typically they check for criminal records, credit score, and oddly enough STD's.   Pretty much they want to make sure you are clean before they screw with you.

Woe, Woe, Wells Fargo could care less about what you know! In fact they may not want you to know anything, that way thay can train you thier way. After all it is about you selling their proprietary crap and selling all of it!  

I know with the firm I am at, if you have bad credit they will not hire you.  Probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but is the reality at my firm.

[quote=Greenbacks2]

Woe, Woe, Wells Fargo could care less about what you know! In fact they may not want you to know anything, that way thay can train you thier way. After all it is about you selling their proprietary crap and selling all of it!  

[/quote]

I am at Wells and there is absolutely no pressure to sell proprietary products.  Why all the hate??

"I did exactly what I had to"

No, you did not honor your contracts. Now, if you'd exhausted your liquidity, sure, I'd buy that.

You put yourself over a legally binding contract. While you had funds, you did not pay.

I would be disappointed if you were hired into this business. Folks must be 110% convinced that you will follow not just the letter of the law, but the heart of the law in our biz. Enormous amounts of trust and integrity are needed in our industry, because there are temptations and opportunities to put our firms and ourselves first.

I'm sorry if that hurts, but it's the truth.

Years ago, if you had complaints, that was almost a deal killer. Not so much anymore, as everyone seems to have some client complaint oreinted issue. Fortunately, in 20 yrs, knock on wood, I have nothing, but as a hiring manager, I"d understand if someone had a ding or two. As long as it wasn't an ethical issue. But, the credit thing is now huge in our biz, and it's almost positively a deal killer. We even have to report things about ourselves to FINRA regarding unsatisfied liens and bankruptcies.

Not paying your bills, is supposed to have consequences. You are now, experiencing that. Trust me, in the years ahead you''ll wish you'd exhausted your resources before torching your credit. The chess board ahead frankly is pretty obvious when it comes to all that.

Actually, I'm one of the nicest guys I know. I even have references.

You should be glad I told you the truth, so you would not get your hopes up on a career in this biz. If your credit is messed up, you just aren't going to be hired these days, pretty much zero exceptions on that. I've probably saved you a ton of time.

And for that, I'm a jerk. Sure....

Somebody can't handle the truth..  The FA world is Darwinism to the max.  You would of died an early death if you got hired.  If you could see into the future you would consider these posts to be a blessing. 

I think where BFP is coming from is that you didn't pay your mortgage on time, which is a legally binding contract, had to do a short sale on your house, but you retained your retirement funds.  Many of our clients have had to make some really tough decisions in the last few years.  The majority of mine that have been in your situation have called and said they have to liquidate some of their IRAs so they could pay their mortgage on time.  There is no ding on your credit score for taking the penalty and paying the taxes for withdrawing from your 401K or IRA. 

His contention is that you had funds to make your mortgage payment, but instead chose to either pay them late, or not at all.  Here's what he read:  "...still have our retirements, stock portfolio and IRAs, property..."   That doesn't sound to me like you figured those funds were "available" to use to pay your note.  Instead you stuck it to the bank and did a short sale.  It has now negatively affected your credit score and you're worried that WFA will find out.  They will.  They might let you explain yourself, or they might just look at it and figure that if you can't manage your own money, you can't manage their client's money either. 

In my opinion, looking long term, your accountant and your financial planner didn't do you any favors by protecting your assets and readjusting.  You and your credit score would have been better off to bite the bullet and liquidate your stock portfolio and/or your IRAs.

BFP isn't frustrated with you or with anyone else from what I can tell from his numerous other posts.  In fact he's one of the more well spoken people here.  He's very blunt, but in my book that's a positive.  He told you something you didn't want to hear and now you're panties are in a wad over it.  Welcome to our world. 

Space, thanks for the kind words.

And, not to beat a dead horse, but it's more than about "minding your finances". When you employ professionals, to avoid a legally binding contract, you are indeed not living up to the honor of the law.

And in our business, there is so much opportunity/and trust, where a person given the choice of doing what is best as compared to your own best interest....

I've warned folks over the last few years, that there is no free lunch out there. The millions of folks that blew up their credit, didn't realize it would haunt them later when looking for work. AND, there is nothing to stop a bank in the future, to look BEYOND a credit report. So, 7 yrs later, it isn't going to be so peachy if they can see that you threw the keys at the bank for that house, rental, car, hummer, boat....

"I am so glad I will not get the job .... you have to be the biggest jerk I have ever not met.  A financial planner and a tax accountant advised me through this process .... I paid when I had funds.  Apparently you can't read ... this has to be the worst place on cyber planet.  A bunch of impotent jerks taking out their frustrations on others anonymously.  I feel sorry for you."

"The truth doesn't hurt - it was a simple question.  Now go back to being miserable."

Judging from your response... yes, the truth really does hurt.  You asked a straightforward answer and you got a straightforward response.   BFP isn't what I'd call the best at sugarcoating things, but most of his posts on here are spot on.  BFP and Space both have a ton of real world experience in this industry, and they told you exactly what reaction a hiring manager is going to have when they look at your credit history and background report.

With that said... If this is REALLY what you want to do I think I'd take it up with a hiring manager at a firm.   Be completely honest, and have supporting information for them.   They are the ones that will have the final say.  In my opinion, you will have absolutely no shot if they do your background check and get surprised by this info. 

However, from looking at the way you responded to rejection from an anonymous posters on a web forum... I have to question how well you would handle the rejection that comes day to day from prospecting in this job.  I think they may have just done you a huge favor by getting you out of it before you got your hopes up.

The only way to find out if WFA or any potential employer is going to look negatively on your credit history is to be up front about it. Again, many have gone through rough spots. Explain, briefly and concisely ,why you employed the strategy you did. Let the chips fall where they're gonna fall. Most importantly, do not try to hide this. A basic credit check will expose it.

Every candidate is the sum of their pluses and minuses. Want to get hired? Make sure the positives greatly outweight the negatives. Make them want you.

If you can't get hired at this time, two things to take from it:

1. Time scrubs a credit report clean. Keep your credit clean going forward. Use the time to get sales jobs, as not only will you make money, a successful sales resume is a big door opener. High end product and services  really look good. But, even selling Ford trucks to small businesses, being really successful at it, will open doors when the FICO is at an acceptable level.

2. For as much money as we make and as wealthy as some of us are from this business, none of our clients are Financial Advisors. Yet,  all are rich and most make many times what we do. There is a messege there. Want high income? There are many ways to skin that cat!

Lastly, about managing other people's money? Few in this business actually do that, though they believe they do. Mostly it's about selling a service or selling product.

About FA position at Wells Fargo, do they do a complete employment and education background check? I am right out of undergrad so the only work experience I have are internships. Are they going to want to talk to the company where I interned?