Actions for Older Charged-Off Financial Accounts

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

First off, I’m a newbie to this process. I’m potentially being offered a new job that requires a security clearance. I’ve never applied for one before but have been preparing for the process by reading this blog to identify any potential issues before I have to submit my paperwork. I ran my credit reports and noticed 2 negative items from 2012 and 2015. The 2012 issue is a charged-off HELOC loan for $39k from my previous marriage. My 2015 issue is a charged-off credit card for $9k that has been closed, charged-off, and sold to another lender. The problem is there is not another lender listing this debt on my credit reports. I have no other debt (no credit cards, mortgages, car loans, etc.).

My questions:

To address the 2012 HELOC loan, is it better to call the lender and negotiate a settlement or is that viewed in a negative way by the clearance personnel?

For the 2015 credit card, is there anything I need to do (or can do) to address the issue since I do not have the new company information?

Thanks for your help.

2

Call the Heloc company and either get on a payment plan or settle the debt. These are legal remedies to mitigate this issue.

As far as the CC call the CC company and ask them who they sold the debt to, they will know this. The call the debt buyer and either settle or make payments. As far as these debts, whomever owns them MUST validate the debts first.