Background check issues over a phone bill

Struggling

I'm looking for some advise on a matter. I'm starting a new job in a few weeks and the background check brought up that I had an unpaid phone bill from when I lived abroad. The phone bill was approx 400euro as they billed me for disconnection fees and charged me for months after I had moved home saying they never got my email saying I was leaving the country.
The job has refused to hire me if I do not pay this. It seems unreasonable as I am with Meteor 16 years and they never done a check with them who I have a prefect history with.
Any advise as I'm really upset and now completely broke too?

Bandana boy

Struggling wrote: »

I'm looking for some advise on a matter. I'm starting a new job in a few weeks and the background check brought up that I had an unpaid phone bill from when I lived abroad. The phone bill was approx 400euro as they billed me for disconnection fees and charged me for months after I had moved home saying they never got my email saying I was leaving the country.
The job has refused to hire me if I do not pay this. It seems unreasonable as I am with Meteor 16 years and they never done a check with them who I have a prefect history with.
Any advise as I'm really upset and now completely broke too?

Is this outstanding bill with the prospective employer ?

If not just tell them it is solved and when do i start

seamus

Not really any advice you can given except pay up or walk away. I would get negotiating with the utility provider, see if you can prove dates, times, etc, see if they'll allow you to just pay any outstanding fees, without penalties, etc.

Ultimately you signed a disclaimer with the new company permitting them to do a background check on you, so they're not at fault here. They may be simply unable to hire you unless you clear this debt.
This is coming up a lot with UK companies who've based over here. Regulators and standards bodies in the UK for a lot of businesses require that employees are background-checked for unpaid debts. Especially if you're trying to get into anything remotely near the financial sector, you want to have a pristine history.

Struggling

So this is normal? It seemed odd as my current employer never done anything like it and they're a big american company.

Mrs OBumble

For some jobs, yes.

Though if the job is so financially sensitive, I'm surprised they're willing to hire someone who is complete broke.

Maybe there's a commercial relationship between your new employer and the overseas telco??? In which case, not hiring their own debtors could well be a standard company policy.

Can you borrow from someone to pay it off?

Struggling

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

For some jobs, yes.

Though if the job is so financially sensitive, I'm surprised they're willing to hire someone who is complete broke

So your saying I need to have money to get a job? Isn't that the point of working.

As I said I have it paid off but it has left me in the lurch as I wasn't expecting it

Shelflife

No what Mrs O B is saying is that some companies prefer not to put temptation in the way of employees.

If for example you were flat broke, loads of debt and really struggling to keep it all together, it would not be prudent to put you in charge of the cash room in a supermarkets where you would have loads of cash available.

Its just common sense.

newacc2015

Struggling wrote: »

I'm looking for some advise on a matter. I'm starting a new job in a few weeks and the background check brought up that I had an unpaid phone bill from when I lived abroad. The phone bill was approx 400euro as they billed me for disconnection fees and charged me for months after I had moved home saying they never got my email saying I was leaving the country.
The job has refused to hire me if I do not pay this. It seems unreasonable as I am with Meteor 16 years and they never done a check with them who I have a prefect history with.
Any advise as I'm really upset and now completely broke too?

Call up the company ask settle for 10 cents on the €1. They have no way to come after you for the full amount and havent bothered to pursue it so far, as I imagine the legal costs exceed the gain. Settle it for a fraction of it.

davo10

newacc2015 wrote: »

Call up the company ask settle for 10 cents on the €1. They have no way to come after you for the full amount and havent bothered to pursue it so far, as I imagine the legal costs exceed the gain. Settle it for a fraction of it.

The situation seems to be that unless the debt is settled, this will restrict the OPs ability to gain employment in a particular sector or with a particular company. I therefore do not think this is a negotiation, the op needs to clear the debt asap.

matt-dublin

davo10 wrote: »

The situation seems to be that unless the debt is settled, this will restrict the OPs ability to gain employment in a particular sector or with a particular company. I therefore do not think this is a negotiation, the op needs to clear the debt asap.

The debt doesn't need to be cleared, just settled

davo10

matt-dublin wrote: »

The debt doesn't need to be cleared, just settled

I didn't see that in the ops post, "settled" I assume depends on whether the provider will accept a settlement offer, if they refuse, then it has to be "cleared". Either way the debt has to be cleared from the ops account so that it doesn't get flagged on a background check. Pedantic some?

Struggling

The payment has been made. The company asked why I didn't declare it on the declaration of criminal records form they gave me which bugged me because it hardly qualify as a criminal record.

Jim2007

matt-dublin wrote: »

The debt doesn't need to be cleared, just settled

In civil law countries a settled debt will almost always be flagged as a failure to meet ones financial obligations because the creditor had to accept terms other than what had been agreed.

newacc2015

davo10 wrote: »

I didn't see that in the ops post, "settled" I assume depends on whether the provider will accept a settlement offer, if they refuse, then it has to be "cleared". Either way the debt has to be cleared from the ops account so that it doesn't get flagged on a background check. Pedantic some?

