Credit???

[tkdguy09]

Ok, here's another obstacle I believe might face me in the future when applying for the LE. I was speaking with a friend of mine (who I believe wants to be a police officer) and he said that he was told by someone of our Houston Police Department that you must have credit in order to go into the police academy or become a police officer. My question: Is this true???

Here is where I am at. I have seen my parents make some dumb decision regarding credit and get in a lot of trouble. They have now taught me that, if it is not NECESSARY to have credit, then do not get it. So I have been paying cash for everything I own (I have bought and sold a couple cars, stereos and just random things and I work to earn my money). Will this hender me when applying for LE?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Citicop]

Ok, here's another obstacle I believe might face me in the future when applying for the LE. I was speaking with a friend of mine (who I believe wants to be a police officer) and he said that he was told by someone of our Houston Police Department that you must have credit in order to go into the police academy or become a police officer. My question: Is this true???

Here is where I am at. I have seen my parents make some dumb decision regarding credit and get in a lot of trouble. They have now taught me that, if it is not NECESSARY to have credit, then do not get it. So I have been paying cash for everything I own (I have bought and sold a couple cars, stereos and just random things and I work to earn my money). Will this hender me when applying for LE?

Thanks in advance for your input.

You don't have to 'have credit' to get a job in LE. You just can't have BAD CREDIT, as in... unpaid bills, accounts in collections, bankruptcies, etc. that show poor financial decision making on your part. You should be fine.

Citicop.

[TX-LEO]

. My question: Is this true???

Contact Houston's recruiting center and ask them.

[DeltaV]

Only HPD can give you an answer to that question since it is agency specific.

That said, not getting credit unless you absolutely need it is bad advice. The better advice would be to get credit and use it RESPONSIBLY. That's one of the reasons why law enforcement agencies look at the credit of applicants. They want to see that they're a financially responsible person.

While you may get by fine right now without credit, that will all change when you decide you want to buy a house or a new car. Not having any prior credit history will actually hurt you and get you a higher interest rate on your loan. Especially with today's credit crunch, banks are hesitant to grant credit to people with bad or no credit history. And with credit, the longer you've had an account and paid on it responsibly, the better it will make your credit look.

There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to obtain a credit card with a low credit limit and no annual fee and pay the bill in full every month. If you don't think you'd be responsible enough to do that without maxing the card out, then you need to look at the reason why and address that first, as you're eventually going to need credit--be it for a police job or for something else.