Residency background check and bankruptcy/credit history?

[therealfinale]

Do residency pre-employment background checks screen for bankruptcies, civil judgements from credit cards and credit history? If so, would that give cause to a residency program to rescind their offer or to want to speak with me? I have read as much as I can on what has already been written on this, but some fresh takes on this would help mitigate my concerns about this.

Long story short, I stupidly let someone I thought I could trust "borrow" my credit cards while in med school, and they ended up racking up 90k in debt, resulting in 1-2 civil judgements from credit card companies and in me having to choose the financial nuclear option and filing for Ch 7 bankruptcy. The residency program is presumably aware of that crazy debt I had and that I filed for bankruptcy, since I revealed that during my interview/s with at least one of the APDs (it affected me negatively, resulting in the application "red flags" that I felt compelled to explain).

If you are uncomfortable posting anything publicly, please message me. I am only looking for advice and for people to hopefully assuage my concerns. Thanks in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Do residency pre-employment background checks screen for bankruptcies, civil judgements from credit cards and credit history? If so, would that give cause to a residency program to rescind their offer or to want to speak with me? I have read as much as I can on what has already been written on this, but some fresh takes on this would help mitigate my concerns about this.

Long story short, I stupidly let someone I thought I could trust "borrow" my credit cards while in med school, and they ended up racking up 90k in debt, resulting in 1-2 civil judgements from credit card companies and in me having to choose the financial nuclear option and filing for Ch 7 bankruptcy. The residency program is presumably aware of that crazy debt I had and that I filed for bankruptcy, since I revealed that during my interview/s with at least one of the APDs (it affected me negatively, resulting in the application "red flags" that I felt compelled to explain).

If you are uncomfortable posting anything publicly, please message me. I am only looking for advice and for people to hopefully assuage my concerns. Thanks in advance.

Only thing I can think of off hand that could be affected is if you rotate at a VA and they have any concerns regarding bankruptcy issues. I'm not sure it would really affect you otherwise other than having the residency program question your judgement.

 

[therealfinale]

Only thing I can think of off hand that could be affected is if you rotate at a VA and they have any concerns regarding bankruptcy issues. I'm not sure it would really affect you otherwise other than having the residency program question your judgement.

Thank you.
Would you mind elaborating? I might need to rotate at the VA and also thought they could be a potential issue. Is it just because it's part of the government?

 

[deleted859689]

Do residency pre-employment background checks screen for bankruptcies, civil judgements from credit cards and credit history? If so, would that give cause to a residency program to rescind their offer or to want to speak with me? I have read as much as I can on what has already been written on this, but some fresh takes on this would help mitigate my concerns about this.

Long story short, I stupidly let someone I thought I could trust "borrow" my credit cards while in med school, and they ended up racking up 90k in debt, resulting in 1-2 civil judgements from credit card companies and in me having to choose the financial nuclear option and filing for Ch 7 bankruptcy. The residency program is presumably aware of that crazy debt I had and that I filed for bankruptcy, since I revealed that during my interview/s with at least one of the APDs (it affected me negatively, resulting in the application "red flags" that I felt compelled to explain).

If you are uncomfortable posting anything publicly, please message me. I am only looking for advice and for people to hopefully assuage my concerns. Thanks in advance.

Holy cow I check my credit cards at least every week. If I even got close to 5K in debt I would start freaking out. 90K?

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Thank you.
Would you mind elaborating? I might need to rotate at the VA and also thought they could be a potential issue. Is it just because it's part of the government?

VA will do their own background checks being government. If you have a local VA, you could always see if you can talk to someone there to get an idea if it would be a problem or not.

 

[operaman]

It will show up on background checks and definitely show up on credit checks that are usually done as part of this, but it should not have any impact on your ability to work. A recent bankruptcy or credit issues can be an issues for certain levels of security clearance, but you won't have anything close to that as a resident at a VA.

Remember the bk laws are designed to give people a fresh start, so it makes no sense to destroy someone's career over it. It may be an issue for certain jobs later but you can cross that bridge when you get there. All the things that can cause issues with getting hired as a resident they should have asked you in ERAS and/or should have disclosed to you during the application process. Things like criminal charges could certainly do that which is why they ask you about that in ERAS and instruct you to update your application immediately if that changes. Civil issues like judgements and bankruptcies should not be an issue at all. I'm not even certain it would find its way to your program director and even if it did it shouldn't matter. You've broken no laws and even if all the debt was yours, you have discharged it legally through the court system. It might make me raise an eyebrow if I were hiring you as a partner and expecting you to obtain credit to buy in to the practice, but it should have absolutely no bearing on your ability to train as a resident.

 

[therealfinale]

It will show up on background checks and definitely show up on credit checks that are usually done as part of this, but it should not have any impact on your ability to work. A recent bankruptcy or credit issues can be an issues for certain levels of security clearance, but you won't have anything close to that as a resident at a VA.

Remember the bk laws are designed to give people a fresh start, so it makes no sense to destroy someone's career over it. It may be an issue for certain jobs later but you can cross that bridge when you get there. All the things that can cause issues with getting hired as a resident they should have asked you in ERAS and/or should have disclosed to you during the application process. Things like criminal charges could certainly do that which is why they ask you about that in ERAS and instruct you to update your application immediately if that changes. Civil issues like judgements and bankruptcies should not be an issue at all. I'm not even certain it would find its way to your program director and even if it did it shouldn't matter. You've broken no laws and even if all the debt was yours, you have discharged it legally through the court system. It might make me raise an eyebrow if I were hiring you as a partner and expecting you to obtain credit to buy in to the practice, but it should have absolutely no bearing on your ability to train as a resident.

Thank you very much. Your answer is much appreciated.

 

[therealfinale]

VA will do their own background checks being government. If you have a local VA, you could always see if you can talk to someone there to get an idea if it would be a problem or not.

Great idea, thank you.

 

[michaelrack]

I have been bankrupt 5 years (my chapter 7 case is still open), and it has not prevented me from getting attending jobs or licensure.... no VA experience however