who have been unemployed for an extended period of time and whose credit has suffered as they fell behind on bills, the use of credit reports in the hiring process can exacerbate and perpetuate an already precarious situation. (G) In a March 2013 Demos report titled Discredited: How Employment Credit Checks Keep Out Qualified Workers Out of a Job , one in four survey participants who were unemployed said that a potential employer had requested to check their credit report as part of a job application. Among job applicants with blemished credit histories in the survey, one in seven had been told that they were not being hired because of their credit history. (H) While job applicants must give prior approval for a prospective employer to pull their credit reports under the FCRA, this authorization, as a practical matter, does not constitute an effective consumer protection because an employer may reject any job applicant who refuses a credit check. (I) Some negative information on a report may stem from uncontrollable circumstances, or significant life events in a consumer’s life, such as a medical crisis or a divorce. Demos found that poor credit is associated with household unemployment, lack of health coverage, and medical debt, which are factors that reflect economic conditions in the country and personal misfortune that have little relationship with how well a job applicant would perform at work. (J) In October 2011, FICO noted that from 2008 to 2009 approximately 50 million people experienced a 20-point drop in their credit scores and about 21 million saw their scores decline by more than 50 points. While the Great Recession reduced many consumers’ credit scores due to foreclosures and other financial hardships, the financial crisis had a particularly harsh impact on African Americans and Latinos, as racial and ethnic minorities and communities of color were frequently targeted by predatory mortgage lenders who steered borrowers into high-cost subprime loans, even when these borrowers would have qualified