Hi Anne,

Excellent question.  While not likely a standard practice, employers do have the right to request your credit report.  However, there are rules that govern how they use them.  For more info on that, you might want to check out the US Small Business Administration's site (http://www.sba.gov/content/performing-pre-employment-background-checks), or this great article from Yale on Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (http://www.yale.edu/hronline/careers/screening/documents/FairCreditReportingAct.pdf).

In terms of how to talk about your bad credit (if it comes up) is an interesting question.  I actually recommend that you talk to the Cancer Legal Resource Center to see if you are required to say why you have bad credit.  Their phone number is 1-866-THE-CLRC.

I hope this helps, and let us know if they do in fact ask for it and how you handle - would be helpful to share with the rest of the Cancer and Careers community!

Best,

Alice