I filed Bankruptcy...Does this disqualify me?

[MsRussell]

Hello everyone...I really need some help. I want to join the Air Force and have been in touch with a recruiter...but I'm having some difficulty finding an answer to this question. I recently had to file bankruptcy...with the economy like it is and some recent changes in my personal life (divorce)...as difficult as it was to do...it had to be done. So...is it possible for me to join the Air Force with a bankruptcy. I scored very very high on the ADSVAB, my height/weight is fine, I have great moral character, and it's just sad to me that this one thing could keep me from being eligible. Someone please let me know if there is any way that I would be able to get a waiver or something to get past this. Thanks in advance for any advice that any of you may be able to provide.

[MERC8401]

I don't believe that a bankruptcy would disqualify you from the AF. However it might effect which jobs you could qualify for because it could hurt your security clearance. But if you could show that it was from a divorce and that you are currently back on your feet...it might not even effect that. Hope this helps. I'm surprised your recruiter couldn't answer that question.

[MsRussell]

Hi...Thank you for your response. My recruiter is out of town right now...doing some type of training...so there has been a lot of delay with our communications with one another. I'm not sure if I should just get another recruiter or not...I'm comfortable with him b/c I've been dealing with him...but time is of the essence and I really need to get things moving for me. So...I do feel a lot better knowing that it's can't completely disqualify me.

[MERC8401]

Not a problem. Just be up front about your situation to your recruiter..that way they can give you a heads up on any problems you may run into (i.e. job choice). Good luck going Blue. If you have to join the military you made the best choice.

[goldbadge]

Your bankruptcy will require you to do a Financial Eligibility Determination(FED). Your recruiter will run your credit report and will sit down with him and write a statement discribing by you got into fininacial issues why you filed bankruptcy, and that you really want to join the AF and hope your past financials issues wont affect your "dream" of being in the AF. The big quetion is since you filed bankruptcy have you had any more deliquincies on your bills? Also is the bankruptcy 100% final, discharged, ect. I have seen people that filed bankruptcy be able to get in so as long as you dont have any other issues you should be good to go. Your high asvab scores will help on the FED as well.

Good luck!

[LEBS27]

I filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy (failed business venture) and joined the Army Reserves right after it was discharged. I also applied for & received my Secret clearance.

Echoing other posts, yes it seems as though they are looking at what caused the bankruptcy, how are you currently with your finances, and are you likely to repeat your past financial mistakes.

[MsRussell]

Hi and thank you all again for your responses. I have not been discharged as of yet. I filed recently approximately two months ago. I have have not been late with any of my payments or any other bills. I'm hoping that this will all work out for me. I sent over my bankruptcy package and letter of explanation to my recruiter. I was told it could take up to 6-8 weeks to get approved. So I guess I have to just be patient.

[MERC8401]

Well keep us posted and let us know how things turn out. Good luck.

[MsRussell]

:-) Will do...thank you for the advice and concern. I'll keep you all posted.

[MsRussell]

Hi everyone just giving an update....my recruiter just submitted my file for approval last week...so Lord's willing I'll have a yes sometime this week! I'll let you all know!

[goldbadge]

Hi and thank you all again for your responses. I have not been discharged as of yet. I filed recently approximately two months ago. I have have not been late with any of my payments or any other bills. I'm hoping that this will all work out for me. I sent over my bankruptcy package and letter of explanation to my recruiter. I was told it could take up to 6-8 weeks to get approved. So I guess I have to just be patient.


He is trying to discourage you by saying it takes 6-8 weeks. As long as you have proof the bankruptcy has been discharged an FED(financial eligibility determination)takes a few DAYS at most to get approved by the recruiting squadron commander. As of 01 March all FED's and law(moral) waivers require a 65QT on the ASVAB. Have you tested? If not have your recruiter schedule you to test. Be persistent. Remember right now you are broken and your recruiter wants to focus his time on people that are not broken.

[MsRussell]

He is trying to discourage you by saying it takes 6-8 weeks. As long as you have proof the bankruptcy has been discharged an FED(financial eligibility determination)takes a few DAYS at most to get approved by the recruiting squadron commander. As of 01 March all FED's and law(moral) waivers require a 65QT on the ASVAB. Have you tested? If not have your recruiter schedule you to test. Be persistent. Remember right now you are broken and your recruiter wants to focus his time on people that are not broken.


Thanks for the advice. I'm staying on him though. My friend who left for BMT back in February got a FED and it only took a few days to get his approved. I did score above 66 on the ASVAB, so I should be good as far as that goes. I didn't hear anything today, so hopefully within the next couple days I'll hear from him.

