In 2017, Brittany Greene was on observe to be promoted from an assistant to a enterprise analyst place at her firm, she says. She’d earned her grasp’s diploma in mission administration and shadowed with the crew.
However Greene did not get the job — and says her poor credit score historical past performed a job. “I truly came upon afterwards that I didn’t get [promoted] into that place due to my credit score,” she says.
She was notified concerning the resolution through e-mail, she says. She then had a digital assembly with a member of the crew she would have joined, who confirmed her credit score historical past affected the choice, she says. CNBC Make It was not in a position to independently affirm if Greene’s credit score historical past was a consider her former employer’s resolution to not promote her.
Greene’s story is a reminder that for a lot of Individuals, having a great credit score historical past issues for extra than simply the rates of interest you may get on loans or whether or not you will qualify to lease an house, says Cynthia Chen, co-founder and CEO at Kikoff, a fintech firm that helps people construct and restore their credit score.
About half of employers embrace credit score studies in worker background checks for his or her U.S. places, a 2021 survey from the Skilled Background Screening Affiliation discovered. Credit score checks are particularly frequent for hiring in monetary companies like brokerage companies and health-care companies, Chen says.
“The affect of an individual’s credit score rating and likewise credit score report goes far past monetary companies and even housing alternatives,” Chen says. “It may possibly truly affect your eligibility to be employed, to be promoted, and in some instances, if you wish to work in a regulated business, your capacity to get licensed.”
Why employers could examine your credit score historical past
Greene had a credit score rating within the 400s on the time she misplaced the promotion, she says. FICO credit score scores, those most generally utilized by lenders, vary from 300 to 850. Any rating beneath 580 is taken into account poor, in keeping with Experian, one of many three main credit score bureaus.
“When you’ve got something that’s beneath 550, employers will probably take a deeper have a look at your report back to guarantee that there’s not any particular merchandise that makes them hesitant about giving a suggestion,” Chen says.
Remember that employers could not see your credit score rating in the event that they examine your credit score historical past, says Courtney Alev, shopper monetary advocate at Intuit Credit score Karma. “They often obtain a modified model of your credit score report quite than the three-digit rating itself.”
“It is vital to know the distinction, as a result of a credit score report incorporates details about your account historical past and cost conduct, whereas a credit score rating is a separate calculation based mostly on that info,” Alev provides.
Greene says her low rating was resulting from selections she made earlier than she had a greater grasp on monetary literacy. She first signed up for a bank card simply to get free pizza in school, she says, and later had bother maintaining with funds after racking up a stability. She says a part of the explanation she wished the promotion was to make more cash and get her funds again on observe, together with bettering her credit score.
“It was very irritating, very gut-wrenching, since you do all of this difficult work, you go to the lengths of getting your levels, taking the interview prep, ensuring your resume is on level,” she says.
It is also price noting that the Honest Credit score Reporting Act requires employers to get consent earlier than they will pull credit score studies on potential or present workers and use that info in profession selections like hiring and promotions.
As of April 18, 2026, a complete of 11 states will ban using credit score checks in employment selections as New York joins 10 different states and several other jurisdictions, together with Philadelphia and Chicago, that prohibit the apply, with some exceptions.
The best way to begin bettering your credit score
Now, almost 10 years later, Greene is the top of neighborhood at Self Monetary, a monetary know-how firm targeted on serving to people construct and restore their credit score. Attending to a great place along with your credit score is not essentially a “linear journey,” she says.
Listed below are three suggestions she provides to these seeking to restore their credit score or construct it from scratch.
1. Know the place you stand
Step one to constructing or bettering your credit score historical past is to know the place you stand, Greene says. If you do not know your place to begin, you will not know the right way to get higher.
“I believe that is the scariest half,” she says. “Lots of people will take a step again and never have a look at it or keep away from it as a lot as doable. However a great 50% of you wanting to enhance your [score] is realizing the place you might be…taking that concern out of it.”
You will get a replica of your credit score report without spending a dime as soon as every week from all three credit score reporting bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — through annualcreditreport.com. Your bank card firm or financial institution can also supply free credit score rating checks.
Your credit score report will not embrace your credit score rating, however it’s good to examine it for inaccuracies or fraudulent accounts. If you happen to discover an account you do not acknowledge or incorrect details about whether or not you are updated on funds on an account, attain out to the credit score bureau on to dispute it, Chen says.
2. Have fun your small wins
As you are constructing or rebuilding your credit score, it is vital to have a good time your progress, even when it is comparatively small, says Greene, who additionally has a Ph.D. in human conduct.
From a psychological perspective, “It’s a must to align your self with the [credit] rating that you simply say that you really want,” she says. “It’s a must to join your self to that rating that you really want, or the habits of the one that would have that rating.”
While you notch a small win like paying a invoice on time or paying off a small debt, “you are routinely shifting your psychological area,” Greene says. On the flip aspect, she says to not beat your self up when you miss a cost or “need to make some powerful selections.”
3. Use instruments that give you the results you want
There are a selection of instruments you should utilize to construct and enhance your credit score. Greene says discovering “assets and instruments that meet them the place they’re” is essential for people attempting to construct good credit score historical past.
For some, secured playing cards — the place customers put down a safety deposit that capabilities like a credit score restrict on a daily bank card — could possibly be a helpful choice to construct a credit score historical past with out the identical eligibility necessities as unsecured bank cards, Chen says.
“As a result of secured playing cards usually have decrease limits, they will additionally assist individuals ease into utilizing credit score and construct constant cost habits over time,” she says.
Firms like Self, Kikoff and Increase supply lease reporting instruments that renters can use to construct or enhance their credit score with each month-to-month lease cost. Chen says this may be particularly efficient for people who’re “credit score invisible” as a result of they do not have a credit score historical past but.
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