• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Credit Check Superthread- Merged Topics

  • Thread starter Thread starter qualified
  • Start date Start date
Okay, so it sounds like their is a double standard of sorts with regards to recruiters saying yes or no based on your credit history.  After reading the whole thread it's clear that some who have a larger debt than I with a bad payments are being accepted in some cases.  On the other side of the cube, Some with less debt problems then I do are being denied and told they have to clear up absolutely every cent they owe.

To make a long story short, I have about 10k in debt, mostly student loans along with 400 dollars on a cell phone bill and a couple other small things.  My student loans were sent to collections and a few months ago I started making payments (while going to college) after arranging a plan to payback the money owe.  My cell phone bill comes from the end of the summer when I went back to college and I don't have the money.  I'm flat broke till I graduate in April.

I applied for the reserves last week and I've been reading quite a bit of (confusing) information due to the fact some get in with bad debt, even if they havent made arrangements with creditors or if they have and some are not getting in if they have ANY unpaid debts.

My debt is no laughing matter, but at the same time 10k of debt at 31 is considerably less than most my age.  I mean, my debt won't affect my ability to fire a gun or run through the woods or work your butt off doing some heavy labor. 

It sounds to me like it's luck of the draw.  Some recruiters don't believe your credit rating will affect your duties in the CF and some believe it's the be all-end all with regards to fighting for your country.  If it's the case of the ones who say they got in with debt issues being full of crap okay, but otherwise,
I find it puzzling since it's doubtful that the CF considered the debt loads of the many members who fought hard in WW1 and WW2 and won medals of honor and did their jobs. 

If there was a WW3, would they accept all who have debt issues?  I'm guessing a definite, resounding, YES.  So If a recruiter could clear up how a soldier is capable during times of war to serve their country and not during peace time (doing a less complicated job than during war times) ? 
I say this for all those out there (possibly myself if I don't get lucky) who are being denied an opportunity to represent their country when their is a worker shortage as it is and being an infantry soldier for example and putting yourself in harms way has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with debt.  Perhaps psychological testing of what's in a persons heart, etc and how they deal with pressure when it hits would be a more accurate way of testing reliability considering it states these things are the skills that are important for being able to do your job. 

Not too long ago it was a choice, jail or military.  Considering how much we kicked ass with our much smaller numbers in military engagements throughout history, would it not be accurate to say that many of those guys who chose military over jail would have never passed the reliability testing?  Answer is again, a yes.  Criminals were doing their jobs in a reliable manner, but now they question if someone who owes a few k's can do the job.  Just doesn't sound right.  I'd understand reliability as an issue with regards to money owed if I was applying to be a banker or financial advice professional, but I'm not.  I'm joining a physically demanding, thinking under pressure job that demands clear thinking.  It doesn't say, ability to pay back your debts as a requirement for being an artillery gunner is my point.  It says the ladder.

Haha, bit of a rant cause I'll be pissed if I don't get into the reserves while owing just 10k when it has in my mind and anyone thinking logically, nothing to do with doing the job.  In fact, that debt was mostly attained by better myself as a person by going to school which in turn helps the army cause they have a more educated soldier.

It sounds to me from what I've read that it depends on the individual recruiter and not a standard by which the CF says,, you owe certain amount and if ur over that limit or missed a certain amount of payments and your out.

So I ask, is it more luck of the draw in dealing with one of the more "understanding" recruiters who adhere to the ladder statement when accepting recruits rather than considering you to have bad (coordination) because you owe money? 
 
Didn't you pretty much post the same thing here

Someone here said it best (and I'm paraphrasing), "You choose the CF, it doesn't choose you."

Start paying your bills and get over it.  If they take you, great, if not, guess it was just "luck of the draw".  You had some advice in your last thread (which got locked), why not take it?
 
I know this has been talked about many of times.  Everyone has debt.  I currently owe 35,000 in student loans. I think there issue with credit is the type and more importantly, can you pay it.  Now student loans are what one would consider a good debt, however, you need to pay them on time.  Owing money on a cell phone or having anything sent to collections show's irresponsibility and over-extension of means. 

