What you could be experiencing is unemployment discrimination. Legally they cannot hold certain things against you such as race, religion, marital status, etc, but being unemployed is not one of those. Without seeing your resume it's hard to tell but if you are applying for IT jobs and haven't done much IT related stuff for over 2 years, the employer automatically thinks "no one else has hired this guy in over 2 years, what am I missing that everyone else saw?" and on the spiral continues.
You say the misdemeanors are holding you back, but how deep in the hiring process have you gone usually? Most employers do not waste time with background checks unless they zoom in on a very select few candidates. Have you actually gotten an offer and then later had it pulled back because of the criminal/credit checks? A recent criminal record will keep you from government jobs but that is a very segmented part of the industry.
What you need to do is figure out where you are stalling in the hiring process. It could be from your initial point of contact with the HR folks or how you present yourself in person. Remember that even as an IT guy, when you are unemployed you need to put on your best sales hat because essentially that's what you're doing: selling yourself to a prospective employee. If you are going in with low confidence and really allowing for them to stare over the fact that you've been unemployed for 2 years, anyone with experience in the industry will pick up on it and not hire you.
Your primary goal right now should be to find any IT-related gig to get your foot in the door. Doesn't matter if it's hourly or temp-to-hire but it will be a confidence booster you can take to that dream job.
Feel free to PM me your resume for a free critique and never lose hope, because trust me it gets better.