IMO the company would take a fraction of the debt and settle. They have 2 choices. Get nothing from their former customer or take €40. They will probably take the €40. It is too difficult to chase after someone in Ireland for small debts. If OP wasnt taking this job, they wouldnt have cleared this debt and the company couldnt do anything

duffman13

What country was the bill racked up? Does the company have operations in that country? That's a very extensive background check, I carried out background checks in a previous role but not to the extent of flagging unpaid bills.

davo10

newacc2015 wrote: »

IMO the company would take a fraction of the debt and settle. They have 2 choices. Get nothing from their former customer or take €40. They will probably take the €40. It is too difficult to chase after someone in Ireland for small debts. If OP wasnt taking this job, they wouldnt have cleared this debt and the company couldnt do anything

This thread is about the op, he needed to have the debt gone, so he pretty much had to go by whatever the provider wanted.

Jim2007

newacc2015 wrote: »

IMO the company would take a fraction of the debt and settle. They have 2 choices. Get nothing from their former customer or take €40. They will probably take the €40. It is too difficult to chase after someone in Ireland for small debts. If OP wasnt taking this job, they wouldnt have cleared this debt and the company couldnt do anything

You're missing the point, unless the debt is paid in full the creditor will register the debt in their country's register, so that everytime a check is done it will come back as a black mark. This is public information, so your permission is not required to do a check on you.

If you want to have a successful carrier in the financial services sector you need to have a clean record because sooner or later you will have to face a background check.

Struggling

From my very first post the bill has been paid. Its the attitude of the company and the worry they will revoke the job offer that has me concerned

Jim2007

Struggling wrote: »

..............

I had an unpaid phone billfrom when I lived abroad

............

The job has refused to hire me if I do not pay this.

.............

Struggling wrote: »

From my very first post the bill has been paid. Its the attitude of the company and the worry they will revoke the job offer that has me concerned

Your very first post does not indicate that the bill was paid! In civil law countries once a debt has been paid it will normally be removed from the debt register and should not appear on a background check. And furthermore from your second statement you already know what your new employer's position is!

So a few very simple questions to straighten this out:
- In what country was this debt incurred?
- Have you paid the debt off in full?
- Do you have a receipt for the payment?
- If you have a receipt why have you not shown it to your employer?
- Has the creditor indicated why they have not removed the debt from the register?

You should have no problem answering these questions.

Struggling

Jim2007 wrote: »

So a few very simple questions to straighten this out:
- In what country was this debt incurred?
- Have you paid the debt off in full?
- Do you have a receipt for the payment?
- If you have a receipt why have you not shown it to your employer?
- Has the creditor indicated why they have not removed the debt from the register?

You should have no problem answering these questions.

Australia. Yes I paid it and obviously I have forwarded receipts to the company. However they have not confirmed they received it and I can't get through to them. My worry is them suggesting it should be declared as a criminal record and fear them revoking the offer

Jim2007

Struggling wrote: »

Australia. Yes I paid it and obviously I have forwarded receipts to the company. However they have not confirmed they received it and I can't get through to them. My worry is them suggesting it should be declared as a criminal record and fear them revoking the offer

Of course it is hard to guess how they will react, but if you have done what they asked it is hard to see why there will be an issue. I've done a lot of background checks over the past 30 years and I can't recall a single one listing debt as a criminal offense, so I don't know where they are coming from on that one.

Interested Observer

This is obviously a naive question but how the hell can an employer find out you have a previously unpaid bill from Australia?

davo10

Interested Observer wrote: »

This is obviously a naive question but how the hell can an employer find out you have a previously unpaid bill from Australia?

There ar credit reporting agencies in Oz where people/businesses who don't pay their bills are listed, also background checking companies are adept at finding dirt.

Jim2007

Interested Observer wrote: »

This is obviously a naive question but how the hell can an employer find out you have a previously unpaid bill from Australia?

Just give the name and dob of the person to someone like Dun & Bradstreet and if there is anything out there they will find. Most financial institutions will have a contract with someone like that so it really does not cost much for a basic search.

the_barfly1

Data protection??

davo10

the_barfly1 wrote: »

Data protection??

You give consent for background check.

Mrs OBumble

the_barfly1 wrote: »

Data protection??

Laws are different overseas.

Also, when you sign up for credit products, the terms and conditions often include that information about them may be used for credit checks on you.

seamus

the_barfly1 wrote: »

Data protection??

We take it for granted here in Ireland that its incredibly difficult for anyone except a bank or certain types of employers to do background checks for debts or convictions.

But in other countries, even in the EU, there are big, big databases of this information that anyone can check provided they have your consent.

Jim2007

seamus wrote: »

But in other countries, even in the EU, there are big, big databases of this information that anyone can check provided they have your consent.

In may cases they don't even need your permission, for instance many civil law countries have a public debt registry.