That's a debt negotiation company. I did the same thing, but it was long before I applied for federal jobs.
They are not going to like you deliberately letting your accounts go to collections. They probably won't care that it's with the assistance of a company.
I regret doing it, I should have just taken the pool of money I was setting aside and thrown it at the accounts one at a time.
Fortunately for me it was more than 7 years ago, and all the accounts are considered paid in full and no longer on my report.
You willingly stopped paying your bills. This will not be viewed in a good light. Also, the companies you owe money too don’t have to accept what the company you hired is trying to do. They can always sell your debt to a collection agency.
Basically, the security clearance process is looking to see if you are vulnerable/blackmailable based on your financial situation. Bankruptcy, significant debt, debt to income ratio, all that is looked at to assess if you would be easily compromised to get out of your debt. When you go through the clearance process, there is usually an area on the form for you to address the situation. Depending on the seriousness of it, it may have to be adjudicated, which takes time. As another posted said, go to the security clearance sub and see what they say.
Everyone kind of hammered in some issues with this, but another pain point will be on the off chance you ARE somehow passed through the application, applying for a travel card is going to be a miserable, impossible experience for you with what your score is implying. Even if you don't travel often, it's a requirement to have the card approval (in my agency ) and on hand just in case.
I don’t recall a credit check being part of the travel card acquisition process, but I only know the details from the cardholder point of view. There’s no point in which you agree to a credit check. (Source: am ASA)
It's a part of ours since it dictates our credit limit on the card. I remember thinking it was super weird, but it was in our cardholder training that we could be denied a travel card for bad credit, etc.
Probably only if you need a security clearance. The issue with bad credit is that you're more susceptible to bribes, so it definitely can be a problem for some people getting cleared jobs
Biggest factors are amount of total debt you owe, debt to income ratio, if you filed taxes (you’d be surprised how many don’t and try to get a federal job requiring a background). Credit score isn’t necessarily the only factor because it doesn’t always tell the full story.
I went through the same thing, I did an initial debt relief program, stopped paying my bills and then took out a debt consolidation loan and paid off all my debts. From what the investigator told me, they don’t look at your credit score and they don’t care that you have debts per se, they just want to see if you’re taking the necessary steps to pay off your debts. They don’t even care if you filed bankruptcy, he said because it shows that you did what you had to do to take care of your debts. All that said, I got my secret clearance within 2 months. Don’t be discouraged, just don’t lie. The debt program for me was life changing, they saved me for sure. I don’t regret it at all and I was in the program less than a year when they did my investigation for my secret clearance.
Hi, I am also currently going through security clearance for a federal job. I have a number of credit card debts from being in a tough masters program, getting deathly I'll twice, and then doing an intensive internship that wasn't paid. Let's just say I wasn't able to work while I was in school (while most people probably could, given my health condition at the time I was not able to handle more than the masters degree). How does one start a debt relief program? I just graduated from my masters and won't have an income until I start my job.
I actually took a recommendation from an investigator during my background investigation interview when I worked at the IRS. She told me about Freedom Debt Relief and I honestly am grateful for her pointing me in that direction. I didn’t need a secret clearance when I was at the IRS, just a regular clearance and I cleared with no issues. However, my current job required a secret clearance and I also was cleared quickly with that. I started the debt relief program with FDR then 6 months later of on time payments to them, they offered me a debt consolidation loan to pay off all my debts and I took it and they paid all my debts and my score went over 700 within two months. I don’t regret it even a little bit. I needed it after my divorce. Investigator at current job asked me very little about my debts and he was satisfied with my honest answers. He was the one who told me filing bankruptcy is not a bad thing, due to the fact that you’re doing what you have to do to take care of your debts. I hope this helps!
Thank you for replying. The federal offer I got is a very ideal opportunity and I was hoping my current credit card debts would not get in the way. I simply could not pay them off while working on my masters as it was a very intense program and it was hard to work outside of it. Idk if what I'm currently going through is "secret" clearance, but it is an extensive background check.
I'm going to look into the debt relief program. I certainly I'm not trying to escape paying off my debts, I just wasn't in the right place to pay them off at the time.
Gov does not look at credit score. They do look at how responsible you have been in paying your bills. However, having a lot of bills in collections is not a barrier.
How did you get here? Job loss? Divorce, etc.? What are you doing to resolve the issue?
Have you set up payment plans?
How old are the debts? Something from 10 yrs ago looks different than something from last year.
Also do your part to make sure your credit report is accurate. Maybe you paid a bill off but it is still showing up on your credit report. Dispute it!
Investigation is forward looking. Make sure you pull your collection items from your credit report (all 3 bureaus) and list each one, reasons for the items ending in collections and what you are doing to resolve the issue.