All, I am saying is the CF isn't to blame for your situation, you need to be accountable and grow up.  Fix your situation and you should have no problem.  I forgot to mention, I also went bankrupt in 2007, cleaned my act up and all is good. 
 
Vimy_gunner said:
My debt is no laughing matter, but at the same time 10k of debt at 31 is considerably less than most my age.  I mean, my debt won't affect my ability to fire a gun or run through the woods or work your butt off doing some heavy labor.

I say this for all those out there (possibly myself if I don't get lucky) who are being denied an opportunity to represent their country when their is a worker shortage as it is and being an infantry soldier for example and putting yourself in harms way has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with debt.  Perhaps psychological testing of what's in a persons heart, etc and how they deal with pressure when it hits would be a more accurate way of testing reliability considering it states these things are the skills that are important for being able to do your job.

I'd understand reliability as an issue with regards to money owed if I was applying to be a banker or financial advice professional, but I'm not.  I'm joining a physically demanding, thinking under pressure job that demands clear thinking.  It doesn't say, ability to pay back your debts as a requirement for being an artillery gunner is my point.  It says the ladder.

So I ask, is it more luck of the draw in dealing with one of the more "understanding" recruiters who adhere to the ladder statement when accepting recruits rather than considering you to have bad (coordination) because you owe money?

See, now these quotes above illustrate to me where your problem lies. You appear to be under the impression that what you do away from your place of employment has nothing to do whatsoever with your capability to do that job. This is, very often, an incorrect assumption.

A key trait of a soldier, sailor, or airman or airwoman is trustworthiness. When one of them tell you that they have done something, you should be able to trust that they are not lying to you. When one of them tells you that they will do something, you should be able to rest assured that it is going to get done.

And, unfortunately, a bad credit history is rather indicative of a lack of trustworthiness. It means that someone was given something valuable, in exchange for a promise to make repayments on an agreed upon schedule, and then reneged upon said promise. Mind you, there may certainly be extenuating circumstances, such as unexpected loss of a a job, an injury that prevented work, or just plain old poor planning.

And, much in the same way that a gambling, alcohol, or drug problem can still be an issue even if the person is never late to work and always shows up sober. Someone who "needs" a lot of money, for whatever reason, is more likely to be a security risk, whether it be stealing small valuable items from work, money from others, embezzling public funds, or selling state secrets.

Again, I'm not trying to imply that this will be so in your case, or even in the majority of cases. But it does certainly increase the likelihood or any particular person becoming an administrative burden upon the system. From what I can tell, however, it's the trustworthiness issue that is felt to be the "key". It is not really the sheer amount of debt that is taken into consideration, but whether or not someone has been making their required payments, without being "forced to", ie before things are sent to collections.

Not too long ago it was a choice, jail or military.  Considering how much we kicked *** with our much smaller numbers in military engagements throughout history, would it not be accurate to say that many of those guys who chose military over jail would have never passed the reliability testing?  Answer is again, a yes.  Criminals were doing their jobs in a reliable manner, but now they question if someone who owes a few k's can do the job.  Just doesn't sound right. 
As for this, I was under the impression that this was an American habit, not a Canadian one. Feel free to correct me by providing a link to a relevant source. But, regardless, the fact of the matter is that we, on a whole, expect more out of both our officers and enlisted men and women than we may have in the past. And, with greater levels of responsibility even at lower ranks comes a requirement for greater levels of trustworthiness.

And I should note that even our American brethren no longer engage in this particular practice.


 
I did take the advice pointed out previously by a poster and started making payments on my cell bill, although not much since I'm broke until graduating in April. 

I do agree that to some people missing a payment or not making a payment because you can't shows a lack of trustworthiness; however, I show up for my current part-time job and every single class in college along with being relied upon to show up and coach an under-12 boys soccer team twice a week and my lack of cell phone payments hasn't affected that.  Come rain or snow, I'm the guy who always makes it to soccer practice and I can be counted upon by my friends to be where I say I'm going to be, when I say I'll be there. 

