Really scared about turning my PHQ...

[Erik.jin]

Hey guys I am new here! Nice meeting you all.
I am in the process of filling out my PHQ... One thing above all really concerns me...
My credit score, here is the full story.
I have recently graduated from college (2010) while I was in school I had a part time job that would bearly pay for my bills, even had to take some loan out. It was out of question that I would seek financial relieve from my family as we were all in a financial crisis. So my CC went from collection agency to collection agency while I was in school. Upon graduation the part time engineering job that I had laid me off (great...) finding a job was not easy... But finally a big firm did hire me! I was soooo releived! Pass the employer's BC, but as I am getting ready to be dispached to a nuc site they need to do another more extensive BC, the PHQ... Crap. I am loosing sleep over this!
Here is what I got, a crappy 520, but as soon as I found out that I had I job I managed to borrow some money and paid all my CC (2) and I am current on all my loans (some have defaulted) and paid my 2007 and 2008 back taxes (about $1500 did not go into tax liens). What worries me is the crappy score AND although I have paid all my debts (about 1 month ago) I am afraid that the collector ppl of the credit bureaus did not update the records fast enough... All I got as proof is one letter from one collector saying that the accnt is closed and the other collector is only going to issue me a letter in about 2 weeks... Beside that I got copies of all the check or confirmation numbers. As far I am concerned I am up to dates with all my debts, they are either paid off or current (student loans and car payments).
I don't have any criminal charges or anything like that, the closes thing to it would be a failure to appear in court for speeding (in 2006) well I was broke back then too
And ofcourse I got my share of speeding tickets. This current job is like my ticket out! I am trying really hard to get my life back in track! Should I be sweating?! I am really concerned about getting denied clearance.
As far as the loans I don't owe anything substantial, about 35k in student loans and maybe 7-8k left on the car.

Help anyone?
Thanks!

[UncaBuffalo]

I have recently graduated from college (2010) while I was in school I had a part time job that would bearly pay for my bills, even had to take some loan out. It was out of question that I would seek financial relieve from my family as we were all in a financial crisis. So my CC went from collection agency to collection agency while I was in school. Upon graduation the part time engineering job that I had laid me off (great...) finding a job was not easy... But finally a big firm did hire me! I was soooo releived! Pass the employer's BC, but as I am getting ready to be dispached to a nuc site they need to do another more extensive BC, the PHQ... Crap. I am loosing sleep over this!
Here is what I got, a crappy 520, but as soon as I found out that I had I job I managed to borrow some money and paid all my CC (2) and I am current on all my loans (some have defaulted) and paid my 2007 and 2008 back taxes (about $1500 did not go into tax liens). What worries me is the crappy score AND although I have paid all my debts (about 1 month ago) I am afraid that the collector ppl of the credit bureaus did not update the records fast enough... All I got as proof is one letter from one collector saying that the accnt is closed and the other collector is only going to issue me a letter in about 2 weeks... Beside that I got copies of all the check or confirmation numbers. As far I am concerned I am up to dates with all my debts, they are either paid off or current (student loans and car payments).

I'm not the PHQ expert, but it doesn't sound like you should have any problem getting cleared.  Just tell them exactly what you have told us. I'm fairly sure they will look favorably on the fact that you have paid off the bad debt and are up-to-date on all the loans that you still have.

...so relax!

And welcome to the nuclear industry.  Good luck!  





modified for grammar

[Erik.jin]

Great! Thank you
Anyone else rant into this situation?
All feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks again

[Graphic]

