Most job applicants these days are being required by their employers to have a pre employment credit check before their hire. Employers often use the credit report as a screening tool to evaluate a candidate and to exercise due diligence in the hiring process.

With research indicating that at least 40 per cent of resumes are embellished by the applicants, employers feel compelled to run background and credit checks to ensure that they are hiring a responsible candidate.

The Pre employment credit check helps the employer analyze whether the candidate is responsible and reliable. For employee positions in the finance and accounting sections, the pre employment credit check is tool that helps the employer estimate whether the candidate is good with handling money and other finances. Often employers are reluctant to give jobs to individuals with poor credit history. The pre employment credit check cannot be conducted without the knowledge of the employee. In fact, the pre employment credit check can be conducted only after the employee has given written consent to it. Otherwise, credit reports can be considered invasion of privacy.A pre employment credit check will reveal the name, social security number, and past addresses of the candidate. The credit history report will also indicate whether the individual has any debts, personal loans, mortgage payments and credit card bills. The pre employment credit check will also indicate to an employer how much an applicant has in terms of debts, how much the individual currently owes and whether debts have been paid late or sent for collection. Negative information will stay on a report for seven years, and bankruptcies stay for 10 years. For pre-employment credit checks, the three major credit bureaus use a special reporting format that leaves out actual credit card account numbers, credit risk scoring and age. However all credit reports have the name of the organization that ordered the credit report.Pre employment credit checks throw up vital information about individuals, however employers need to use this knowledge with caution. Unless the information thrown up by the pre employment credit check is directly job related, its use can be considered discriminatory. Therefore employers need to be cautious when using data. If an employer decides not to employ an applicant because of some information brought up by the pre employment credit check, the employer should pass on this information along with copies of the credit history to the applicant.Candidates who are worried about what their pre employment credit check may throw up can ask to review their credit history in advance. This way any erroneous information can be cleared with creditors in advance.