Preface with, I browsed some recent issues with reinvestigations and bad credit but still feel if I don’t ask I won’t sleep this weekend.
BLUF: I’ve never paid bills in my household and now after pulling a credit report for the first time in 8 years for my e-Qip, secret clearance reinvestigation, I see my spouse (and me, since my debts are my responsibility) didn’t pay our credit cards during 2012-2014.
We called the original creditors today and have set up payment plans to pay off the debts in 1 year. Total derogatory debts are 10k spread over 4 accounts. I’ve also called a credit counselor and begin seeing them next week. Finally I’ve been 100% honest on my e-Qip application and let my supervisor, who is also the security officer, know my situation.
I’m currently sitting between 637-665 on my three credit scores. Have one car payment of 165$ which has never been late over the span of 18 months. Have 2 credit cards sitting at 25% and 31% usage respectively, totalling 650$ debt and have never been late in 24 months.
I guess what I’m looking for is what all others have looked for…others who have had similar or worse stories and have had their clearances approved or revoked, your timeline and steps or tips you have to help in bettering my chances of getting approved.
I’m looking for any and all feedback.
I truly appreciate anyone’s help, time and response(s).
Thanks!
It shouldn’t be an issue as long as you can show you’re taking responsibility toward the debt and working to pay it off. Why weren’t the credit cards paid between 2012 - 2014 and how did you not notice until now? That’s what you’ll need to explain.
I appreciate the response, Bob.
The not noticing until now is just my ignorance and lack of communication with our past bills.
I’ve signed up for credit monitoring with multiple sites and will continue using so as to stay on top of my credit and to hopefully repair it in the long run.
I’m trying to hit this problem head on and be as open and honest about it as possible. It may be too little too late.
Would selling my second vehicle and paying all debts off to zero help me any?
Thanks again.
In my experience, 10+ years on this contract FINL and lying are the two biggest turn downs. Make sure you know your accounts, that you have a plan in place to repay and that your income is sufficient to carry it through. Bring with you any copies of documents that support your position. Lay it all out during your interview, don’t get caught be deceitful.
Red, the last thing I want to do is try and deceive. I’ve got copies of the payment plans in writing coming in the mail from each creditor and the payments are within our range.
I want to go put my best feet forward and put this behind me as soon as possible.
Definitely disappointed in myself and will for sure be embarrassed to brief my leadership, but hey, live with your choices in life and learn from mistakes.
If you were my case, I’d be drilling down on a two year gap where you didn’t pay your bills. I would be prepared to offer a better explanation than provided above.
That being said, mitigating your delinquent debt is always the best course of action, i.e. getting on a payment plan, etc.
Curious though if you are on payment plans with the creditors, what is the credit counseling service for?
As I read your original post, it’s my understanding that you were not the one who was paying bills during this period, I guess your wife took on that responsibility in the household.
You need a clear, relatively concise, version of what happened. You didn’t write out the bills and assumed that your wife was doing so. When it came to your attention, you addressed the issue.
It makes your job of getting cleared a little harder but you should get through if this is all there is.
The day I found out, I told my security manager and went home and called the creditors with my spouse and set up a plan with each.
Finances are the only concern on the e-qip app. 1 card will be paid in full within 6 months, 2 cards will be paid off within a year and the other will be hammered out within the next 24 months.
The credit counseling was recommended by my supervisor to better educate both my spouse and I on credit health. After actually meeting with them they basically wanted to charge me for what I was already doing. I already have payment plans in place and have timelines set up for repayment.
There is more to the story for the non-payments but at the end of the day we had the means to pay those bills and I will be sure to express that to the BI.
Credit Counseling should include education not just help with agreements to pay off your bills. Something like Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (a little over $100) can look good for your investigation. It’s one more thing that shows that you are serious about preventing problems down the road.
Sounds good. You did a lot of mitigation. Only advice is to be as clear and concise as you can during the interview. You don’t have to be perfect but be coherent!
Also, would have been better if your financial problems were due to a job loss after fighting German terrorists at Nakatomi Tower while vacationing in Los Angeles.
Update - I was placed into the Continuous Evaluation program. Still not 100% sure what that means but I know there is a ton of resources on here I can read up on.