Gambling debt and SC Clearance

[Lance]

I am currently in 15k of debt due to a very dark period in my life right now and I am concerned that I will not be granted it and consequently lose my job.

It depends on who you owe it to. If you owe £15k to the Russian mafia then forget your SC clearance.
If you owe it to Betfred and are honest about it on your application I doubt that will be an issue as long as you haven't increased that debt or tried chasing the loss with more gambling.

I suggest that you put in the additional information what actions you have undertaken to eliminate the gambling issue from your life.

[eek]

The problem with gambling debts is that they are not enforceable under civil law. The guys holding the debt are therefore tempted to use "other" means to recover their money. Hence they represent a significantly greater risk of coercion or blackmail than a simple credit card bill.

All the OP can do is declare it in the space provided and see what happens.

You may want to double check the above - as the enforceability of gambling debts changed with the Gambling Act 2005 see https://www.out-law.com/page-8437

[ITContractor20]

Job? Are you a contractor or permie?

Premie.

[ITContractor20]

£15K sounds like my week at cheltenham festival

Did you get a court order against you or just come to an arrangement?

Does it show in your credit report ?

My debt is to the bank, so it shows the debt I am in with the bank. I have however paid every minimum payment request.

[Lance]

My debt is to the bank, so it shows the debt I am in with the bank. I have however paid every minimum payment request.

You owe the bank money.
The money you borrowed was to pay a gambling debt.
So you don't have a gambling debt. Or have I got that wrong?

Dare I ask who the gambling debt was with?
Bookies don't generally give credit. Casinos don't generally give credit. In both of those areas if they did give credit it would be to someone for whom £15k would be nothing.
The people who do give credit at that level I wouldn't trust.

You could arguably forget about it as there is no gambling debt. That then leads to other questions.
Who did you owe and are they likely to come and find you?
Is it possible to trace your debt to that person/company?
If you don't declare and the vetting process finds out then you are unlikely to get cleared. the fact that you know enough to ask the question suggests you already know this anyway.

So given everything here and what you've said, you have to declare it and who it was you owed.
Good luck.

[FrontEnder]

My debt is to the bank, so it shows the debt I am in with the bank. I have however paid every minimum payment request.

Is this a loan/credit card? If so, it's not a "gambling debt" it's just a debt to the bank. Declare it as such if they ask you.

15k in loans and credit cards is totally normal.

[ITContractor20]

You owe the bank money.
The money you borrowed was to pay a gambling debt.
So you don't have a gambling debt. Or have I got that wrong?

Dare I ask who the gambling debt was with?
Bookies don't generally give credit. Casinos don't generally give credit. In both of those areas if they did give credit it would be to someone for whom £15k would be nothing.
The people who do give credit at that level I wouldn't trust.

You could arguably forget about it as there is no gambling debt. That then leads to other questions.
Who did you owe and are they likely to come and find you?
Is it possible to trace your debt to that person/company?
If you don't declare and the vetting process finds out then you are unlikely to get cleared. the fact that you know enough to ask the question suggests you already know this anyway.

So given everything here and what you've said, you have to declare it and who it was you owed.
Good luck.

The funds came from my overdraft and appears on my statement that I brought credit to gamble. You don't take out credit when gambling. I will declare exactly to who I paid this money to but I feel they are going to reject me not because I am in debt but what I spent it on.

[FrontEnder]

The funds came from my overdraft and appears on my statement that I brought credit to gamble. You don't take out credit when gambling. I will declare exactly to who I paid this money to but I feel they are going to reject me not because I am in debt but what I spent it on.

I think this is unnecessary. Did you default on payments? Was the account in arrears/collections? If not, it's just an unsecured debt to the bank. Most people wrack up some credit card/overdraft debt on nothing in particular.

If they ask for bank statements or specifically ask what the debt was for then so be it, but I don't recall having to list what my debts were when applying for SC.

[tarbera]

Gambling Act 2005

The problem with gambling debts is that they are not enforceable under civil law. The guys holding the debt are therefore tempted to use "other" means to recover their money. Hence they represent a significantly greater risk of coercion or blackmail than a simple credit card bill.

All the OP can do is declare it in the space provided and see what happens.

Gambling Act 2005 means gambling debts are now legally enforceable but depends on where company has its licence, where you placed the wager, if they offered credit terms etc (not allowed). if the dept is just on your credit card - who would know

[tarbera]

The funds came from my overdraft and appears on my statement that I brought credit to gamble. You don't take out credit when gambling. I will declare exactly to who I paid this money to but I feel they are going to reject me not because I am in debt but what I spent it on.

So you don't have a GAMBLING DEPT what you have is something called an overdraft - No Big deal, no one cares in the SC world I would presume