Posted on Monday, 23rd January 2012 by Eden Fryett


The New York Times is reporting that a new study by Louisiana State University is about to be released which shows no link between a person’s credit score and their behavior on the job.

Many more employers have been jumping on the credit score bandwagon, pulling credit scores of potential job candidates as part of the interview and screening process for employment. Those looking to work in government jobs or in finance typically need a strong credit score to get employment offers. But now the new study is showing that a job applicant’s credit history may not have a valid link to their potential behavior at work. It is noted that employers do not actually have access to the credit scores of applicants but do get to see credit history data which is used to calculate the applicant’s score.

Over all the study conducted at LSU’s business school showed that low credit scores were not able to be linked to how a person would act in a job. For example, someone with a low credit score would not be more prone to stealing from a company.

The study did show there was a relationship between a credit score and a person’s personality. Those who were considered to be ‘conscientious’ were found to also have good credit. However, the study also showed that individuals found to be ‘agreeable’ also had lower credit score ratings. This may translate to those with laid-back attitudes being more willing to help a friend get a loan or be more easily talked into applying for a store credit card by a store employee.

The study is available online and will be soon published in The Journal of Applied Psychology. The study also includes data released from Texas Tech University and Northern Illinois University who collected employee data for 142 individuals that includes credit information and employee performance evaluations from their supervisors.

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Tags: Job, Job Performance
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