I tentatively got an offer requiring a secret. My credit score is 665 but I have 5 charged off accounts, 3 are going to fall off my credit report starting in Feb, the others in 2020.
It will show up as an Issue. Explain your mitigation plan and how you are taking care of these problems to ensure they don’t happen again. The concern from the govt POV is that you might be able to be coerced or subject to blackmail to fix your credit problems. As long as there are enough things to back you up showing that won’t be the case then you will likely be in good shape.
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Start a plan of action ASAP. You need to pay these off or make arrangements with the creditors to get on a payment plan immediately. These investigations want to see at least six months of payments towards any unpaid debts. They will also want to know how these got charged off any why you did not do anything to pay them until your investigation.
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Don’t want to hijack thread, but basic question on credit.
If there are no accounts in default/late and only one late payment in 2 years (and barely 2 years), but there is high credit utilization and cards near limit, as well as student loans and a personal loan, is that an issue?
Been trying to figure out if the finance criteria is with defaults/late payments or credit usage in general, if no such stuff is there.
If you don’t want to hijack a thread, you can just ask your question in a new thread.
The answer is that both or either can be an issue. You can have high credit utilization and still be living within your means. Two of the questions that they look at with credit are: Do you have a tendency to ignore the rules? Do you appear to be living beyond your means?
There is no one issue here, it’s always a mix.
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Ed is right. Your overall credit score will reflect he income to debt ratio which is more important on the new scoring systems. Interestingly enough if one gets more credit available…new cards…and does not charge them up…your score can improve. That is risky in each application however. A 665 as mentioned above is beyond fair and almost at “good.” However, recently I have seen credit scores in the 800’s…with an 8 plus year old debt in dispute that does not show up on any of the three major credit reports. But it held up the person in adjudication. They had a dispute with Sprint and did not want to pay it on principle. Normally I would say if the credit score is 800…don’t worry about it. Apparently not exactly the case. On another person (yesterday) the BI person showed a debt of $177 dating to 2015. No address or name given on the debt. It too does not show up on the major credit reports. I am really unsure how to address it since there is no source to call. He only gets medical at two places and both deny ever putting it into collection or him not paying.
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On my SOR last year . . . Five medical bills from the same doctor. One for $19 and all five for less than $300. I had already paid them before the SOR came out but still had to address them in great detail. (The problem occurred because changes in healthcare laws, and our insurance, changed the services that were AND the way that the doctor’s office billed for non-covered items.)
Did you get an initial denial Ed? Hope that was fixed. I get frustrated with medical billing. Even with a valid referral if the doctor submits the bill as point of service there is a much higher copay. I’m on my second dispute and the bill even reflects there is a valid referral on file they are just not looking at it.
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I received an SOR. There were more serious issues that I mitigated. There were 10 financial item in total. This accounted for FIVE SEPARATE items! The governments lawyer kept harping on these as I mitigated all of the other items. I would tell you the whole lurid story but not here in a public forum.
Understood, hope all worked out in the end for you. Not seeking personal private info but I am curious if these items were visible to you on the standard credit check sites such as Equifax, Experien and the other I always forget? Having two who showed me their credit scores and reports…with none mentioning a bad debt…compared to what the BI had showing a medical debt of $177 in collection…makes me wonder how a person can possibly correct what they cannot see? And if their credit score is quite high I too would not think I had an issue.
They showed up a few months before the SOR was issued. I noticed them a few weeks before the I received the SOR, called that day and paid them. Remember, I received my SOR a year, almost to the day, after submitting my eQuip. A lot can happen in a year.
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Mr. Ed.
Did you lose you job when the SOR was issued? Are you a fed? How long from the time you filled out the equip to a favorable adjudication was it? Sorry for all the questions but its good information to post. I think that others may have similar questions.
Although I had been cleared in the past I was a “new applicant” when this happened and did not have an active clearance. I was working in private industry. So, I continued to work but not in a cleared position.
However, receiving an SOR during a reinvestigation is not the same as a suspension of clearance. Many people continue to work cleared jobs until the results of their hearing are known.
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Best of luck to you Ed if not already resolved. I appreciate your personal experience and input on this forum for what its worth. I too try to use my own clearance issues for myself and my people to help others understand. You possess a solid grasp of the process and programs. I really respect that.