Do Residency Programs check your credit rating or if you declare bankruptcy??

[laiya2011]

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Hi
I was wondering if anyone knows that as part of the selection process, if residency program check to see if you have declared personal bankruptcy?
I am taking a hard look at my financial status and credit card debt ($15,000)--incurred while in school. I am trying to determine if I should declare personal bankruptcy while I am student and have no income and just rebuild my credit? BUT if declaring bankruptcy is going to adversely effect my residency application ?
Does anyone know if it at all is something they check?
Thanks🙂

 

[richse]

Is your tuition and housing paid until you are done school or do you have loans that you need to receive to finish medical school? You should check how they may be affected by bankruptcy. Even if you are fine to finish out school I would consider trying to work out some kind of consolidation or deferment instead. Throwing your credit report in the trash for the next 10+ years over 15,000 in credit card debt seems excessive. Here's a blurb I found that was pretty informative.

"Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which is total bankruptcy, stays on your credit report for 10 years. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, more like a payment plan, stays on your credit report for 7 years. Bankruptcy, however, is for life. Loan applications and many job applications ask if you have ever filed for bankruptcy. Ever. If you lie to get a loan because your bankruptcy is very old, technically you have committed criminal fraud."

 

[Moonglow]

You never want to declare personal bankrupcy, unless you are going to be sued by your creditors - make any and all arrangements to pay what you owe over time. Personal bankrupcy will affect your professional prospects for many years.

 

[dragonfly99]

I agree with the above. I would not suggest declaring bankruptcy over 15k in credit card debt. That isn't that much. Instead, go to somewhere like Consumer Credit Counseling Services and see if they can help you make a deal with your creditors. You could potentially make small payments on the debt while you are a student, even maybe using your student loan payments. You will have to make sacrifices, maybe get a roommate and use used textbooks (my 20/20 hindsight tells me the couple year old books had 99% the same material of the shiny new copies I forked over so much money for, particularly for the 1st and 2nd year classes). If you aren't in med school yet, think about getting an extra part time job at some point, to try to get some extra money to pay down that debt. I know it sucks but I seriously think it's preferable to having a bankruptcy on your credit records.

The residency programs are very unlikely to care about this stuff or to look it up, though, if that's your main concern.

 

[dragonfly99]

You better check to see how bankruptcy might affect your ability to get student loans as well. Not sure about the federal loans, but should you need any private loan(s) at some point, the bankruptcy would probably preclude that.

 

[dotdash]

There are so many potential negative ways that a bankruptcy could affect your life -- emotional as well as financial (bad karma not to repay debts). The $15,000 may feel bothersome now, but (for example) do you really want to admit to your significant other in four years that you can't be on a mortgage application because you declared bankruptcy in 2009? Even if your residency program will never know, why take on that negativity for $15,000?

 

[Blesbok]

A) How did you manage to get $15k in credit card debt in medical school? Not that it is really important, just curious.

B) Do anything you can to avoid bankruptcy, not for residency reasons, but other reasons. Can you take out extra loans next year? Can you borrow money from your parents? What about the "moving cost loans" that a lot of places offer? Ya, they are high interest, but not 20% like a credit card.