Under national security adjudicative guidelines family members or cohabitants living with you who are engaging in criminal activity can pose a risk to your ability to obtain or retain a security clearance. A Department of Energy (DOE) contractor found this out recently when the administrative judge denied her appeal requesting

Many clearance applicants who have delinquent debts, collections, or charges offs on their credit report believe that if they simply wait for the debts to fall off after seven years then all will be forgiven. Unfortunately, this rarely works because it is seen as a lack of responsibility and trustworthiness.