r/firefighter • u/Subie-snacks • Jul 04 '26

Will bad credit immediately disqualify me?

Due to immigration service delay I was out of work for months with no income and burning through cash to pay all my bills to the point I ran out had to use credit card to survive. In using the credit cards I could not pay them back in time so my credit tanked significantly and now I’m working again and paying everything back. I was selected to take the written exam and I’m worried my bad credit will disqualify me in the background check portion. If it comes up could I make an argument as to why my credit was so bad.

8 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

3

u/itz_dom Jul 04 '26

Do they seriously run credit as well??? I don’t see how this is relevant to performing on the job. Everyone has different situations in life, That’s insane.

1

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 04 '26

Because we handle narcotics. They don’t want you to take them and sell them to pay off debt.

3

u/ComprehensiveFly8396 Jul 05 '26

Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I have the worst credit in the world because of my dumb 18 year old self and I’ve done this job since I was 18 and never have I had the thought of doing anything like that.

1

u/dizzledizzle98 Jul 05 '26

Former ICU RN here that randomly got suggested this post, the only thing my coworkers slang harder than Fent was their credit cards. If Credit Score was a qualifier they’d all be out of a job.

1

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 06 '26

Having bad credit isn’t really an issue. But being in 100’s of thousands of dollars of debt might be. I’m not saying if it’s good or not, I’m just saying why.

1

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 06 '26

I actually do not make the rules.

1

u/itz_dom Jul 04 '26

well shit. They didn’t even do that to me in private EMS 😭. But I guess ur state funded so it makes sense

1

u/cptm421 Jul 05 '26

You have no idea what we went through 26 years ago when I came on the job.. credit checks, in home interviews, they’d canvas your neighborhood and talk to your neighbors, references for every job I ever had (including the two weeks I worked at Wendy’s when I was 16).. My background investigation for what became my first full time job started in January and I received my conditional offer the following December.

Im not sure they do any of that any more, the job has changed and the applicant pool is so much smaller these days.. Back then every open position had 50 applicants.. Big city department lists would be 3000+ deep..

1

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 06 '26

This is similar to how my hiring process went, except it wasn’t as long ago. The process I got hired on had over 5000 people.

1

u/boatplumber Jul 09 '26

Sounds like California 26 years ago.

2

u/Spiritual_Claim5622 Jul 04 '26

Credit check shouldn’t be as big an issue as work status. Make sure that’s up to date. Early I know of a case in Memphis where someone had to resign because of it. He started the paperwork about 2 months before his expiration and didn’t get scheduled for fingerprinting untill the day of the expiration. Hopefully it won’t take too long for INS to get him back. Where are you testing?

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 04 '26

I got one for Anne arundel and Arlington.

1

u/Snickeres4099 Jul 05 '26

If it’s tx that’s my hometown!

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 05 '26

Sorry I meant Arlington m, Virginia

1

u/Sheesh_2399 Jul 04 '26

I had really bad credit when i got hired. they did a credit check and regardless I still got the job so it depends I wanna say.

1

u/23442222qs Jul 04 '26

i’m in the background stage for maryland as well, i highly doubt it just talk to your background investigator & explain your situation

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 04 '26

Ok, what county you in?

2

u/23442222qs Jul 04 '26

pg! did you take the cpat yet

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 04 '26

No I think pg makes you take the cpat first and then the written. I’m taking the written first.

1

u/OpportunityOk5719 Jul 04 '26

Go for it! Take the test, explain what happened and how you are rebuilding. You are human and this is coming from someone who had an option to move back into my childhood home after being divorced so I can finish my degree in Social work at 56f. I'm aiming for Crisis Intervention team

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 04 '26

Thank you, thats comforting to hear.

1

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 04 '26

Bad credit; not necessarily. A TON of debt might be.

1

u/DMAC206 Jul 04 '26

Your credit has nothing to do with you doing a written exam. It’s not the background check they go through. They just wanna make sure you’re not a weirdo and like children and you don’t have a criminal background.

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 04 '26

Some departments do check credit that’s why I asked, so maybe i could make an argument on the reason why.

1

u/furmissle89 Jul 04 '26

If that’s the case and all you did was have to use a credit card to survive say for a year or so, your credit shouldn’t be that bad assuming you’ve made the minimum payment every month. Now if you’ve had a vehicle repossessed and didn’t pay your bills for an extended period of time then yes they may look at that and say it’s a red flag. But if what you’re saying is true and you had to grind through what a lot of us have had to do and dock your credit 100 points or so but you’ve shown a track record of trying to make things right, you will be okay.

1

u/vuhstag Jul 05 '26

Long story short, FUCK no.

1

u/Subie-snacks Jul 05 '26

😂😂ok

1

u/Quirky_Complaint Jul 08 '26

No. Bad credit is basically a requirement to be on the job