[goldbadge]

Thanks for the advice. I'm staying on him though. My friend who left for BMT back in February got a FED and it only took a few days to get his approved. I did score above 66 on the ASVAB, so I should be good as far as that goes. I didn't hear anything today, so hopefully within the next couple days I'll hear from him.

Since you scored a 66 QT you can get your FED approved as long as you have you bankruptcy discharge paperwork and you dont have any new debt issues. Tell your recruiter that you have spoken with other Air Force recruiters and they said based on your asvab and your bankruptcy discharge paperwork it will only take a few days to get your FED approved. If he still is a turd contact other Air Force Recruiters in your area.

[MsRussell]

Just giving an update. I'm starting to get extremely annoyed and upset with my recruiter. He didn't submit my file when he said he did. He actually didn't submit it until this past Friday....and to top it off he won't be back in the office until next week. I really wish I could go get another recruiter...the only problem is that he's the only one in my area. He covers everything in my area and the surrounding counties as well. I'm trying to be patient, but I really need to get an answer. I actually worked for AIG (lol..no I didn't get any of the bonus money...I was what you call a peon at the very bottom of the totem pole) and decided to leave and move closer to home for family reasons and also b/c I'm banking on this coming through. I have already found a new job that starts later this week, but I really need this to come through and it's like he doesn't see the urgency in it. I know that even when it gets approved I won't be leaving in a couple days...but at least I'll know that I'll be on the track to leaving. I'm not sure what I should do he's the only one in his office. I wish there was something that I could do or someone else I could reach out to.:(

[mel44]

Hang on ms, looking over your issues might be able to help.

[mel44]

The problem is the air force doesn't hurt quite as much and can drag their feet and/ or take their time. Now if your army they would be all over this. Try and find the station commander in closest large city to you, which is probably in charge of this station. There is always a CoC. Go army! They will take care of you :)

James

[ringjamesa]

Surely you are not trying to say that the Army uses a different SF 86? OPM still has to grant a clearance..even if she were to go Army...

[TJMAC77SP]

Surely you are not questioning the validity or efficacy of advice given by a poster even if this subject is totally outside their field of endeavor?!?!?!

[mel44]

Surely you are not trying to say that the Army uses a different SF 86? OPM still has to grant a clearance..even if she were to go Army...

Its the same paper work its just the army will "do it" and not drag their feet as this lady has implied has happened. Didn't mean to offend :). and you know "go army" hooooo aaaahhh - hoooo aahhhhhh
Mel:D

[ringjamesa]

Except that the Army doesn't do the clearance...

[TJMAC77SP]

Actually for US Army members the actual clearance will be issued by the Army Central Adjudication Facility. The Army CAF will however use the same standards that all DoD (and executive branch agencies) uses. These are spelled out in DoD 5200.2R, Appendix 8 and a White House Memo dated 29 December 2005.

No service is ‘easier’ than another in granting a clearance.

[mel44]

Actually for US Army members the actual clearance will be issued by the Army Central Adjudication Facility. The Army CAF will however use the same standards that all DoD (and executive branch agencies) uses. These are spelled out in DoD 5200.2R, Appendix 8 and a White House Memo dated 29 December 2005.

No service is ‘easier’ than another in granting a clearance.

Tj no one said it was easier - this lady said she needed help as her recruiter lied to her and didn't send her paperwork off when he said he did. Therefore delaying her response. I asked James to look at it to see if he could assist her since she stated her recruiter was being a tool - didn't mean disrespect for the airforce - But now don't ya know we always re-direct to the army ;)

[TJMAC77SP]

Tj no one said it was easier - this lady said she needed help as her recruiter lied to her and didn't send her paperwork off when he said he did. Therefore delaying her response. I asked James to look at it to see if he could assist her since she stated her recruiter was being a tool - didn't mean disrespect for the airforce - But now don't ya know we always re-direct to the army ;)

This statement...............

Its the same paper work its just the army will "do it" and not drag their feet as this lady has implied has happened.

Could have been misinterpreted to mean that since the Army is more in need of recruits the ability to get a security clearance would be easier than with the Air Force.

Simply not true. No offense taken, just like to see accurate advice given to those who don’t know any better.

