On average, people change jobs 8 times during their lifetime. With the economy in its current state of "flux" for lack of a better word (a.k.a. profanity) that number will surely rise significantly. Many of the 82.5% of Americans fortunate enough to still have a job in this horrible economy and the significantly far smaller percentage that still have a perfect credit score may think that A) Passage of H.R.3149: The Equal Employment for All Act is not their cause and B) think the catch 22 of no job = bad credit and bad credit = no job could never, ever happen to them. Well think again people! Unless you're in the top 1% of fabulously wealthy Americans born with a silver spoon, are immune along with your spouse and children to any and all life threatening diseases and injuries, have no chance of ever being sued or going through a divorce, live in a structure safe from all natural disasters, own your own business outright that cannot fail and on top of all those improbabilities . . . you have discovered a miracle defense against possible identity theft – then this cause is for YOU!
It sounds cliché of course, but "bad things do happen to good people" especially in this economy where many millions of Americans that once had perfect credit scores have been ruined. Because of credit ruination, these millions of talented, motivated humans are being discriminated against as they try to either become re-employed or change jobs for higher pay. Think it couldn't happen to YOU? A recent large survey of Americans that had just lost their job reveals that more than 52% said that it came as a "complete total surprise" they never saw coming. If your pink slip arrives tomorrow, how long could your credit score weather unemployment? During this current recession, more than 36% of the unemployed are without a job for more than 6 months and once they're re-employed – most make far less than in their previous jobs. So with that suggested 6 months of savings for emergencies now gone, guess what happens when emergency No. 2 arrives? You guessed it . . . a bad credit score and the beginning of a personal finance death spiral.
Passage of H.R.3149: The Equal Employment Act for All is NOT a bailout, a handout, welfare, unemployment benefits or a stimulus package, nor will cost the taxpayer a dime or add one penny to the national debt. It will simply curb the injustice of using someone's credit report against them when they are qualified for the job, desperately want to work and can actually find a job – if it were not for their credit report. How could anyone argue with that?
Nonetheless, the bill sits stalled in the House of Representatives because "the people" no longer have a voice in Washington, D.C. since we don't have lobbyists working on our behalf. What's surprising, however, even in this horribly corrupt political environment is the obvious "pay-to-play" exchange taking place between Barney Frank and Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (the top three credit bureaus making a buck off of YOUR credit report being sold to employers). Each of these top three credit reporting companies have political action committees known as PACs (a.k.a. Packing Away Cash to buy votes and influence) and in the campaign year '07-'08 the maximum that two of the three contributed to any one campaign was $10 K with Experian contributing $5 K. Guess who pulled the lever for the big "cha-ching" of $25 K being contributed toward their re-election campaign? The Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services where the bill is stalled . . . none other than one Barney Frank (The same guy that most Americans believe got us into this horrible recession via pushing the banking industry to make loans to financially unqualified borrowers via Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae). We know of course that the dollars and the stalled H.R.3149 bill is merely coincidental and are NOT connected in any way whatsoever. Makes you want to wave old glory doesn't it?
At a time in America when we're suffering a 17.5% unemployment rate (16+ M people), 1 in 4 children and 50 M people starving and more than 14% of homeowners are either in foreclosure or at least a month behind with in their mortgage; "the people" (a.k.a. the voters) it seems don't warrant the attention of our representatives in Congress. The injustice of NOT allowing someone that is qualified to work and who can actually find a job to become re-employed is beyond all comprehension . . . at least to those of us without a Harvard MBA. One would think that H.R.3149 would be promoted during his week's White House summit on jobs creation, but such a simple, zero tax dollars required solution that would re-employ millions within a month is getting no air time from the media or attention from either the current administration or Congress. H.R.3149 is just way too simply and therefore must have passed right over their heads somehow.
Where is the uproar from our fellow citizens, why isn't H.R.3149 not the cause célèbre of our Hollywood elite? Are we the discriminated against invisible or just on the wrong continent? Such legislation is already law in Hawaii and being considered in several states, but "we the people" can't wait on a state-by-state crawl that may never arrive in our state. How many more American children will have to go hungry, homeowners lose their homes and yes, even commit suicide because no job = bad credit and bad credit = no job? Get involved America, this is YOUR cause!
Join our newly formed Facebook H.R.3149 Political Action Group today!
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At a time when the top 1% are getting richer, everyone else is getting poorer. It seems we're just pawns in a big game and we're all left out in the cold. I've joined the H.R.3149 Facebook group http://groups.to/h.r.3149/ and I've written my representative in Congress to push for pass of H.R. 3149 and encourage all your readers to do the same via:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.opencongress.org/people/senators
http://www.opencongress.org/people/representatives
I have been turned down for two jobs because of what JP Morgan Chase did to my credit report....My story............
ReplyDeleteAfter being laid off, I could no longer afford my mortgage payment. I did not want a foreclosure to occur so I tried to do the right thing and located a realtor and an attorney to work with to help facilitate a short sale. I have brought four different buyers to the lenders. These buyers were pre-approved and ready to close. Every time we got close to closing, the lenders would kill the deal. They should be on their knees, kissing my ass, thanking me for finding them even one buyer in this horrible economy and even worse real estate sector, let alone four. J.P. Morgan and Bank of America have lied, manipulated, and jerked us around for over a year. These two scumbag, lying, dirty banks make my skin crawl and make me want to vomit my stomach contents. One bank representative even told me that “They were going to ruin my credit and destroy my life for putting them in this position.” I put them in this position????? I had an 804 FICO Score before I was laid off. I had a 30 year low rate fixed mortgage. I did everything right. These criminals, who should be in prison for their fraudulent activities, now get 7 figure bonuses as rewards. Not to forget, these criminals had their hat-in-hand begging the government for a handout of billions of yours and mine tax dollars. Let’s have a brief history listen. The bulge bracket firms on Wall Street are the DIRECT CAUSE of the great recession. They are the ones who bought the crap sub-prime loans, replenished the coffers of fly by night lenders, sliced and diced them, re-named and re-packaged them as Mortgage Backed Securities, coerced and blackmailed the ratings agencies to give them triple AAA credit ratings, and then sold these garbage investment vehicles around the world knowing full well the whole time this was a scam. These banks perpetrated the largest fraud known to mankind. They systemically brought down not only the U.S. economy but also the global economy. Countries such as Iceland have collapsed because they believed the lies that the thieves on Wall Street fed them and over levered themselves to buy RMBS investments. And now that the real estate bubble has collapsed, and these thieves cannot milk anymore revenue from the RMBS fraud, they are trying to create revenue on the backside by destroying the middle class and people’s lives, including mine. I have lost everything. I am three months from being homeless and living in my truck. I don’t have a ten million dollar mansion like Richard Fuld (Former Lehman Brothers CEO) to go home to or hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. The only way an individual can let their anger known is by exercising freedom of choice. BOYCOTT these scumbag criminal organizations masquerading as banks and take your business elsewhere. They are a disgrace to America.
Really and truly, I feel sorry for home owners that lose their homes. My question has always been "When did Banks become realtors/property owners?" Well, check this out, it will explain how things work.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/23088/1129049
I recently paid off a huge amount of credit card debt by taking out a second mortgage on my home. Now, get this! The a-holes lowered both my husbands and my credit limit! Of course, now my credit score will reflect that! It seems you can't win no matter what you do.
What should we do to push this thing forward and make it pass as soon as possible?
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