Will Declaring Bankruptcy Affect My Employment?
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Matt McArthur, bankruptcy attorney at Clear Counsel Law Group. It's not uncommon that I get asked the question: How will filing bankruptcy affect my current job or any potential future employment? The answer to this question is a very difficult one to provide because it's a very specific answer to each employer. Each employer has their own policies and their own requirements for employment.
However, I will note that if you're seeking employment from an employer that has very strict credit background guidelines that they're going to be doing a background check and looking into your financial history, chances are that if you have poor credit and you're thinking about filing bankruptcy, you may already be disqualified for this job because if you have a very low credit score they're going to see that you've been either financially irresponsible or you've gotten in over your head in some way or another.
Filing bankruptcy may actually help you with some employers because it shows that you are taking the initiative to address this debt and you're not letting the debt remain a lingering issue that's going to affect you and follow you throughout your life with wage garnishments and bank levies and the like.
Now there are certain types of perhaps government jobs that I've been informed of that have more strict regulations. Working for high end financial institutions. These are the types of companies generally that are going to look very closely at your background and your financial history. However, by and large I haven't really heard a lot of feedback from my own clients that they've been negatively affected by filing for bankruptcy.
If you're concerned at all about how this may affect your employment before filing bankruptcy, and you're either worried about your current job or a potential future job that you're looking into, please make sure to speak with the hiring individuals or the human resources department for these employers to get a clear statement on with their policy is toward bankruptcy, towards bad credit. Then we can take a detailed look at your particular situation and see whether or not bankruptcy will actually help you in terms of keeping or getting that new job. This is Matt McArthur at Clear Counsel Law Group. I hope to hear from you soon if you're thinking about filing for bankruptcy and you're worried about your employment, because I'd be happy to help you.
