Alpha Consumer

Obama Wants Your Credit Score

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November 13, 2008 RSS Feed Print
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If you're planning on applying for a job with the incoming Obama administration, be prepared to share your financial records, credit history, and a variety of other personal details. Transition officials want to know almost everything about potential candidates, and that includes their consumer behavior. Also on the list: mortgage specifics, investments, and gifts from relatives in excess of $50.

What do you think -- is it curiosity-gone-mad, or are these legitimate questions for future appointees?

Tags:
Obama administration,
personal finance

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I think Obama is just trying to avoid financial scandals but I will admit that it's probably unnecessarily invasive.

Ric of CO 4:02PM November 17, 2008

The document attributed to the Obama Transition Foundation does not contain the word "score."

Further, the company providing the consumer reports emphatically states, "ChoicePoint does not offer credit scores for purposes of employment-related background checks and no reputable background screening company or employer uses credit scores as part of the hiring process."

Geg Fisher of OH 10:22AM November 16, 2008

While I get that a certain level of vetting is important in the hiring process, rejecting applicants because of poor credit scores is sure to have a discriminatory effect on the very people that Obama claims to want to help. Anyone affected by the economic meltdown who has found themselves in foreclosure or unable to make ends meet will be screened out. The impact of this discriminatory treatment will disproportionately affect people of color, single parents, students and recent graduates.

Screening blog posts is also troubling. True, you don't want to hire someone into a sensitive position only to find that they've been spewing hate from some obscure blog but there are many other ways of vetting applicants and weeding out the crackpots. Another troubling question is, how do you decide (and who will decide) what's unacceptable commentary on a blog or other web forum - especially after the heated commentary that was generated by the recent campaign.

I think that vetting criminal records is fine. Credit records and consumer habits should be a complete non-starter.

jordana 12:36PM November 15, 2008

Alpha Consumer

Kimberly Palmer, senior editor for U.S. News & World Report, writes about making smarter financial decisions. She’s the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back.

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