Credit check - new job

GFAV

Hello, I was hoping someone can give me some advice. I have just secured a new job but it requires a credit check (it's for a FCA regulated pension/insurance company). The role is in marketing so not customer facing and with no or very limited access to customer data. I have no bad debt, a good credit score and I've never had defaults, CCJs or missed payments however I do have quite a lot of debt on 0% credit cards. My overall credit utilisation is 61%. We bought a house a few years ago that needed some work and we financed this on 0% credit cards and have been saving (while interest rates are high) to pay this off when the deals end - we currently have savings of around £20k - debt of around £35k. The new job comes with a really good pay rise and bonus (which will help us pay off the rest of the debt) but I'm concerned that they will think I have too much debt. Does anyone know if they look at how much debt you have or just that you don't have any bad debt when applying for a banking/insurance role? Thanks 

DullGreyGuy

How can you operate in marketing without customer data?


Amount of debt will not be a problem as long as you're paying on time, not going over limits etc. The theory is they are looking for people who are in financial distress who could be more tempted to act inappropriately with the right/wrong incentivisation. 

400ixl

DullGreyGuy said:

How can you operate in marketing without customer data?

Assume the OP means no access to customer personal data. It will all be aggregated data in that role.

Brie

It's problems on the credit history they will be concerned about not that you have debts.  Most people have debts.  So no CCJs is good, paying things on time is good.  If there were a lot of of yellow or red flashes on your history (missed payments, arrears and accounts that aren't being paid at all) then there would be something to worry about.

Nasqueron

A full credit check will show all your debts to the person checking, as you have secured the job, just take in evidence of the savings and your house move in case it's questioned. It's no different really from say PCP on a car - people have debt, the issue is whether you can manage it - no missed or late payments etc is good as it shows you can manage. 

In an old job we dealt with the MOJ (indirectly but had access to equipment with data on it albeit nothing to do with prisoners) and had to have SC checks done, for that, it was more about ensuring you weren't susceptible to bribery e.g. a Russian asset offering to pay off your debts in return for access to data on their internal network setup which could benefit a hacker

GFAV

Thank you, that's really helpful and yes sorry I meant to say that I won't have any access to personal data. It's actually more a marketing planning/management type role. I have never missed a payment or had arrears, it's literally the volume of debt I was concerned about. We're actually planning to be debt free by this time next year but I was panicking and thinking I should pay off our % credit cards earlier than planned from our savings but I'd rather not as we're earning good interest on savings and we'd lose some interest by having to end fixed rate deals early. We also have a small mortgage compared to our salaries (x 2 our joint income and we've added value by completing the works), and we have no dependents, so we're in a strong financial position but I've never worked in financial services before so I was a little worried when I spotted the credit check, in case they would be put off with the volume of unsecured debt. Thank you everyone, I'm feeling much more confident now. 

DullGreyGuy

Including mortgage our debt is over £0.5m and never had problems with the credit checks for working in financial services over the years. 

400ixl said:

DullGreyGuy said:

How can you operate in marketing without customer data?

Assume the OP means no access to customer personal data. It will all be aggregated data in that role.

How do you organise a Direct Marketing mailshot to your customer that are over 50 and don't have LE cover if you only have aggregated data? 
How do you deal with an affiliate marketing advertiser claiming customer X was referred to and bought from your site but they've not received their commission if you only have aggregate data?
How do you slice and dice your customers into different cohorts to test different advertising strategies if someone else has aggregated them by a different metric?

Even the smallest marketing team I've worked with have had analysts able to query non-aggregate data to be able to do bespoke analysis, a mailshot and then track response rates. 

400ixl

Don't see it being an issue. The CRA's can only guess the credit ratio as they don't have access to the savings side and only know your income if you tell them.

GFAV

DullGreyGuy said:

Including mortgage our debt is over £0.5m and never had problems with the credit checks for working in financial services over the years. 

400ixl said:

DullGreyGuy said:

How can you operate in marketing without customer data?

Assume the OP means no access to customer personal data. It will all be aggregated data in that role.

How do you organise a Direct Marketing mailshot to your customer that are over 50 and don't have LE cover if you only have aggregated data? 
How do you deal with an affiliate marketing advertiser claiming customer X was referred to and bought from your site but they've not received their commission if you only have aggregate data?
How do you slice and dice your customers into different cohorts to test different advertising strategies if someone else has aggregated them by a different metric?

Even the smallest marketing team I've worked with have had analysts able to query non-aggregate data to be able to do bespoke analysis, a mailshot and then track response rates. 

Thanks, my role isn't going to be a specific marketing role but more one that feeds into marketing (without access to customer data)...I'm doing a similar role for a media company at the moment without access to customer data. Thank you so much for your help, our total debt (including mortgage) is around £220k on a combined salary of nearly £100k (with a home worth £350k) and I also have a part share in another property (inherited). I'm feeling much more confident now, thanks again  

Nasqueron

400ixl said:

Don't see it being an issue. The CRA's can only guess the credit ratio as they don't have access to the savings side and only know your income if you tell them.

You're right but at the same time, even lenders don't see / ignore the savings as savings can be spent in an instant on a holiday or a hot tip on the horses - for a job, if it was questioned why I have ~10k of 0% debt, I could show the length of 0% deals, my repayment spreadsheet planning, my £20k in an S&S ISA, my easy access savings covering over half the debt etc - but I wouldn't expect a lender to give me a 50k loan based on those as security

adamp87

Have had these down in the past.

Usually it’s an external company on behalf of your company, they’ll get a result basically we couldn’t access details it was just sort of a simple yes/no as to the restrictions they’ve put in place.

They are looking for bankruptcy or huge debts to be honest and could make you a risk being around information. 

We had staff with defaults and such who passed no problem. You’ll be fine.

If in doubt contact the company asking or explaining