Hey guys I am new here! Nice meeting you all.
I am in the process of filling out my PHQ... One thing above all really concerns me...
My credit score, here is the full story.
I have recently graduated from college (2010) while I was in school I had a part time job that would bearly pay for my bills, even had to take some loan out. It was out of question that I would seek financial relieve from my family as we were all in a financial crisis. So my CC went from collection agency to collection agency while I was in school. Upon graduation the part time engineering job that I had laid me off (great...) finding a job was not easy... But finally a big firm did hire me! I was soooo releived! Pass the employer's BC, but as I am getting ready to be dispached to a nuc site they need to do another more extensive BC, the PHQ... Crap. I am loosing sleep over this!
Here is what I got, a crappy 520, but as soon as I found out that I had I job I managed to borrow some money and paid all my CC (2) and I am current on all my loans (some have defaulted) and paid my 2007 and 2008 back taxes (about $1500 did not go into tax liens). What worries me is the crappy score AND although I have paid all my debts (about 1 month ago) I am afraid that the collector ppl of the credit bureaus did not update the records fast enough... All I got as proof is one letter from one collector saying that the accnt is closed and the other collector is only going to issue me a letter in about 2 weeks... Beside that I got copies of all the check or confirmation numbers. As far I am concerned I am up to dates with all my debts, they are either paid off or current (student loans and car payments).
I don't have any criminal charges or anything like that, the closes thing to it would be a failure to appear in court for speeding (in 2006) well I was broke back then too
And ofcourse I got my share of speeding tickets. This current job is like my ticket out! I am trying really hard to get my life back in track! Should I be sweating?! I am really concerned about getting denied clearance.
As far as the loans I don't owe anything substantial, about 35k in student loans and maybe 7-8k left on the car.

Help anyone?
Thanks!

Welcome to the Nuke world.

Your questions are ones that pretty much everyone who doesn't know the process worries about. Credit really isn't as big of an issue as people may believe. Hell to be honest with you in today's economy it's harder to find a perfect credit report with so many people having financial hardship.

The debt really won't be an issue. The main thing access is looking for as far as debt is concerned are tax liens and judgments. Obviously huge amounts of debt with a lack of repayment over a long period of time would be a concern as well. The main thing is are they 'susceptible to coercion or bribery'? It probably would be a little easier to deny someone with a 100k tax lien and numerous judgments over that criteria rather than someone with a couple medical bills that are late.

So I read where you wrote about tax liens but I wasn't clear as to whether you had it paid off completely cause you still said about 1500 didn't go into tax liens.. i was a little confused there? Either way, as long as it isn't a huge amount and you have a good reason as to why you received it then you will be okay.


When you fill out your PHQ just make sure you list that information. There is a section where you can give a 'credit statement' in other words you can say well "I got behind in bills due to lack of work.. or due to divorce"... you need to give a decent reason.

When access pulls your credit report they will see those things more than likely. If they aren't updated and you didn't list it in your PHQ then they will have to call you and ask you about them. So I always tell people to list more than you have to otherwise it will hold up your badge because then the background company will have to get in touch with you. Sometimes that is not easy if you are at a plant where you get no service.

You will be fine. Just make sure to list what you listed here.. be honest.. thats the key.

Good luck don't stress over it just try to cover it all and be honest as can be and it will all work out.

[Erik.jin]

Great! Thanks for the reply!
As far as the back taxes is because they have sent me a letter saying that if I.dont pay they.will put a tax lien on me!
Perfect timing, paid them off before any action was taken.

[Graphic]

No problem. One more thing I did forget to mention...

You need to make sure to list the 2006 speeding charge on your PHQ. You DONT have to list speeding tickets, but in this case since you failed to appear you need to list it to be on the safe side. You don't want them denying you because you didn't list that. It won't have any bearing on you getting in but if you don't list it and it comes up on your record they will think you are trying to deceive.

The ONLY time you have to list speeding tickets are if you were detained/arrested or in this case such as where you failed to appear for it. Otherwise you normally do not list speeding tickets.

Make sure you READ everything in that PHQ. It baffles me how much people just start writing in their phq before they even read what that section of the PHQ is looking for. Reminds me of when I was in high school and our teacher gave us all a test where the directions read "If you have read these directions carefully you will know to put your name on the top right of the paper and turn it in" .... Pretty much the whole class failed for about 3-4 minutes until everyone saw someone get up and turn their paper in.. then it dawned on everyone what the deal was of course. (I was one of the dummies)

Lol.. point is to read and make sure you know what you are required to do.

