feel like paying your debt. Just forget about getting a security clearance with debt in collections. Information does eventually age out of your credit report.

michaelochurch 12y ago
Your potential employer may pull your credit report as part of a background check and decide not to hire you because you didn't feel like paying your debt. In many jurisdictions, they have to disclose that they're doing so. Fake a competing "exploding" offer to put time pressure on them. They'll write you an offer (if they're interested) quickly. Then, if they rescind the offer later because they don't like what they see on a credit check, threaten to sue for promissory estoppel. Whether or not you're likely to win, they'll settle in order not to be known as a company that rescinds offers. Walk away with a severance, without even having set foot on the job site. I'm not saying that people should let their credit scores go to shit just to avoid paying small debts. It's rarely worth it to welch on a debt. However, in the case of employment, there is a strategy if you think you're at risk of losing job opportunities based on a credit report. (That said, I've never heard of anyone in tech getting dicked on bad credit. But in our scummy/chummy industry, rescinded offers over reputation issues are not uncommon and those can usually be turned into 3-5 months' pay.)
- FireBeyond 12y ago
  "Then, if they rescind the offer later because they don't like what they see on a credit check, threaten to sue for promissory estoppel." At which point they'll promptly hire you, and let you go in the first week, as you're "just not working out", and you're most likely in an "at will" state.
  - kyllo 12y ago
    Would something that transparent actually stop you from having grounds to sue, though? If you documented that they rescinded an offer, then you threatened to sue before they hired and immediately fired you, I don't think them doing that would invalidate your case at all.
  - michaelochurch 12y ago
    I doubt they'd do that. First, "at will" employment is pretty complicated. It's not as cut-and-dry as it's made out to be. Besides, this is a detrimental reliance case: you're arguing that you relied on an offer that was fraudulent, and if they fired you in the first week and couldn't show that it was part of a business layoff or due to criminal behavior on your part, you'd still have that argument. Second, once you rescind an offer, that person's pissed. Letting that person into the building, even for a week, is not something a risk-averse company is going to do lightly. Third, companies would have all sorts of internal-publicity/morale issues in doing this: hiring someone for a week just to can him on an obviously phony performance case. Fourth, companies care as much about disparagement as about lawsuits, which is why you can often get a settlement even if you don't have grounds to sue (or, more commonly, the suit wouldn't be worth the time put into it). Of course, you shouldn't threaten to disparage in a severance negotiation, because if you don't know what you're doing you can end up unknowingly committing extortion, but it is a concern on their side. Companies are risk-averse and want to protect their reputations and avoid headaches. Once they've rescinded the offer, a 3-5 month severance is easier than taking the risk of letting you into the building. What if your boss and team like you (and, in the first week, why wouldn't they)? Do they really want to deal with the morale mess of firing you in the first month? Of course, this doesn't apply when offers are rescinded for legitimate reasons (whole-office shutdowns, massive layoffs) but that's not what we're talking about here.
    - kyllo 12y ago
      The problem is, if they're doing it right, they won't even know you failed background because of your credit score. Companies outsource background checking to protect themselves from exactly this. They don't even want the potential liability of knowing why you failed the check. They pass your name and address as parameters to the background check company, and the background check company just returns a boolean value. The offer is always conditional upon passing background, so if you don't, the offer is null and void. You don't get to know why.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  Really? This would never work. Every job offer I ever got says "this offer is continent upon passing background/credit check." You got it backwards anyways. It isn't run background check -> Offer job it is Offer job -> Run background check. Offer job is always first.

michaelochurch 12y ago

Your potential employer may pull your credit report as part of a background check and decide not to hire you because you didn't feel like paying your debt. In many jurisdictions, they have to disclose that they're doing so. Fake a competing "exploding" offer to put time pressure on them. They'll write you an offer (if they're interested) quickly. Then, if they rescind the offer later because they don't like what they see on a credit check, threaten to sue for promissory estoppel. Whether or not you're likely to win, they'll settle in order not to be known as a company that rescinds offers. Walk away with a severance, without even having set foot on the job site. I'm not saying that people should let their credit scores go to shit just to avoid paying small debts. It's rarely worth it to welch on a debt. However, in the case of employment, there is a strategy if you think you're at risk of losing job opportunities based on a credit report. (That said, I've never heard of anyone in tech getting dicked on bad credit. But in our scummy/chummy industry, rescinded offers over reputation issues are not uncommon and those can usually be turned into 3-5 months' pay.)

FireBeyond 12y ago
"Then, if they rescind the offer later because they don't like what they see on a credit check, threaten to sue for promissory estoppel." At which point they'll promptly hire you, and let you go in the first week, as you're "just not working out", and you're most likely in an "at will" state.
- kyllo 12y ago
  Would something that transparent actually stop you from having grounds to sue, though? If you documented that they rescinded an offer, then you threatened to sue before they hired and immediately fired you, I don't think them doing that would invalidate your case at all.
- michaelochurch 12y ago
  I doubt they'd do that. First, "at will" employment is pretty complicated. It's not as cut-and-dry as it's made out to be. Besides, this is a detrimental reliance case: you're arguing that you relied on an offer that was fraudulent, and if they fired you in the first week and couldn't show that it was part of a business layoff or due to criminal behavior on your part, you'd still have that argument. Second, once you rescind an offer, that person's pissed. Letting that person into the building, even for a week, is not something a risk-averse company is going to do lightly. Third, companies would have all sorts of internal-publicity/morale issues in doing this: hiring someone for a week just to can him on an obviously phony performance case. Fourth, companies care as much about disparagement as about lawsuits, which is why you can often get a settlement even if you don't have grounds to sue (or, more commonly, the suit wouldn't be worth the time put into it). Of course, you shouldn't threaten to disparage in a severance negotiation, because if you don't know what you're doing you can end up unknowingly committing extortion, but it is a concern on their side. Companies are risk-averse and want to protect their reputations and avoid headaches. Once they've rescinded the offer, a 3-5 month severance is easier than taking the risk of letting you into the building. What if your boss and team like you (and, in the first week, why wouldn't they)? Do they really want to deal with the morale mess of firing you in the first month? Of course, this doesn't apply when offers are rescinded for legitimate reasons (whole-office shutdowns, massive layoffs) but that's not what we're talking about here.
  - kyllo 12y ago
    The problem is, if they're doing it right, they won't even know you failed background because of your credit score. Companies outsource background checking to protect themselves from exactly this. They don't even want the potential liability of knowing why you failed the check. They pass your name and address as parameters to the background check company, and the background check company just returns a boolean value. The offer is always conditional upon passing background, so if you don't, the offer is null and void. You don't get to know why.
UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
Really? This would never work. Every job offer I ever got says "this offer is continent upon passing background/credit check." You got it backwards anyways. It isn't run background check -> Offer job it is Offer job -> Run background check. Offer job is always first.