Here's a question.

I wonder if Nick Leeson or Jerome Kerviel had credit checks and if they did were they spotless? These would be two glaring examples of a failure of the credit check system, but of course Leeson was UK and Kerviel is France.

Snoozan makes the good point about lower paid retail jobs, but having worked for four major retailers, the number one cause of theft is not shoplifters, it is usually internal theft, whether accidental or intentional. The rationale in some cases is that a cashier that cannot manage their own money our keep account will also cause shrink at the POS (Point Of Sale) by not counting money back and into the till correctly.

I may not like this, but I understand the reasons behind it.

My beef with it is the case of Mercurialbliss. Here is a woman who had her credit trashed by her ex. I dare anyone to tell me they have never heard of an ex that either maxed a card or two to "get back at the other one" at the end of a relationship. Merc is a smart, degreed woman and all because of a fiscally irresponsible spouse, she is paying the price. Employers who use the credit check as tthe "Holy Grail" of job accountability are foolhardy at best.

My ID theft was a "friend" who was so jealous of myself and my roommate having high paying tech jobs that he stole not just our credit card numbers, he stole our social security info and bank account routing numbers. I am lucky that I have held several positions where I had fiscal accountablility and my references outweighed what came back in the credit report. Some employers will take that into account when checking references. Plus it doesn't hurt that I have my credit checks fraud alerted, I have official police reports and court proceedings to back me up and the person who stole from me was apprehended and is currently enjoying a vacation on the penal system.

Merc, if you were here, I could get you hired millions of places with just a phone call. I find that Washington state is a place where people take the persons actions into account rather than a piece of paper from a greedy credit bureau.