Offered job sponsoring secret clearance - Default loan issue?

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hi all,
First time here. I’m a bit concerned on some factors regarding secret clearance as I’m new to the process and was given a preliminary clearance questionnaire that asked about basic questions the SF86 would ask, and one was about default loans/bankrupty etc. I had a loan that got charged off in 2022, and I had no idea I thought it was on auto pay and notifications were sent to an inbox I wasn’t monitoring at all at the time. I remembered it last year and paid off about half, it was 1700, so there was about 800 left. I paid off most of it a couple of months ago before being laid off, and I finished off paying the final 160 yesterday.
I have a couple of maxed credit cards, and my credit score is 620~ give or take. I’ve only ever missed 2 payments in the past 10+ years, showing a 99% payment history. My plan is to ask a buddy to help pay off my cards and I’d pay him back, and doing some simulations it would spike my score up to 700+. Would I have a any trouble with getting a secret if this was all done after accepting the job offer and doing the SF86?

tl;dr Credit score 620 atm, can get it to 700 by paying off 2 cards. I have 1 charged off loan in 2022 I was unaware of because I thought autopay was going through, it wasn’t, strong credit history otherwise. I just finished paying it off yesterday (the last 160). Will I have a strong chance at a secret or will this possibly hurt me? No other issues on the SF86 listed.

2

You paid off the one loan (2022 charge off) so that is good. As far as “maxed out” credit cards, I think if you are at least making the minimum payment and not incurring any late fees, that is OK (though not great).

But two “maxed out” credit cards and a recent loan problem could possibly be a “pattern” of financial issues. I don’t think that is automatically disqualifying but will probably attract questions and you’ll need to have documentation to show to the investigator (if it comes to that). It sounds like you are on track to clear everything up so that is a strong factor in your favor.

I’m sure some of the investigators who read these forums have seen people with worse financial histories get cleared.

3

That’s good to know! Thanks for that insight, it makes sense. Do you by chance know if the amount makes a difference? One is 4k and the other is 700, nothing extremely high, and I’ve always made my monthly payments.

4

I’d have to defer to the investigators on that point.