Personally, I don't need a lot of money to live off of and after graduating from Journalism I'll be making enough that 10k of debt, mostly due to student loans, will disappear quite fast and that's my plan.  My ideals as a Christian would never allow me to steal, even if I owed millions of dollars, I'd never steal from the CF.  I'd feel guilty about taking a bloody pen and not returning it, lol.  Considering my 10k of debt will easily be paid off by my civilian job with a newspaper in a fast manner, I don't think I should be considered an administrative problem.

I do need to "grow up" as a previous poster who went through that phase alluded to.  Having a debt is one of the very few areas that I need to rectify with regards to growing up and I'm now working on it.  Then again, just about every single person I know has a larger debt than me.  Not many have the opportunity to be completely debt free at 31 within a time period of one year.  The growing up aspect would be making my payments on time and I'm working on it now.  In that specific respect I haven't shown trustworthiness.

Maybe it sounded like I was blaming the CF, but that's not the case.  I realize it's my debt and will clear it up.  I just hope that I don't have to wait another year to totally clear that up and join the CF. 

I understand that more is required of soldiers than in the past and that's a good thing.  I'm just hoping that the army will see that my debt of 10k will be paid for fast and that won't disrupt how fast I am accepted.  I do have a bad payment history and I did neglect the responsibility of not paying for them, but my situation in April after graduating is vastly different with regards to pay. 

Having your salary go up from 14k a year to 35k, plus money earned in the Reserves makes paying for cell bills, etc, much more manageable.  So, I'm hoping the CF will understand that I'll not have money troubles like the past because I'll simply have quite a bit more.

Thanks to everyone who responded.  Part of the process is talking about your garbage, lol.  Talked about it, now I'm doing something about it.

 
I am 20 years old and been really lazy/stupid waste of life over the past few years which have caused some problems I am trying to fix.

I have been having creditors after me for a while now. I am currently looking for work and its not going so well as things are slow. I cannot pay off my debts until I get a job.
Well going to a credit counselor help my credit score and in return not hold me back on my application process?
Also I have not filed taxes in a couple years (I have been really stupid and fucking lazy for a long time and trying to change my life so I am doing my best to get on top of things) and plan on doing it soon. This is bad I know but if I do file my taxes right away well things be ok?
 
bomber12 said:
I am 20 years old and been really lazy/stupid waste of life over the past few years which have caused some problems I am trying to fix.

I have been having creditors after me for a while now. I am currently looking for work and its not going so well as things are slow. I cannot pay off my debts until I get a job.
Well going to a credit counselor help my credit score and in return not hold me back on my application process?
Also I have not filed taxes in a couple years (I have been really stupid and ******* lazy for a long time and trying to change my life so I am doing my best to get on top of things) and plan on doing it soon. This is bad I know but if I do file my taxes right away well things be ok?

Yes, going to a credit counselor is very likely to only help your credit rating, and in turn help your application process. Remember, we look at your credit history during the application process.

I can't guarantee that filing your taxes right away would instantly make things all better, but I think it's safe to say that the sooner you file your taxes, the sooner you'll be on the road to being "ok".
 
Thought I would add a little here.

I currently have a mortgage, student loans and a line of credit (cost of seperation, bah). I owe about 23k in unsecured debt + mortgage. Despite this, I have never missed a payment on anything I owed and have a fairly good credit score.

None of this was brought up as an issue during my interview and beyond.
 
NightEcho said:
None of this was brought up as an issue during my interview and beyond.
 

Did you read the thread at all ?

I have never missed a payment on anything

Therefore your debt was not brought up. If you had been a bad boy/girl and were in serious default with any of them, it would have been brough up. You have debt and its up to date = we dont care.
 
I have a bit of debt, but always make my payments and I'm not in arrears or any trouble with creditors. The CF called me and told me I have the job and I will be sworn in on Thursday. Will my outstanding debt make me not eligible? I remember during the interview the Lt. asked me if I had any financial issues and I said no. Said no because it is not a concern and I can pay it off no problem, but I'm not sure of the Canadian Force's stance on any debt at all.

I dropped out of college and handed in my resignation for my current job so I hope they don't change their mind at the last second.

Am I good to go?
 
The CF doesn't care if you have debt.

Bad debt (collections, legal action, bankruptcy, consumer proposals) is another matter. 