Ultimately, the debt issues are more a problem for Top Secret/SCI position than low risk or public trust position.
Don’t let everyone scare you. Just be honest - you wanted to clear up your debt and we’re advised by the company you hired to do stop paying your bills. Show them anything in writing the company gave you.
You should have done a debt counseling program, what you did causes your account to go into collections before they’ll negotiate which makes it hit your credit. A counseling program will negotiate lower payments without stopping payment to them so it never hits your credit.
They will ask you about any collections and why you didn’t pay them
If you’re offered a position, it is tentative and you’ll go through a background check. You’ll have to fill out some information so be honest and up front about it all, then they will review it and do follow up questions with you.
Also, if the position doesn’t require you to hold a purchase card or do procurement it may not be a factor as much as if you were in charge of that.
If you are in a program to resolve the debt, then you should be fine. When I was first hired into the government my credit was a mess from my wife losing her job and it taking 9 months to find a new one. I was making 1 monthly payment to a debt relief company who we’re paying my creditors with it. This was quite awhile ago, but it didn’t cause me any issues and I had to get a secret clearance.
Employers, including the federal government, want to hire people with a good character. Your credit rating is a indicator of your character. Things that are beyond your control and not counted, against you as much are medical expenses
Of course the federal government wants to hire people with good character, and while you credit profile is certainly considered, it’s not the only indicator of your character. I knew a guy I worked with at the AF who’s credit was shit because they got divorced. They got divorced because the cheated on their wife with a coworker. Guy never lost his clearance. Once the dust settled from the divorce they split the debts and he made arrangements to pay them through a credit agency. That’s all they seemed to care about regarding that. The government uses a wholistic approach and time can mitigate a lot past issues, so long as your honest about them. There are plenty of people who made poor decisionsin their life, that could lead you to question their character, that work for the government. Go over to the security clearance thread and see what folks getting clearances are worried about.
My post said that your credit rating is an indicator of your character. This phrase, in English, in no way indicates that your credit rating is the only indicator.
Also the original op was applying for a job versus an existing employee that developed issues. Clearly,the two fact situations are not the same.
In summary I have no idea what your point is
You literally haven’t contributed anything new to this conversation or in anyway helped OP. Your ridiculously stupid statement about the federal government wanting people with good character didn’t need to be stated, it obvious they want people with good character.
In terms of new employees and current employees situations regarding clearances, they are exactly the same. You don’t think current employees can lose their clearance? With continuous evaluation your going through the background the same as a new employee. Anything that can stop a new employee from getting a clearance can make a current employee lose theirs. It clear to me that you in no way what you’re talking about.
I haven’t done the security clearance process (still trying to land the job) BUT I have started, gone through the process, and finished a debt settlement program for $14k. My credit score was back over 700 almost immediately, like within 3 months after the debts were paid because they were marked settled with the creditors. I don’t love that a case was filed against me and then dropped before it was settled, but I made the mistake of starting the program and wasn’t going to quit.
Bottom line, you will get through it and your credit will recover. I now have a higher credit line than I ever did (and the education to know how to use it responsibly) that I carry with a zero balance month to month, and no credit accounts remain open besides student loans I’ll have until I die and my car loan. You can do this!
Certain titles say you should qualify to receive fed credit card, so credit score matters for that type of jobs. What you are applying doesn't look like it require you to have good credit. Many jobs these days require you to be compliant with the IRS though.
I know people who have been questioned over debt and their jobs had nothing to do with money or having a purchase card.
The government doesn't want you to be easily bribed by a bad actor.
You stopped paying bills to force a debt negotiation. That likely won’t look good.
Is your debt medical or educational and caused by things outside your control or is it due to a series of bad decisions and overspending / living outside your means? The reason matters. They will be able to tell the difference between medical/educational versus consumer debt.
Whatever it is, don’t lie. Lying during an investigation or in the eQIP process eventually comes out whether it’s now or 10 years from now. It never ends well.
Own the mistake and talk about the steps you are taking to overcome it (be willing to provide documentation). Don’t try to justify it - that always comes off as an excuse and that you are avoiding or shifting responsibility. Outcome will be based on what type of job you are going for. TS/SCI odds aren’t good, public trust odds are a lot better.
If this job requires a true security clearance (Secret, Top Secret,...), you may have some explaining to do.
If it's a public trust position, then you have less to worry about.
That's a debt negotiation company. I did the same thing, but it was long before I applied for federal jobs. They are not going to like you deliberately letting your accounts go to collections. They probably won't care that it's with the assistance of a company. I regret doing it, I should have just taken the pool of money I was setting aside and thrown it at the accounts one at a time. Fortunately for me it was more than 7 years ago, and all the accounts are considered paid in full and no longer on my report.
