I received a letter from CBP regarding my application for security clearance and I had a couple of charged off items (SBA loan and a credit card) related to a business I owned and subsequently closed in 2014 and they are wanting me to first explain the debt and also why it was not on my electronic questionnaire for the investigation process. I didn’t list them because they were related to the business.
The letter itself is a proposal letter telling me i am unsuitable for employment as a contractor but before a final decision is rendered I am given the opportunity to explain.
To be honest I really did not think I had to add them to the application.
Any suggestions on how to effectively respond would be greatly appreciated, I really want this job.
You will need to explain why you omitted this information. What caused the default and what you did to pay it back, more importantly why you did not list it?
The information was omitted (not listed) because it was related to the business I had and closed. I didn’t think I had to list it. It was discussed with the investigator and I was not provided any negative feedback.
The default was caused by the closure of the business, I owned a small pilates studio and made as good of a go I could at it but ultimately closed it in 2014.
Although the debts were related to the business, ultimately the business was yours along with all the debt related to it. All they see is unaddressed delinquent debt. If you filled out an SF85, I believe it even asks if the debt is related to a business owned by you. If you filled out and SF86 it doesn’t differentiate between personal or business debt it asks for all debt. Mitigating the issue is your only bet, which means paying off the debt and explaining to CBP what you’ve explained here. Best of luck