You're fine.
 
"MS Mick:  if you have already been told you are being sworn in... you should be good to go " From the Forces.ca live recruiter

Phew! I've been training for 8 months now! lol Didn't want all of this to go to waste.
 
P.S.  That info would've been found if you had done a search.  Make sure you follow the site guidelines...
 
No probs, it's not me you have to worry about - it's the moderators.  :)
 
I just submitted my application on wedsnday and have my CFAT April 6. I was wondering at what point in the process do they typically look over your credit? I have a cell phone bill that got sent to collections that is about $830. I dont have a job to pay it off, but I am getting around 450 next week, if I pay half of it off will it show up on my credit report that I paid half of it off? Or will it not matter untill I pay it all off?

Thanks
 
What kind of "scar" does Bankruptcy leave you in once you have already gone through the interview and everything. ATM, i'm just in limbo with Ottawa doing a credit check. Personally the credit isn't to bad (under 15k) which could be gone during my time in BMQ and SQ. I just don't want my bad judgment in past to hurt my process of trying to build my future. I was looking into Bankruptcy just to eliminate it all and get a new "start" so I can move forward. Just wondering what the CF's outlook would be on it. I know I would have to contact my recruiter and get whatever he needs to be in paperwork and such, just worried if I do such a thing, it might hinder my chance at my dream.
 
This question seems to get asked pretty often, and I'm not sure why.  There are lots of threads dealing with it.

In any event, here's the CF's line on personal debt.

The CF does not care about your debt, if it is in good standing - regardless of the amount.  It's your personal matter.

The CF does care about bad debt.  This includes payments gone into collections, garnishment of wages, court judgments, bankruptcies, and consumer proposals.

If you're considering consumer proposal or bankruptcy, then the CF considers this an "unresolved legal matter", and you would not be eligible for enrolment until the terms of the consumer proposal are met, or until the bankruptcy is discharged (a couple of months, at most,  to assemble the bankruptcy, and 9 months from filing to discharge).

If you have outstanding (bad) debt, or debt gone to collections, I believe that if you make concrete payment arrangements, and stick to them, the CF may entertain your enrolment at their discretion.  They may require the debt to be paid out in full, I'm not sure.  Again, not gospel, but that's the way it's been for as long as I can remember.

edit:  It is incumbent upon the applicant to satisfy the recruiting system that they will not be recruiting someone with excess administrative baggage.  Getting pulled out of BMQ or later stages of training to deal with court matters related to financial mismanagement would not be looked upon lightly.  If you get your financial house in order by making arrangements with your debtors, it would probably go a long way towards a favourable enrolment process, but it's the recruiters' judgement call in the end.  Were I in the position of an applicant with bad debt, I would take all reasonable steps to prove that I can be responsible.
 
I understand. It's just Ottawa waiting on a credit check and I know I've made mistakes. I've done what was necessary in order to tell collections that I've lost my job and until I get employment, well... sorry but I can't do nothing. For me being only 21, the 15k or so debt that I do have (mainly because of a car loan), it seems impossible to get over since my hometown offers little for employment at the moment. That's why I asked about the bankruptcy, it would be nice to start "fresh" and just eat the bad credit rating (not like I don't already have one), and just move forward with the CF as a career. The only other thing is to pay some of the debt off with Income tax and hopefully the CF will be pleased with that.

Another question:

If you get into contact with everyone you owe money to, and get them to mail you letters saying that if you do get employment from the CF, they will be pleased to get the monthly payments. Would the CF be content with that? or would some miracle be in order?

I'm under the impression that a credit counselor is used when you have employment. As I am not employed, it seems that my options are very limited.
 
HavocSteve said:
If you get into contact with everyone you owe money to, and get them to mail you letters saying that if you do get employment from the CF, they will be pleased to get the monthly payments. Would the CF be content with that? or would some miracle be in order?

I'm under the impression that a credit counselor is used when you have employment. As I am not employed, it seems that my options are very limited.

Free credit advice for you - get rid of 'all the people you owe money to' - consolidate your multiple owings into a single debt that is held by a reputable institution at a reasonable interest rate... 






 
Back
Top