Are criminal records less important than credit records?
I have been arrested. Once. I forgot to pay a fine on a speeding ticket. I don't remember the date, as it was almost ten years ago.
I have been turned down for a job because I couldn't give them the correct date of my arrest. The company knew what it was because their background check turned it up. They would not let me see the results of the background check.
When I applied for a credit card, and was turned down because of my credit report, they sent me a copy of the report. I saw that there was an account listing that was wrong, which I resolved by contacting the bank in question. Afterwards, I reapplied for the credit card and was approved.
My question is, why aren't criminal background searches required to be shared in the same way as credit checks?
I think it says something about the state of our society that your money is so much more important than your morality.
Think about it: I can, easily and quickly, find out the dates of each bank account that I opened, and a general history of my behavior with those accounts. If I want to find out the dates for my single arrest, I'd have to hire a lawyer to go to the courthouse and file a records request, which may or may not actually have the information I need, since I don't already have the exact dates of the incident. This would cost well over $100, and would possibly need to be repeated to yield the information I need. Or I could risk paying an online private eye firm between $25 and $300, with all the attendant risks of fraud, scam, and plain bad luck that comes with giving your full information to total strangers.
Does this seem like a healthy system to you? I doesn't seem healthy at all to me.
I have been turned down for a job because I couldn't give them the correct date of my arrest. The company knew what it was because their background check turned it up. They would not let me see the results of the background check.
When I applied for a credit card, and was turned down because of my credit report, they sent me a copy of the report. I saw that there was an account listing that was wrong, which I resolved by contacting the bank in question. Afterwards, I reapplied for the credit card and was approved.
My question is, why aren't criminal background searches required to be shared in the same way as credit checks?
I think it says something about the state of our society that your money is so much more important than your morality.
Think about it: I can, easily and quickly, find out the dates of each bank account that I opened, and a general history of my behavior with those accounts. If I want to find out the dates for my single arrest, I'd have to hire a lawyer to go to the courthouse and file a records request, which may or may not actually have the information I need, since I don't already have the exact dates of the incident. This would cost well over $100, and would possibly need to be repeated to yield the information I need. Or I could risk paying an online private eye firm between $25 and $300, with all the attendant risks of fraud, scam, and plain bad luck that comes with giving your full information to total strangers.
Does this seem like a healthy system to you? I doesn't seem healthy at all to me.