by Marlena B Beal

Created on: October 07, 2009   Last Updated: October 11, 2009

Recently, I read Representative Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) of my state supposedly is sponsoring a bill which will block employer access to job applicants' credit histories especially for those positions which do not involve regular access to money or national security related clearances. Congress should consider sponsoring or introducing legislation to prevent prospective employers from arbitrarily pulling credit reports on applicants for employment. When I think of the number of interviews I had to go on before I finally landed a decent job; it frightens me to think my credit report could be all over the place with very personal, sensitive financial information in some company's files I have no connection to other than a job application and a possible interview which may or may not have happened. I would find this possibility very frightening.

For over 30 years I raised my three children as a divorced, single mother and there were times I had to choose between paying the utilities or the telephone bill or choosing between hamburger or spam. Thankfully more often than not I had viable, good jobs making decent money; other times I was recovering from being laid off and just struggling to stay ahead of the financial demands of being in between jobs. It was difficult not allowing unemployment circumstances to disrupt the stable home environment of my children's home life. To afford my children my undivided attention and not make them feel emotionally threatened; I chose not to remarry after my children reached a certain age. I balanced our lives for years in a one check household. During these unemployed transitional periods I lost two homes and faced a reduced annual income as much as $40,000 less a year. Creative budgeting on a no-budget scale was more than a mere task to accomplish.

In a struggling economy of rising unemployment and failing corporations are we to be held to an unfair standard of perfect credit or overlooked because of blemishes in our credit history while living in an economy thrust into this economic nightmare by people of financial power. The same individuals we entrusted with our financial futures proved to care little about the devastating effects it would have on the economy and the average working American would now judge or penalize us because we are suffering the consequences of big business's financial greed which made this bed for us today?

What of our young people who make bad choices fresh out of high school or college as credit cards

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