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Why You Should Check Your Credit Report Before Applying for a Job

Published on: 1 Mar 2021

Credit report header

We all know to brush up our CV and polish our LinkedIn profile before applying for a job. But as well as removing those unbecoming Ibiza photos from your Facebook page, it could be useful to check your credit report before submitting your application.

Many law and finance firms are legally required to perform credit checks on potential employees to ensure they can handle money responsibly. They can also be done by other employers, such as large businesses, when the job role involves dealing with money.

 

What can employers see?

With your permission, employers can look at your ‘public’ credit report. This contains your Electoral Roll information, and any ‘red flags’ such as bankruptcies, County Court Judgments (CCJs) or Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs).

It’s these ‘red flags’ that employers are looking for on your report: they can’t check your detailed credit repayments.

 

Which employers check your credit report?

The most common ones are law firms, banks, building societies, credit unions and insurance companies. If your employer is regulated by either the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), they will be legally obliged to check your public credit report.

Credit score

 

What should you do?

The first thing to do is to get hold of your credit report and look at it carefully. You can access your Equifax credit report for free with ClearScore.

To get an overall picture of your report, you should also check the other two credit reference agencies in the UK: Experian and Callcredit.

The next step is to fix any mistakes on your report. Errors on credit reports are surprisingly common: research has found that 38% of people who check their report find errors.

You can fix these mistakes by contacting your lender or credit reference agency (you can do this on ClearScore here.)

If you have a ‘red flag’ on your report that isn’t a mistake, don’t worry- just start preparing your explanation to your potential employer. If you were affected by hardship beyond your control, an employer will take this into account.

You can also contact the credit reference agency involved (Equifax, Experian or Callcredit), and ask if they will add a ‘notice of correction’ on your report. This is a small note of 200 words which explains your circumstances.