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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline F · Financial

Bankruptcy Filing

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does bankruptcy filing affect a security clearance?

Bankruptcy Filing is an issue decided under Guideline F, Financial. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 1,407 hearing-level cases, and 33% of the 1,407 decided ended with access granted (468 granted, 939 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 1,407 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

1,407

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

33%

468 granted · 939 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 20(b) · Conditions largely beyond the person's control, met responsibly

    In granted cases
    238
    In denied cases
    18

  • ¶ 20(d) · A good-faith effort to repay or otherwise resolve the debts

    In granted cases
    185
    In denied cases
    9

  • ¶ 20(c) · Counseling received, with clear signs the problem is being resolved

    In granted cases
    176
    In denied cases
    14

  • ¶ 20(a) · So long ago, or so infrequent, that it is unlikely to recur

    In granted cases
    83
    In denied cases
    11

  • ¶ 20(g) · An arrangement made with the tax authority, and kept

    In granted cases
    17
    In denied cases
    3

  • ¶ 20(e) · A reasonable and documented basis to dispute the debt

    In granted cases
    13
    In denied cases
    0

Circumstances credited in granted cases

The specific circumstances the judge expressly credited among the granted cases on this issue where that detail was extracted.
  • chapter 7 bankruptcy · credited in 9 granted cases
  • chapter 13 bankruptcy · credited in 2 granted cases
  • financial counseling · credited in 1 granted case

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 26-00326Granted2026

    The applicant mitigated security concerns under Guideline F related to financial considerations. He admitted to filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, failing to file tax returns, and having delinquent deb…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-01452Granted2026

    The case involves an applicant seeking security clearance who faced allegations under Guideline F related to financial considerations. The applicant admitted to failing to file federal income tax retu…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00832Denied2026

    The applicant, who is 59 years old and has a history of financial difficulties, was denied security clearance due to failure to mitigate concerns under Guideline F (Financial Considerations). The appl…

  • ISCR Case No. 22-02410Denied2026

    The applicant, who represented herself, faced security concerns primarily under Guideline F related to financial considerations, including multiple bankruptcies and delinquent debts. While she mitigat…

See all 1,407 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline F

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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