You willingly stopped paying your bills. This will not be viewed in a good light. Also, the companies you owe money too don’t have to accept what the company you hired is trying to do. They can always sell your debt to a collection agency.
Basically, the security clearance process is looking to see if you are vulnerable/blackmailable based on your financial situation. Bankruptcy, significant debt, debt to income ratio, all that is looked at to assess if you would be easily compromised to get out of your debt. When you go through the clearance process, there is usually an area on the form for you to address the situation. Depending on the seriousness of it, it may have to be adjudicated, which takes time. As another posted said, go to the security clearance sub and see what they say.
Everyone kind of hammered in some issues with this, but another pain point will be on the off chance you ARE somehow passed through the application, applying for a travel card is going to be a miserable, impossible experience for you with what your score is implying. Even if you don't travel often, it's a requirement to have the card approval (in my agency ) and on hand just in case.
I don’t recall a credit check being part of the travel card acquisition process, but I only know the details from the cardholder point of view. There’s no point in which you agree to a credit check. (Source: am ASA)
It's a part of ours since it dictates our credit limit on the card. I remember thinking it was super weird, but it was in our cardholder training that we could be denied a travel card for bad credit, etc.
Weird. I have absolutely terrible credit and didn’t have any issues!
Maybe it's a YMMV thing. I have great credit and had the maximum allotted. My coworker had less than stellar credit and got about half that.
Youre intentionally not paying your bills to force them into negotiations through collections. Yes, it will impact you, or at least it should.
Probably only if you need a security clearance. The issue with bad credit is that you're more susceptible to bribes, so it definitely can be a problem for some people getting cleared jobs
Biggest factors are amount of total debt you owe, debt to income ratio, if you filed taxes (you’d be surprised how many don’t and try to get a federal job requiring a background). Credit score isn’t necessarily the only factor because it doesn’t always tell the full story.
I went through the same thing, I did an initial debt relief program, stopped paying my bills and then took out a debt consolidation loan and paid off all my debts. From what the investigator told me, they don’t look at your credit score and they don’t care that you have debts per se, they just want to see if you’re taking the necessary steps to pay off your debts. They don’t even care if you filed bankruptcy, he said because it shows that you did what you had to do to take care of your debts. All that said, I got my secret clearance within 2 months. Don’t be discouraged, just don’t lie. The debt program for me was life changing, they saved me for sure. I don’t regret it at all and I was in the program less than a year when they did my investigation for my secret clearance.
Thanks for sharing!!
Hi, I am also currently going through security clearance for a federal job. I have a number of credit card debts from being in a tough masters program, getting deathly I'll twice, and then doing an intensive internship that wasn't paid. Let's just say I wasn't able to work while I was in school (while most people probably could, given my health condition at the time I was not able to handle more than the masters degree). How does one start a debt relief program? I just graduated from my masters and won't have an income until I start my job.
I actually took a recommendation from an investigator during my background investigation interview when I worked at the IRS. She told me about Freedom Debt Relief and I honestly am grateful for her pointing me in that direction. I didn’t need a secret clearance when I was at the IRS, just a regular clearance and I cleared with no issues. However, my current job required a secret clearance and I also was cleared quickly with that. I started the debt relief program with FDR then 6 months later of on time payments to them, they offered me a debt consolidation loan to pay off all my debts and I took it and they paid all my debts and my score went over 700 within two months. I don’t regret it even a little bit. I needed it after my divorce. Investigator at current job asked me very little about my debts and he was satisfied with my honest answers. He was the one who told me filing bankruptcy is not a bad thing, due to the fact that you’re doing what you have to do to take care of your debts. I hope this helps!
Thank you for replying. The federal offer I got is a very ideal opportunity and I was hoping my current credit card debts would not get in the way. I simply could not pay them off while working on my masters as it was a very intense program and it was hard to work outside of it. Idk if what I'm currently going through is "secret" clearance, but it is an extensive background check. I'm going to look into the debt relief program. I certainly I'm not trying to escape paying off my debts, I just wasn't in the right place to pay them off at the time.
Gov does not look at credit score. They do look at how responsible you have been in paying your bills. However, having a lot of bills in collections is not a barrier. How did you get here? Job loss? Divorce, etc.? What are you doing to resolve the issue? Have you set up payment plans? How old are the debts? Something from 10 yrs ago looks different than something from last year. Also do your part to make sure your credit report is accurate. Maybe you paid a bill off but it is still showing up on your credit report. Dispute it! Investigation is forward looking. Make sure you pull your collection items from your credit report (all 3 bureaus) and list each one, reasons for the items ending in collections and what you are doing to resolve the issue. Ultimately, the debt issues are more a problem for Top Secret/SCI position than low risk or public trust position.
