Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can offer.
My spouse has a current top secret security clearance with an additional access. He is not new to the military. This past year, we incurred significant debt from home repairs within a year of the purchase of our third home. They were not considered latent defects nor were they anything that we could have had recourse with the previous owners, home inspector. None were covered by homeowner's insurance. It was a bad run of one thing after the other, and we pray we have no more significant issues with the home. Routine maintenance and an emergency every now and then is one thing.. this was a nightmare.
We are not in a position to refinance the home to carry this debt, as the market softened and appraised home values in our area decreased.
Our minimums average $1,000 per month. We'd like to seek advice of a credit counseling service, however, I'm concerned that it may negatively affect my spouse's clearance if we enroll in a program. In our many years of marriage, we have never been late on any creditor bills, mortgage payment, or utilities. We'd like to keep it that way! We have never had a collection or any other adverse credit issue, with exception of our current EXTREME debt.
Can enrolling in credit counseling services negatively affect a service member's existing security clearance? Or, are these types of programs a non-issue, provided the service member has been paying on time (no collections, default).
Avoid consumer credit counseling services. Enrollment in those programs are viewed by lenders the same as a Ch.13 bankruptcy without the legal protections. How much debt are you talking about? Do you own 3 houses or is this just the 3rd one you have ever owned? When you bought the house how much did you put down? Have you had an appraisal done recently to verify the value?
Having held a TS/SCI clearance myself for 8 years he should just talk to his unit's SSO regarding the matter. They will be more concerned with the fact that you have large amounts of debt. It would be better for him to make them aware of it and explain things than for them to discover it on their own.
