Furious! aibu to refuse to do this?

[PearlNicholas]

Got new job,have trained hard for it and am good at it, been doing it for three months now and have just had an email from head office saying they want to a credit/background check on me, I feel it's intrusive and has no bearing on my ability to do my job
In in a bit debt but not unmanageable and and feel embarrassed and humiliated and being asked to do this
Can I refuse?

Is it a finance job?

Errr surely they can't do that?
I honestly have no idea but it sound bizzare and I wouldn't be happy to do that either!

Personally, I'd refuse.

Are you working in a financial institution pearl? If so, this is very common and generally quite thorough.
Other companies may do checks to make sure you have no bankruptcies or serial CCJs etc

for what reason do they want to do this ?

Do you work in financial service? If so is very common. Not sure if you can refuse, how much do you want the job?

No idea but as 99% of the population are in debt (and it's how banks survive) I wouldn't be embarrassed , I'd expect complete confidentiality though.

My DBro applied for a job, they wanted to run a credit check before he interveiwed. He said "No" and withdrew his application.
Reason they gave was to see if anyone could potentially be bribed/blackmailed? (Not sure if that's true though)

It might be part of the recruitment procedure, for many jobs where there is a danger of being offered bribes, it is standard.

If you have only been there three months, it sounds like just part of the new employee record s, like taking up references, and police checks, etc.

I work for a bank, and this also happens to us.

I have no idea why they want to do this, it's not finance as such, I don't handle any money at all or make any decisions regarding money

well you could refuse but they will almost certainly withdraw the offer.

Pretty standard in any company within Financial Services.

What is your job role? You may not be able to refuse if you want to keep your job.

But are you in a position were someone might attempt to bribe you? Housing officer, local council, any sort of law enforcement or inspectorate? etc

There are certain databases who have require a background / credit check before you can have access to them and certain lines of work where they need to establish that your integrity can't be compromised on financial grounds.

What kind of job is it OP?

I've had to do this for a few jobs. Generally anything relating to the financial industry but also for sales roles where I would be handling payment details.

Even if you are in a normal debt, that isn't an issue. They are checking for financial irregularities and basically anything that indicates you aren't trustworthy/ very bad with money (resulting in court appearances). It's fairly standard and will be conducted sensitively and securely.

It's usually a risk procedure that companies need to stick to in order to protect their assets and customers.

I have a signed contract of employment and no mention of this was in it, not sure if that makes any difference to my ability to refuse

I don't handle money or make financial decisions but it's done in my job.

Do you handle anything like insurance / selling financial products? I know mobile phone shops credit check because the staff are effectively selling finance agreements. I would imagine most consumer goods shops are the same?

Are you upset about this on principle or because you have something to hide? It sounds like the latter so far, but having a bit of debt isn't uncommon, most people have debt of some kind. Why do you feel humiliated?

Is it insurance Pearl? Id just go along with it. Your information will be shared with very few people and its a legal requirement for some roles. They have done it for everyone else in the whole company, including your seniors. I doubt anyone has too much of an interest in your personal financial situation beyond what they are required to check for.

Sorry for being cryptic but it's a job that only a few people in the country do and I don't want to out myself
It involves giving a very niche piece of advice to people

That's different if you already have a contract and it's not eg end of probationary petiod then I'd say it's too late for them to make you.

I had this when working for a bank, I passed to work there but was declined for their employee credit card. Because I didn't earn enough, presumably.

My dsis worked for a bank and had to have a credit check. She went bankrupt but got an IVA equivalent (Scotland), and even though she had dealt with it the IVA was in breach of her contract, and they did consider sacking her. They decided not to, fortunately, so she left the sector to work elsewhere in case being bankrupt could put her future employment at risk.

What did the original job advert and job offer say?

from your description then, yes, a job where you might be at risk of being offered bribes, to change your advice, possibly? In which case this would not only be standard but also necessary.