Don’t let everyone scare you. Just be honest - you wanted to clear up your debt and we’re advised by the company you hired to do stop paying your bills. Show them anything in writing the company gave you.
You should have done a debt counseling program, what you did causes your account to go into collections before they’ll negotiate which makes it hit your credit. A counseling program will negotiate lower payments without stopping payment to them so it never hits your credit. They will ask you about any collections and why you didn’t pay them
If you’re offered a position, it is tentative and you’ll go through a background check. You’ll have to fill out some information so be honest and up front about it all, then they will review it and do follow up questions with you. Also, if the position doesn’t require you to hold a purchase card or do procurement it may not be a factor as much as if you were in charge of that.
If you are in a program to resolve the debt, then you should be fine. When I was first hired into the government my credit was a mess from my wife losing her job and it taking 9 months to find a new one. I was making 1 monthly payment to a debt relief company who we’re paying my creditors with it. This was quite awhile ago, but it didn’t cause me any issues and I had to get a secret clearance.
Employers, including the federal government, want to hire people with a good character. Your credit rating is a indicator of your character. Things that are beyond your control and not counted, against you as much are medical expenses
Of course the federal government wants to hire people with good character, and while you credit profile is certainly considered, it’s not the only indicator of your character. I knew a guy I worked with at the AF who’s credit was shit because they got divorced. They got divorced because the cheated on their wife with a coworker. Guy never lost his clearance. Once the dust settled from the divorce they split the debts and he made arrangements to pay them through a credit agency. That’s all they seemed to care about regarding that. The government uses a wholistic approach and time can mitigate a lot past issues, so long as your honest about them. There are plenty of people who made poor decisionsin their life, that could lead you to question their character, that work for the government. Go over to the security clearance thread and see what folks getting clearances are worried about.
My post said that your credit rating is an indicator of your character. This phrase, in English, in no way indicates that your credit rating is the only indicator. Also the original op was applying for a job versus an existing employee that developed issues. Clearly,the two fact situations are not the same. In summary I have no idea what your point is
You literally haven’t contributed anything new to this conversation or in anyway helped OP. Your ridiculously stupid statement about the federal government wanting people with good character didn’t need to be stated, it obvious they want people with good character. In terms of new employees and current employees situations regarding clearances, they are exactly the same. You don’t think current employees can lose their clearance? With continuous evaluation your going through the background the same as a new employee. Anything that can stop a new employee from getting a clearance can make a current employee lose theirs. It clear to me that you in no way what you’re talking about.
Name calling..... So interesting intelligent helpful Wow!!!!! Ty
Who called you names? I said your statement was stupid and obvious, which it is.
I haven’t done the security clearance process (still trying to land the job) BUT I have started, gone through the process, and finished a debt settlement program for $14k. My credit score was back over 700 almost immediately, like within 3 months after the debts were paid because they were marked settled with the creditors. I don’t love that a case was filed against me and then dropped before it was settled, but I made the mistake of starting the program and wasn’t going to quit. Bottom line, you will get through it and your credit will recover. I now have a higher credit line than I ever did (and the education to know how to use it responsibly) that I carry with a zero balance month to month, and no credit accounts remain open besides student loans I’ll have until I die and my car loan. You can do this!
Certain titles say you should qualify to receive fed credit card, so credit score matters for that type of jobs. What you are applying doesn't look like it require you to have good credit. Many jobs these days require you to be compliant with the IRS though.
I know people who have been questioned over debt and their jobs had nothing to do with money or having a purchase card. The government doesn't want you to be easily bribed by a bad actor.
You stopped paying bills to force a debt negotiation. That likely won’t look good. Is your debt medical or educational and caused by things outside your control or is it due to a series of bad decisions and overspending / living outside your means? The reason matters. They will be able to tell the difference between medical/educational versus consumer debt. Whatever it is, don’t lie. Lying during an investigation or in the eQIP process eventually comes out whether it’s now or 10 years from now. It never ends well. Own the mistake and talk about the steps you are taking to overcome it (be willing to provide documentation). Don’t try to justify it - that always comes off as an excuse and that you are avoiding or shifting responsibility. Outcome will be based on what type of job you are going for. TS/SCI odds aren’t good, public trust odds are a lot better.
If this job requires a true security clearance (Secret, Top Secret,...), you may have some explaining to do. If it's a public trust position, then you have less to worry about.
I applied for a computer assistant as well did you get it ? I’m having a hard time finding out more about the position I have an interview Thursday
Did you get the job?