[pyromine]

Often that sort of check mostly has to due with checking if you have some type of debt that may impair your integrity.

Say you're for some reason indebted to a Chinese bank and applying for a defense job, they're not going to be very happy of that. Yes that's a bit over the top, but generally what those checks are about.

[pmiller2]

> TransUnion, a major credit reporting company admitted in public testimony, “we don’t have any research to show any statistical correlation between what’s in somebody’s credit report and their job performance or their likelihood to commit fraud.”[0] As noted earlier in this report, poor credit scores reflect financial distress and racial disparities, not propensity to commit crimes. [1]

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[0]: https://www.demos.org/testimony-and-public-comment/memorandu...

[1]: https://www.demos.org/research/bad-credit-shouldnt-block-emp...

[gorgoiler]

How does the vetting for debt like that work?

Can a company refuse to hire me unless I divulge my private financial details? If I forge a spreadsheet of my accounts, how would they know it wasn’t real?

[pmiller2]

They don’t ask you for a list of accounts, typically. They would check a report from one of the major credit reporting agencies, so, if it doesn’t show up there, they’d probably never see it.

[topkai22]

US government background checks explicitly ask about foreign financial holdings, and those investigators check.

[pmiller2]

That's why I said "typically." Security clearance checks are a whole different level from your average pre-employment background check.