Many things may run through your mind if you're facing a possible criminal conviction, but how it could impact your credit score may not be at the top of that list. Regardless of what the conviction is for, you will want to move on with your life, and an impact on your credit score would have a profound impact on how quickly you can do that.

As with many things in life, there are a lot of factors that can affect the answer to this question, but the short answer is that it doesn't have to.

It Doesn't Have To, But…

Though credit rating agencies are legally allowed to include criminal records when calculating credit scores, they have had a longstanding practice not to include them in reports and score calculations.

But don't breathe too large of a sigh of relief. You might not be out of the woods yet. Some lenders might also include a consumer report in addition to just your credit score number when evaluating your creditworthiness for a loan. These consumer reports commonly include employment background checks and insurance reports, which can affect you if you have a criminal record.

In addition to background checks, your credit score can be affected if you have unpaid fines or simply fall behind on paying your bills because of the disruptions to your life that can be a consequence of a criminal conviction.

Some local governments have a practice of sending outstanding fines to debt collectors. As you can guess, once a fine ends up with a collection agency, it will affect your credit and become a public record.

Why You Need a Good Legal Team

The best way to avoid the need to sift through all the details of this question is to avoid a criminal conviction altogether, and hiring experienced criminal defense attorneys is the best way to do that. Joseph Lento, and his experienced Criminal Defense Team can help you provide the best defense against a criminal conviction.

Even if you were never convicted, an arrest could appear on a background check. And we all know that things that appear on the internet are around forever, so a simple internet search can reveal a past arrest. Fortunately, you may be able to use the legal process to clear your record of arrests and possibly even criminal convictions.

The Expungement Process

A possible way to clean up your background check is to seek an expungement from your criminal record. The expungement process is the legal mechanism to remove a conviction from your criminal record.

Expungement laws can vary from state to state, but you may be able to expunge one conviction or your entire criminal record if you have multiple past convictions.

Hiring the Lento Law Firm Team Is the Right Choice

Experienced Defense Attorney Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Criminal Defense Team have the knowledge and experience to help prevent a criminal conviction or to have a criminal conviction removed from your public record. Call us at 888-535-3686 or contact us online today to learn why hiring us is the right choice to help you keep your criminal record and your credit intact.