Illinois governor: Employers use credit score

The national consumer reporting agencies all state that they do not provide credit scores for employment purposes.

In spite of that, as Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois signed a bill into law, he used the word “score” twice.  State Senator Don Harmon piled on.

Quinn (2:23):  “… will not allow employers to use credit score to decide whether or not somebody is going to get a job or somebody is going to get a promotion.”

Harmon (3:25) :  This bill strikes an appropriate balance.  It says, as a general principle, employers can’t use your credit history, your credit score, in determining whether or not to hire your or promote you.

Quinn (4:21):  “Unfortunately, some employers are using credit score of an individual person to decide whether someone gets hired, or someone gets retained on a job, or someone gets a promotion on that job.”

The new law, however, allows credit history use in the case of an “established bona fide occupational requirement.” 

The Chicago Tribune reported, “[Rep. Jack] Franks said a lobbyist working for TransUnion ‘duped him’ into replacing references to ‘credit history’ with ‘credit scores,’ which are not used in hiring.”

An official of Consumer reporting agency TransUnion testified in Oregon, “There’s no such thing as a credit score in employment.”  TransUnion is based in Chicago. 

At least, somebody is contolling the message in this messy state’s heady merry go round.  The governor’s press release does not include the word “score.”  But give him a break.  He didn’t run for the job.