Poor credit history, wanting to work finance, can i ??

[mr smith]

Basically I have finished uni and have applied for many jobs, the majority in finance.

Problem is i now understand that to work in the industry you need to have a credit check performed on yourself.

My credit history is not the best. My last year of uni a got into a financial mess the reason being I was under an enourmous amount of pressure with my father dying of cancer, My father was in and out of hospital, which my mum nearly had breakdown over. Plus working part time and trying to finish uni.

I missed a few payments and defaulted on a loan. I am now back to my normal repayments and have agreed to pay more to the loan i have defaulted in. So for the last 6 months i have been able to get back on my feet.

Heres the big problem, ive got a final job interview for a trainee financial advisor posistion, where there going to the check. should i tell them now or leave then explain if it flags up?

Does anyone have advice on this matter?

[jfronk]

I'm sorry to hear about your dilema. If I were you I would come clean with it, therefore they know you are honest. Just tell thm what happened then they will have an explaination up front and they can consider that. If they don't have that explaination they will just think you were irresponsible. Also may I suggest a company I used to work for that really does help people fix their credit. They are doing my boyfriends right now and we are seeing awesome results. They are called Credit Attorney. You can visit their site at creditattorney.com. This is the only credit repair organization that I know of that is not a scam. Try this and it may help you in the future.

[Mrs R]

I work for a building society and have recently refused people due to poor credit - however the people we refused did not declare the history. Basically the financial organisations are insured and if they were seen to employ somebdy with bad credit and then this person committed fraud they would not be insured. Our policy is at the interview we ask if they have adverse credit if they say yes we inform as long as this is not too bad and that the person is now showing they are managing there finances and have reasonable explanations as to why they got the bad credit then theres no reason why they cant employ you. My advice would be to be honest and tell them now explain your circumstances and that you are managing your finances now, they may write it into to your contract that a further credit check is to be done say 6 mths later to make sure everything is ok - you could even ask them to do this for reassurance to them. Good Luck.

[mr smith]

Thanx for the advice. I really needed someone advice from a person in the industry like yourself.

I have no problem telling them how I got into that situation and that i have resolved it as mentioned in my first post.

Alot of people have just said not to mention it until they ask.

Not sure when I should tell them though. I dont want to say straight away but not leave it till right at the end.

[Mrs R]

You need to tell them straight away. I have just interviewed a woman who was perfect for the job and we offered her the position, we did a credit check and it was not good but the main factor why she did not get the job was because she was not honest when we asked her outright. Why dont you say to them that you have recently got your credit report and seen the adverse credit on there and think it should be brought to there attention straight away as you would not want it to jeopradise you being consider for the position (if you have already told them you have no adverse credit just say you wanted to double check). If you go online to equifax or experian (I cant remember which) but one of them are doing a free trial and you can view your credit history as soon as you register so you know exactly what to say. Honestly it is better to tell them as soon as poss, it would be better for them and definately for you as I can imagine you will be a nervous wreck and you dont want to waste theres and your time. If this puts your mind at ease the majority of people we have interviewed have had bad credit but you need to be truthful to them as it all depends on what there policy is and how bad the credit is - just tell them everything it is totally confidential.
Let me know how you get on & good luck.

[mr smith]

I got a copy from all three agencies and the information on all of them vary. Two of the companies dont even show the loan account which I defaulted on. (Experian and callcredit) however Equifax shows everything. Which company does yours use?

[mr smith]

Plus also what do you thing about my credit history : Late with some payments around the same time and defaulting in a loan which I have agreed to increse my monthly installments.

Would you employ me on that basis?

[Mrs R]

I know where I work we use Experian but it has something to do with getting a better deal with that particular agency when we are considering a lending application. Yes I would consider employing you on the basis that I thought you were the ideal candidate but it depends on how much you owe and how long ago these missed payments were and for how many months you were behind. With regards to the lady I was telling you about the HR department basically told me that I had to get her job offer signed off by our General Manager and also get internal audit to have a look but she did have a bad histroty far worse than yours. But the difference between ourselves is that I work in mortgage arrears where we have access to debit card details etc and you have applied for Financial advisor so I'm not sure what the employment criteria is - but HR told me throughout the positions they have on offer they get this problem and apply the same rule with regards to honesty and being able to see it was a blip and you are managing it providing the history is not bad. Why dont you call them today tell them your reason why this happened as it a very geniune and unavoidable reason. They may have a total different stratergy to how we work but it will put your mind a rest .

[mr smith]

Thanx Mrs R.

Since your post I have already attended the 2nd interview.

To be honest I did not get a chance to mention it. At the interview there was a director, company secretary and pensions manager present and really they did all the talking. (which I was not expecting at all) I basically just had to say why I want the job, what I do in my current job, what I did at Uni. The director just kept talking about the company and felt it would be totally inapropriate.

Ive messed up I think as the interview went well and will have to wait and see. The last thing I want to do is waste there time.

Ps Im in about �10,000 of debt and pay about �400 a month to cover it. Will be drastically reduced next year when my car is paid for and my loan is paid in May

[Mrs R]

Good luck anyway - I hope you get the position - keep me posted!

[Mrs R]

Have you heard anything about the job Mr Smith?