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I'd like to know the extent to which adverse credit can affect C&F.

I had really bad credit in the past. I just had a bunch of stuff in collections and such. I have during law school worked my butt off to pay it all off and now although my credit score still isn't great it is clean of all those bad trade lines.

Does anyone know if this will be enough to satisfy C&F or would this be a problem?

Two thoughts for what they may be worth:

1. The thing bar examiners are looking at is not that you had a bunch of awful debt so much as whether you demonstrate financial responsibility. Lawyers are permitted to receive and disburse sometimes enormous amounts of client cash with neither a bond nor an annual trust account audit. You have to look both honest and reliable.

Financial responsibility does not necessarily mean paying it all off. It means that you have a plan and are behaving responsibly toward the debt. It sounds like you have dealt with the debt in a way that won't cause any heartburn.

2. See if your state's bar examiner authority will allow you to undergo scrutiny now rather than later.

Good luck with this but I wouldn't be too concerned so long as you are "paying as agreed".

Awesome. Thanks. Yeah did a LOT of dumb things long before I thought of LS as an option.

Cleaning up your act and not repeating helps. Perhaps the credit report may trigger a deeper investigation into your finances - maybe you'll have to explain what exactly happened to drive you into debt, looking for gambling issues or undisclosed criminality or whatever - but follow the golden rule - disclose, and yee shall (eventually) be blessed. C&F investigators LIVE for discovering liars. Lie and get caught, that is like a C&F Christmas wet dream. But come clean after having cleaned up your act, and you will probably be ok.

Now, if your debts were from embezzlement or a crime of dishonesty, that's different. Good luck.

NotMyRealName09 wrote:Cleaning up your act and not repeating helps. Perhaps the credit report may trigger a deeper investigation into your finances - maybe you'll have to explain what exactly happened to drive you into debt, looking for gambling issues or undisclosed criminality or whatever - but follow the golden rule - disclose, and yee shall (eventually) be blessed. C&F investigators LIVE for discovering liars. Lie and get caught, that is like a C&F Christmas wet dream. But come clean after having cleaned up your act, and you will probably be ok.

Now, if your debts were from embezzlement or a crime of dishonesty, that's different. Good luck.

No, definitely none of that. Just irresponsible childish stuff and lack of judgment. i.e. not budgeting properly. Or spending what I was making at one job only to be laid off and having to take a lower paying position.