[goldbadge]

The Army will not do a credit check on you unless you book a job that requires a top secret. If you tell them you have credit issues they will suggest not booking in top secret jobs. For every 1 AF recruiter there is 8 army recruiters. This is why it seems like stuff gets done faster in other services. Go to airforce.com and search for recruiters in surrounding area codes. There may be one closer than you think unless you live in a very rural area. Tell you recruiter that you want to see in AFRISS where it shows that the FED has been submitted. It should only take a few days to get approved after it has been submitted. Tell him you uncle is a Lt. Col in the Air Force and he is wondering why the process is taking so long. Tell him you want to talk to his flight chief. All these things can speed up the process. In all reality your recruiter has a bunch of people that he is putting in the Air Force that arent broken and he is giving them the priority. He may have a family he chooses to spend time with instead of deal with your finance waiver. You need to be patient or make yourself a priority to him.

[mel44]

This statement...............


Could have been misinterpreted to mean that since the Army is more in need of recruits the ability to get a security clearance would be easier than with the Air Force.

Simply not true. No offense taken, just like to see accurate advice given to those who don’t know any better.

Ow no that is not what he ment - I get you - I wrote it, he just told me what to say and I paraphrased, I don't articulate as well as I should :) - he was specifically talking about the recruiter and why he was taking his sweet time sending in the info. I dont really know anything about this - I just asked him to look at it to see if he could be an assistance to her.

[TJMAC77SP]

The Army will not do a credit check on you unless you book a job that requires a top secret. .

ALL investigations for a security clearance require a credit check. The Army does have more jobs that do not require a security clearance so in an indirect way steering toward the Army may help.

[goldbadge]

ALL investigations for a security clearance require a credit check. The Army does have more jobs that do not require a security clearance so in an indirect way steering toward the Army may help.

You are correct both secret and TS gets a credit check ran. I was misinformed originally by an Army recruiter that said "we only run credit checks on top secret jobs." After seeing your post I walked over and asked the station commander and he cleared it up. If I have somebody I cant work I sent them next door and you guys hook em up with a job that doesnt require a credit check.

[MsRussell]

Hi Everyone. I have still not gotten an answer from my recruiter. I called him on Monday (he said he wasn't back in the office yet) and told me that he would call his commander or supervisor (I think) to have him check to see if everything was approved. He told me he would call me back...he didn't so I called him back later that evening to see if he had heard anything. He says that his supervisor couldn't get into his computer or something like that so he didn't have a response. He told me that he would check today and give me a call...I waited until almost 5pm..and had not gotten a call from him. So...I called him to see if there was something...he said no he hadn't gotten a response. So, at this point I was just beyond irritated. I told him that I know it only takes 3 days to get a response for this and that I KNOW he should have something by now. I leave for Lackland AFB tomorrow to see my friend graduate from BMT...so I told him that he has until Monday to let me know something or else I'm going above him. My friend who's graduating tomorrow his mom and dad are both in the AF and are both CMSgt. and his mom says she'll try to help me..lol..she says she's going to write a really NICE letter to him asking why her "neice" is having so many problems with him assisting her. I know a lot of you are probally saying I should just find another recruiter...but he's the only one in all the surrounding counties in my area. There others that were here are gone and he has taken over their locations. I know that he's probably very busy getting people in that have less issues/problems that me...but does that mean I am less important. I've had to send him documents multiple times...because his email went out, or because he can't get into his system...there's always SOMETHING!!! So...I'm just tired...I'm really starting to get discouraged, but I'm not going to loose my faith. I'm going to continue to trust in the Lord that he's going to work this out for me. I'm sure I could maybe choose a different branch and get right on in, but that's not what I want to do. I've wanted to join the AF since my highschool days...that was my whole purpose of doing JROTC. I've been out of school a few years now, and have had a few obstacles come my way, but I'm trying to do better. Ok...I guess that's my venting for the week. Please all keep me in your prayers.

[goldbadge]

Your recruiter sounds like a sucka duck. An FED takes about 15 minutes to do and 1-3 days to get approved. I suggest you look for another recruiter, go to his office everday, or ask to talk to his flight chief. Like I said before ask for him to show in in AFRISS(our recruiting computer system)where your FED has been forwarded to the flight chief.

[MsRussell]

Your recruiter sounds like a sucka duck. An FED takes about 15 minutes to do and 1-3 days to get approved. I suggest you look for another recruiter, go to his office everday, or ask to talk to his flight chief. Like I said before ask for him to show in in AFRISS(our recruiting computer system)where your FED has been forwarded to the flight chief.

Thank you for the advice. I'm just getting back from Lackland AFB from seeing my friend graduate. I'm going to my recruiters office on tomorrow and I'm going to ask him to show me in the system where it's been sent over. This is beyond ridiculous. I'll keep you all posted.