This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren–or as I like to call her, the love of my life, for her sheer disdain of Wall Street bankers–introduced a bill to Congress, along with six other co-authors–that would prevent companies from doing a credit check prior to employment.
The bill was introduced to help combat the rising number of employees being denied jobs because of poor credit. The research, according to Warren, demostrated "little or no" relationship between job performance and credit score. I know the bill aims to address a very real problem–a problem I fully support resolving– but what bill might address the bigger problem related to this issue–stupidity?
At the risk of ripping off the Big Lebowski, am I the only one here who thinks it's stupid to check a person's credit before hiring them? First, most job seekers don't have jobs and therefore have little to no revenue and therefore have problems paying their bills in a manner they might otherwise like to or be capable of. Thus, your credit score goes down. That's like helping obese people–but only the ones who don't have diabetes, an inflated BMI or high cholesterol.
Further, think of how limiting that is. Hey boss, should we sign LeBron James? You kidding? Look at his bad credit. Umm...ok. Don't you want the best people you can find? Do you think only the finest potential employees have stellar credit? The only thing a credit report should be good for is telling you whether or not you should let someone buy a queen bedroom set for 90-days same as cash. My sister went through treatment for cancer. My dad had bypass surgery for his heart. These sorts of things happen to lots of people–and it's really expensive, insurance or not. Hmm, put a little money towards continuing to live or should I beat my 10-day grace period on my Visa? Decisions, decisions. And never mind your transmission going out, your furnace breaking down or your pipes springing a leak–which almost never happens at inconvenient times. You don't know why someone has a low credit score. So often, a person's credit score says nearly nothing about them as people.
And what if other areas did this? Do you know how few college athletes, sailors, soldiers and airmen we'd have if we ran a credit report on them? The Heisman goes to...Carter Blakesworth, of the Newport Blakesworths...jolly good show! (You have to say that last line with your teeth clenched).
Certainly there are still some people that think a credit report is useful in hiring for some stupid reason. I mean, what if that person steals from the company, embezzles cash or is otherwise untrustworthy? Good point–if only every employee had tidy credit reports like Michael Milken, Ivan Bosky, Jeffrey Skilling or Bernie Madoff. Oh, but...I mean, er...um. You'd have to steal an amazingly huge pile of Post-Its, paper clips and staples to reach Madoff's level. And who do you think had better credit, me or him?
But I know how this is all going to unfold. I know how Congress acts in situations like this–I know "Congress" and "act" don't really belong in the same sentence, but just roll with me. Conservatives will respond like this: This bill does nothing to hurt business, shareholders or executives...yet, it seems to favor people who aren't any of those things and we are therefore suspicious and do not support it. Liberals will respond like this: We support this thing, but we can clearly see that we've upset you and therefore can't, in good conscience, support it either. And the bill will die and that is that.
Then we can get back to being the Schizophrenic States of America: We the People...I mean, the ones with good credit, only. We hold these truths to be self evident...you know, for the people getting 5% cash back on all purchase. The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants...by which I mean a king, not a corporation. If that's the case, the blood of the jobless will do just fine. A house divided against itself cannot stand...unless, you know, the division is comprised of people with good credit and people with bad credit. Give me your tired, your poor...wait, on second thought, don't. And let's leave it with the words of Nathan Hale, "I only regret that I have but one ding against my FICO score..."
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