In the News
Join CSAJ’s Webinar Series on Credit
August 18, 2015
Credit Reporting and Intimate Partner Violence: Enhancing Access to Economic and Physical Safety for Survivors
Click HERE to Register for the Series
Part I: Credit Reporting & Repair for Survivors
Thursday, September 10th, 1:00 – 2:30pm ET
Many survivors of intimate partner violence struggle with safety issues related to their credit. An abuser may have sabotaged a survivor’s credit, a survivor’s credit report might contain erroneous information, or a survivor may have no credit history at all. To address their credit, a survivor may need someone to assist them in deciphering their report while engaged in long-term safety planning, or they may need someone to advocate for them with creditors and credit bureaus as they seek to optimize their credit. In today’s society, a credit report and its accompanying score are used to obtain everything from an apartment to a cell phone to auto insurance to employment—access to these resources has clear safety implications for survivors. A recent settlement with the “big three” credit bureaus promises to provide new protections for consumers, including survivors.
This webinar will assist advocates and attorneys in:
Recognizing economic abuse as it relates to a survivor’s credit
Understanding credit reports, credit scores, and their purpose
Protecting survivors’ future credit and identity
Disputing and rebuilding survivors’ credit report
Learning about credit reporting laws, rights, and new developments
Crafting strategies that address the particular credit-related challenges facing survivors of IPV
Faculty for this webinar:
- Laura Russell, JD, Legal Aid Society of New York
Part II: Credit Checks: An Illegitimate Barrier to Employment
Thursday, October 8th, 1:30 – 3:00pm
Employers commonly use credit checks during the application and hiring process as a mechanism to weed out “risky” employees. However, recent research shows that credit checks do not actually benefit or protect employers. But the practice does negatively impact employment opportunities for many job seekers, including survivors. Survivors of intimate partner violence often experience coerced debt and damaged credit at the hands of an abuser. Employment credit checks may inadvertently discriminate against a survivor applicant who has bad credit as a result of her abusive partner, which acts as a form of re-victimization. Such discriminatory actions compound survivors’ economic insecurity, exposing them to increased risk of poverty and future abuse.
Individual advocacy to repair credit and support survivors’ job seeking efforts is important, but corporate practice and public policy changes are also needed to eliminate credit checks as a barrier to employment. This webinar is for advocates and program leaders interested in enhancing both individual advocacy and systems change strategies to support survivors’ equal access to employment.
Attendees should walk away from the webinar being able to:
Understand the connection between credit and employment access in the context of survivors’ lives
Describe the practice of and current policies related to employment credit checks
Identify and develop individual advocacy strategies to enhance access to employment for survivor based on credit records
Identify and develop community or systems change strategies to eliminate credit-related barriers to employment for survivors
Faculty for this webinar:
Amy Traub, Senior Policy Analyst, Demos
Additional Faculty, TBA
Erika Sussman, Executive Director, Center for Survivor Agency and Justice