To want to know exactly what they’ll see?

[RosiePosieRosie]

I’ve been offered a fantastic new job in the financial services industry, quite high up. Its amazing and it’ll change my life.

I’m concerned as about 8yrs ago my house was repossessed. It wasn’t actually my ‘fault’ as such. It was a joint mortgage and my DP lost his job and then left and declared himself bankrupt.

I was extremely upset and was under pressure from my family to declare bankruptcy. I didn’t and have completely settled the mortgage part (the shortfall after the house was sold at auction).

Following that, I’ve set up agreements with all other creditors privately (not an IVA or similar) and kept up all the payments. I’m determined to pay back everything borrowed.

I already work in financial services but now I’m worried as, although I’ve been offered the new job, they are carrying out a ‘credit check’. I don’t know exactly what they’re checking...does anyone here know?

Recently I’ve been able to get a credit card with my bank so I can’t see that my rating could be that bad...certainly not as bad as if someone had declared bankruptcy. Can anyone help as I’m really scared...

Bump...anyone there?

You can check your credit history online with the main agencies. It'll cost you £2 but you'll see what is held on you

www.experian.co.uk/

Will you need to be FCA registered?

If you are going to be an FCA authorised person, the FCA will carry out various checks on you to see you are 'fit and proper' - which will also include financial probity.

I second checking your credit history online as a matter of priority. If anything shows, you should disclose to your employer ahead of them doing the credit check.

Presumably you have a county court judgment against you in respect of the repossession?

www.gov.uk/county-court-judgments-ccj-for-debt

Apparently records of county court judgments are kept for six years

Search here to see if a county court judgment is showing up as registered against you

www.trustonline.org.uk/index.php/search-yourself

Nope not an FCA authorised person - not quite that high up! Also the repossession wasn’t a CCJ I don’t think...

It was through Norther Rock and they reduced the payment due as it had been mismanaged. If it was over 6yrs ago then surely it doesn’t count?

You should have an Experian account and check it regularly - apart from anything else, it's an interesting snapshot of your financial "health". That's what they're checking, so that's how to see what they will see.

I suppose my real query if what they will actually get to see - surely not as much as a bank looking to loan you money?

Last post - won't deluge you any more.

When I joined a financial services industry (not as an FCA authorised person), the pre-employment checks were done by Powerchex - now acquired by HireRight. They are (I think) the leading firm for pre-employment vetting in the financial services industry.

You could see what sort of checks they do - even contact them. This is what they say on their website about credit checks - www.hireright.com/emea/services/employment-background-screening/credit-history-checks.

I think you need to find out what will show as a matter of urgency so that, if anything adverse will show, you can bring it to the attention of your new employer before they learn independently and separately to information you have provided.

The checks on FS staff are increasingly stringent. When you say "I’ve set up agreements with all other creditors privately (not an IVA or similar) and kept up all the payments. I’m determined to pay back everything borrowed.", what exactly does this mean? Are the outstanding amounts with each creditor showing as defaults? Many creditors will show these as defaults even if you have a debt management plan (or similar) in place. You need to check your credit report ASAP and see how this is being recorded.

Some financial institutions will rescind an offer if you have a default on your credit record over a certain threshold - unless you can prove you have settled it. They don't care if you have an agreement in place with your creditors and you're meeting the payment terms, it's all about the absolute amount of default. This varies from company to company. Some are more understanding than others. Some are brutal. One of the UK banks wouldn't employ anyone who had an outstanding default on their record of £500+. It didn't matter what the reason was or what the person was doing about it.

Has your job offer come through a recruiter? They sometimes have an idea of how "robust" the credit check policy is for different institutions.

Funnily enough we've talked about this at work last week (also financial services although very junior)

Apparently, what my company would care about would be how you were dealing with stuff. So you would have to show payment plans etc, and in your circumstances, is also show what you can to prove it wasn't your fault.

I'm not sure if that would be the same for new employees or just existing ones. And potentially could depend on the role you're doing (everything we do has to be checked by a colleague, if it's high amounts then sign off from a manager. And our systems are such that it would be difficult to do things and not have them traced back to you. It would be quite difficult these days to do any dodgy dealings for staff at my level at least)

www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report

Martin Lewis's MSE website and how to check credit report.

See you follow through on 'delinking' with DP

In my job we have to have a credit check and declare debt as we could be open to bribes etc, could it be for something similar?

Used to work in Financial Services and we all had this. All employees had to go through a vetting/credit check process. Without fail. It was so that the company could get some "Kite Mark/Quality Mark" thing - so they could show they were practising fraud-avoiding recruitment. Anyone with untraceable addresses/undeclared or unmanageable debt/CCJs etc would not get the job.

However, if the person was upfront about it, sometimes stuff would be "allowed". It was largely about transparency. I would suggest you maybe say something upfront. "My DH accrued some debts 6 years ago and we are now paying this back through voluntary agreements. I am happy to provide further details if required." If something comes up then you have been open and honest and they can ask for more info. If nothing comes up then it doesn't matter.

The hung is it’s an online system which doesn’t state what exactly will be checked but no one at HR had spoken to me, apart from yo say I’ve been successful, they’re sending out the contracts and I will need to complete some stuff online.

It's good you are not required to undergo the FCA checks. I had to complete a form on which I would have had to disclose any voluntary arrangements as well as any bankruptcies ( they are never "spent" as far as the financial services regulator is concerned). This is an annual requirement now and seems to get more stringent each time.

Good luck

OP you need to check your credit report NOW. Go online and you will have the results within minutes. If anything "bad" is showing, contact HR and let them know. Explain what happened and what you're doing about it. They need to hear it from you first rather than the third party doing the background checks on their behalf. If the results come back as you've failed the credit check and you haven't pre-warned HR, this will not be good for you. You have nothing to lose by being upfront with them and everything to gain.

Ok, I can check my credit report...but I still won’t know what level of checks they’re carrying out. I know it won’t be golden if I was, say, taking out a mortgage, but I don’t know if they’re just checking I haven’t been declared bankrupt...and I have no way of knowing.

They will see:

Voter's roll records
Bankruptcy Records
Any IVA or CCJs
Credit agreements both active and settled in the past 6 years
Any aliases
Any financial associates
Any linked addresses
Any credit applications made within the last year

They will see pretty much everything you can see via Experian or similar. The main exception would be soft searches.

Ok, I can check my credit report..

They’ll see almost exactly what you do; minus any soft searches that you can see.

I got it!

So relieved and excited. Thanks for all your comments!!

Congratulations!! Really pleased for you.