Financial Considerations

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

So I am in the process of filling out my e-QIP for a standard Secret SC (SF-86).

The only area of concern during my BI will be related to financial concerns.

I have some “delinquent” debts, but they are all addressed and I currently am participating in repayment plans.

To provide more detail:

I am 2.5 years removed college…

Defaulted on Fed Student Loans. Started the Loan Rehibilitation Program a couple of months ago. I’ll be making a total of 9 consecutive payments (2 done) and my loans will be removed from the default status and that will be removed from my credit report.

I have some credit card debt as well, but I have addressed this and am undergoing repayment plans.

I also recently started communicated with a credit counseling agency to better understand budgeting and to better my chances of mitigating this stuff.

Reason for becoming delinquent:

I do accept responsibility for not fulfilling my obligations. I moved after college to accept a position and signed a lease for an apartment that, in hindsite, was not ideal for my budget. A few months into my lease I began to have difficulty paying off loans, but I always paid my rent, car payments, etc. I then used some credit cards to keep afloat. As soon as my lease was up, I moved in with my girlfriend to reduce my monthly expenses.

All of my debt occurred during an isolated time frame (2017-early 2018). Since then, I have not acquired any new debt and obtained a new job that will allow me to more easily pay off my debts. I started the new position in Dec 2018 (I was paid far below market value at my first position that I mentioned earlier, which didn’t help my situation).

I am aware that my repayment plans were initiated all within the last 3 months but this is coincedentally when I was able to commit to paying these off.

So yes my credit score is poor, but I hope to mitigate this stuff based on guideline F material.

My question: what can I provide on my SF-86 to help my chances? I do not see a tab that will allow me to add attachments (repayment history, repayment plans, etc)

2

this is a perfect example of how to mitigate concerns! Well done!

3

Just keep making the payments and relax. You will be asked about the debts, the repayment plans and the reasons for falling behind at some point during the investigation. But, if everything is as it appears here, I don’t think that you will have a problem.

4

As stated, you are doing well. Bring copies of repayment history documents to your Subject interview and you should be golden.

5

You MAY still be required to sign an acknowledgement of conduct letter telling you to closely monitor credit moving forward. The bad credit will be seen by the BI but as stated above showing you are engaged and making payments is the best mitigation. Also, as you point out it takes 9 payments to remove the student loan from what they view as “bad.” My experience with current client is that you really want to show 5 to 6 payments on time to show a track record of meeting obligations. Simply establish a repayment plan isn’t always enough to convince the government you will actually follow through with the repayments.