It been 5 years since I got my DOE Q clearance so I know my reinvestigation is coming up. I’m worried about my credit report though, which they pulled in November 2019. I have a high debt to income ratio but that doesn’t take into account the fact that almost 100% of the debt is joint with my wife, who is also fully employed (therefore her income goes to paying for these debts as well). Further, my wife is fully responsibly for 1 loan (even though my name is also on it) and will be putting that loan in only her name in just a few days. That alone will bring my debt to income ratio below the standard level.
My question is, do they only pull your credit one time during the process? Or will they pull it again closer to the interview since it will have been over 4 months?
Are you paying your bills? They don’t so much look at how much debt or debt to income as they do to your payment history.
Think about it . . . An $80,000/yr IT guy could be living in an $800,000 home with a $650,000 mortgage. Should that be a disqualifier? Not really because his wife might be a seven figure doctor or lawyer.
Never once had a late payment, not in any type of collections or defaults or anything of the like. Credit score is a little low from the high debt usage, but like I said in a month or so that’ll all be taken care of. Also, I don’t remember from the first time around though, will they ask me to explain my debts or does that only get brought up if they’re concerned about something?
They may ask for some clarification. I don’t want to tell you that they will not since I can’t see anything that is on you report.
They don’t look at scores either.
Thanks for all of your help. Do you know if they only pull the credit report once? Or if they pull again closer to interview time to make sure they have the most up to date information?
They usually pull it early in the process because they closely review all of that before your interview. I think that they only pull it again if it gets too old as the process continues or if they issue an SOR and you appeal.
Your credit report is normally pulled just one time (CE will change this, but that is a different beast). A second credit report might be pulled a few months after your Subject interview where you promised to pay down debts or have a “payment plan”. We do follow up on what you tell us.