2651 Question regarding Credit?

[ministiguy]

Hello my name is Garrett and I am at a difficult time in my life not knowing where to go from here exactly hence the reason as to why I joined and am asking questions and reading up. It is now 4:30am here and I've been reading on this website for about 4 hours but have just few questions that I was unable to find definitive answers to in my searches.

For the Credit checks what is it that they look down on most? Balance? Defaults? Total balance vs total allotment?

A little run down for you: My wife and I have about $10,000 in debt on credit cards currently as well as student loans from our schooling. We moved recently here to Houston for her Optometry school and I have been unable to find a job. I have worked in IT for over 10 years but don't have a degree so I'm at a middle grounds cross roads in my career. The problem is that I don't know enough to move up in my career but I know to much for the lower jobs. I have been told I'm overqualified multiple times but can't find anything for the level I am at. I feel that the Marine Corp MOS 2651 is where I want to go with my career and my wife hates how I always talk about signing up but feels that its because of her that I don't. She's probably mostly right but the bills just keep piling up and as you can see I don't get much sleep with stressing out over all this.

Sorry for ranting on when I did say it would be a "summary" but I know that the job requires TS clearance and I know the things they check as I was once granted one years ago when I was DEP for the Navy.(didn't end up going in but am still eligible)

Thanks for all you can offer.:)

[Kegler300]

MOS 2651 requires a top secret clearance and SCI eligibility. There are 13 Adjudicative Guidelines used in determining one's eligibility and access to classified information. Below is the Guideline for financial concerns:

GUIDELINE F: FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
18. The Concern. Failure or inability to live within one's means, satisfy debts, and meet financial obligations may indicate poor self-control, lack of judgment, or unwillingness to abide by rules and regulations, all of which can raise questions about an individual's reliability, trustworthiness and ability to protect classified information. An individual who is financially overextended is at risk of having to engage in illegal acts to generate funds. Compulsive gambling is a concern as it may lead to financial crimes including espionage. Affluence that cannot be explained by known sources of income is also a security concern. It may indicate proceeds from financially profitable criminal acts.

19. Conditions that could raise a security concern and may be disqualifying include:

(a) inability or unwillingness to satisfy debts;

(b) indebtedness caused by frivolous or irresponsible spending and the absence of any evidence of willingness or intent to pay the debt or establish a realistic plan to pay the debt.

(c) a history of not meeting financial obligations;

(d) deceptive or illegal financial practices such as embezzlement, employee theft, check fraud, income tax evasion, expense account fraud, filing deceptive loan statements, and other intentional financial breaches of trust;

(e) consistent spending beyond one's means, which may be indicated by excessive indebtedness, significant negative cash flow, high debt-to-income ratio, and/or other financial analysis;

(f) financial problems that are linked to drug abuse, alcoholism, gambling problems, or other issues of security concern;

(g) failure to file annual Federal, state, or local income tax returns as required or the fraudulent filing of the same;

(h) unexplained affluence, as shown by a lifestyle or standard of living, increase in net worth, or money transfers that cannot be explained by subject's known legal sources of income;

(i) compulsive or addictive gambling as indicated by an unsuccessful attempt to stop gambling, "chasing losses" (i.e. increasing the bets or returning another day in an effort to get even), concealment of gambling losses, borrowing money to
fund gambling or pay gambling debts, family conflict or other problems caused by gambling.

20. Conditions that could mitigate security concerns include:

(a) the behavior happened so long ago, was so infrequent, or occurred under such circumstances that it is unlikely to recur and does not cast doubt on the individual's current reliability, trustworthiness, or good judgment;

(b) the conditions that resulted in the financial problem were largely beyond the person's control (e.g., loss of employment, a business downturn, unexpected medical emergency, or a death, divorce or separation), and the individual acted responsibly under the circumstances;

(c) the person has received or is receiving counseling for the problem and/or there are clear indications that the problem is being resolved or is under control;

(d) the individual initiated a good-faith effort to repay overdue creditors or otherwise resolve debts;

(e) the individual has a reasonable basis to dispute the legitimacy of the past-due debt which is the cause of the problem and provides documented proof to substantiate the basis of the dispute or provides evidence of actions to resolve the issue;

(f) the affluence resulted from a legal source of income.

[tdrt]

Go in and talk to recruiter to get things going. They'll be able to provider further clarity.