Good Luck

[Erik.jin]

Yes, I did list it as "failure to appear" for speeding, resolution: paid and driver liscense was reinstated...

Arg this is still killing me! I mean the wait is killing me!

[Graphic]

Sometimes the wait can be a little long. If you haven't ever worked nuclear then it is going to even take a little longer, on top of the fact many plants are beginning to ramp up for their fall outages so you have hundreds of people hiring in at many sites.

They have to give each company you worked at 3 days to respond if they don't respond after those 3 days then the background screener will contact you to provide another way to verify that job (Co-Worker, Supervisor etc)

It takes about 5 business days average for someone who hasn't ever had access to go through the whole process and get badged. You can't get a badge until everything is complete. Aside from the background you have FFD and computer based training to finish as well. So think about that then multiply x500 people or more at some sites and you can see where the delays can be

Access gets worked way harder than people can imagine especially since they tend to only have couple people working. Phone rings non stop.

Anyways, good luck!

[hungryg]

I'm in the same boat you are.  I was offered an NLO job and did the drug test but now they are reviewing my backround check info.  My credit and my driving record are what concern me.  I don't have a criminal record, no DUI's and I've been current with all my bills and loans for the past 6 years.  Its just that they check back 10 yrs on my credit and the last 4 yrs from 2001-2005 are pretty ugly.  I guess a couple of speeding tickets aren't going to hold me back but I did have my DL revoked for 30 days back in 2005.  I'm nervous like you but I have to believe they will look at the big picture and realize I'm trustworthy and not a security threat. Let us know how it goes and I'll do the same.

[hungryg]

Just got an email from HR saying I got my security clearance and I start on the 12th!!! 

[Content1]

Just got an email from HR saying I got my security clearance and I start on the 12th!!! 

That is good news, congratulations.  Credit can be viewed different ways.  I occasionally get a call for a debt they claim back in 1992.  It can't show up on your credit after 7 years, and the statute of limitations for California is 4 years.  If you live in some states the statute of limitation is as long as 15 years.   In reality, if the debts are low it is not work pursuing you for after a year or so.   Bad credit usually results in that you cannot get other credit or credit cards which kind of solves itself.  There are so many today out of work the credit is the first to suffer if you are unemployed or underemployed.  The people reviewing your credit from a security standpoint know this too.  You are not going to be a security risk for some ER charging you $3,000 for a  set of stitches  you could not pay for 6 years ago.  Going to any hospital without insurance means bad credit for some time, as they overcharge so severely to charge the feds as much as they can get reimbursed for.  They even sock you for higher car insurance rates if your credit is low, as you are more accident prone if you are poor and unemployed with poor credit.
      It may surprise you, but I bet the opportunity for road jobs is going up in a poor economy (Though not the pay).  To do a road job, you are often not paid sometimes for weeks and many do not have the funds to fly themselves out to a 3 week job, pay for hotels a week in advance, air fairs in advance, etc.  I use to spend at times nearly $1000 in a group of three from my own pocket, with per diem behind that I would be home and getting it since it was held back so far.  People who live out East have an advantage now, especially since they are paying travel pay with caps, some as low as $300 making it not worth traveling across the country for a 3 week job.

[blackballedsnake]

I was reading the prior posts on the subject...I too, have credit "issues" that I had to explain (in full) before I go to Davis-Besse in two weeks. I am not a deadbeat by any means, but a severe automobile accident kept me out of the working world for almost 3 years!! I am now ready to return. (thank Heaven) I was really worried about my "initial" PHQ at first, but when the company's security people called me two days ago, they didn't give me any indication that there would be any problems. We shall see...it could be nothing or not, right? Oh, by the way, when did the Self-Disclosure questions (on an Initial PHQ) change from "HAVE YOU EVER" to the current status of "WITHIN THE LAST FIVE (5) YEARS, OR SINCE YOUR 18th BIRTHDAY...WHICHEVER IS SHORTER" Does anybody out there know exactly when, or why this change occurred? (just curious...that's all) Anyhoo...catch yinz later!  - Mike "Snake" Shaffer.