[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 179 (Tuesday, December 17, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S8916]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, Mr. Leahy, 
        Mr. Markey, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Whitehouse):
  S. 1837. A bill to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit 
the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current 
employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions; to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I come to the floor in support of the 
Equal Employment for All Act, a bill I introduced today with Senators 
Blumenthal, Brown, Leahy, Markey, Shaheen, and Whitehouse. This 
legislation would prohibit employers from requiring prospective 
employees to disclose their credit history as part of the job 
application process. It makes sure that hiring decisions are based on 
an individual's skill and experience--not on past financial problems. 
This is also about basic fairness. Let people compete for jobs on the 
merits, not on whether they have enough money to pay all their bills.
  Many people have bad credit because they hit hard times. They got 
sick, their husband left or their wife died or they lost their jobs. 
These are tough events under any circumstances, and they often put a 
real financial strain on a person. That strain sometimes results in 
late payments or an increase in the amount of money they must borrow.
  The problems of bad credit were compounded following the 2008 
financial crisis. Millions of people stumbled financially when 
shrinking home prices left them unable to refinance or to sell a home. 
Depreciated savings left people with a smaller financial cushion to 
survive fluctuations in their income. People lost their small 
businesses and found themselves mired in debt. For too many people, the 
fallout from the 2008 crisis also damaged their credit.
  Much of America, hard-working, bill-paying America, has a damaged 
credit rating, and the impact of that bad credit rating lasts a long 
time. Negative information generally remains on a credit report for 7 
years and, in some cases, it lasts even longer.
  Most people recognize that one consequence of bad credit is that they 
are going to have trouble borrowing money or they are going to pay more 
when they borrow. But for many people, a damaged credit rating can 
block access to a job. After a terrible blow--a job loss, a death in 
the family, a divorce, a serious medical problem--many people are 
scrambling to get back to work or to pick up a second job or to change 
jobs so they can get back on their feet financially, but they are 
knocked back by damaged credit. Today, highly qualified applicants with 
bad credit can be shut out of the job market. This is wrong.
  It was once thought a credit history would provide insight into a 
person's character and, today, many companies routinely require credit 
reports from job applicants. But research has shown that an 
individual's credit rating has little to no correlation with his or her 
ability to succeed in the workplace. A bad credit rating is far more 
often the result of an unexpected personal crisis or economic downturn 
than a reflection of someone's character or abilities.
  The Equal Employment for All Act would amend the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act to put an end to these unfair and harmful practices. This 
would benefit millions of American families down on their luck, giving 
them a chance to rebuild their financial security. It will particularly 
help women, minorities, students, and seniors because these groups are 
disproportionately likely to be hit hard by bad credit ratings. For 
example, the economic fallout from a divorce often hits women's 
finances particularly hard. It only gets more difficult for women when 
they apply for good jobs for which they are fully qualified, but they 
are barred because employers insist on examining their credit history.
  Another challenge with using credit reports during the job 
application process is that they are not always accurate. According to 
a February 2013 FTC report, 20 percent of consumers could identify at 
least one error in their credit reports.
  Unfortunately, someone whose credit report has a significant error 
may have trouble learning about the mistake and, even if the mistake is 
identified, have trouble getting it corrected in a reasonable time.
  According to the same FTC report, correcting credit report errors can 
be difficult to manage and the reporting agencies can be unresponsive. 
This means innocent job applicants are paying the price for a credit 
rating company's mistake.
  This is only one more way the game is rigged. A rich person who loses 
a job, gets divorced or faces a family illness is unlikely to suffer 
from a drop in his credit or her credit rating. But for millions of 
working families, a hard personal blow translates into a hard financial 
blow that will show up for years in a credit report. No one should be 
denied the chance to compete for a job because of a credit report that 
bears no relationship to job performance and that can be riddled with 
inaccuracies.
  In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis--a crisis that hammered 
middle-class families and from which millions of families are still 
struggling to recover--these practices should be stopped. It is time to 
give more families a chance to get back in the workforce and to get 
back on their feet.

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