MilitaryForums.co.uk

I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my life at the moment due to being laid off work recently so now i don't know which road to go down.

For the past 10 years I've been wanting to join the RE or RM and have been very close on doing both, but since then things have changed, like mortgage and marriage and an IVA (voluntarily insolvent).

When I applied for the Royal Engineers some years ago there was a stipulation that if you owed more than £2500 then you couldn't join.
Considering how things are nowadays I suppose there isn't that many people out there that don't have some form of debt. So has the army canged their criteria or am i still urinating into the strong breeze.

If you owe to much money they look upon you as a security risk. Try and get some thing sorted out then apply.

Tab wrote:If you owe to much money they look upon you as a security risk. Try and get some thing sorted out then apply.

The thing i have done is sorted it with an IVA (Independant Voluntary Arrangement/Agreement)(Insolvency) so all my creditors bills have been reduced and will be cleared in 4 years time and it's all managed by a Insolvency Practioner. The amount that the IP determines I have to pay each month goes on by how much I earn and the wife earns, so if the issue is the fact I am suseptable to bribes etc then thats not the case as I have no financial worry. However some establishments look on insolvency the sames as bankruptcy, but it's not.

shall i just call the afco.

Over 250 quid a month mate is considered too much debt to join!!!
However try getting a written agreement with your credit Manager to pay less than that a month.Explain the situation to them and be up front with your recruiter, Not promising that this will solve the problem but it will help your chances.

I just wouldn't tell them, the army isn't really organised enough to check sh*t lie that.

Airborne Legend wrote:I just wouldn't tell them, the army isn't really organised enough to check sh*t lie that.

Quality idea, just lie from the start (Ridiculous idea)
How about honesty or Integrity??????

MSI64 wrote

Over 250 quid a month mate is considered too much debt to join!!!

F*ck me there would be no one left in the Army if they started kicking out people paying that much out in debt.

Im with Airborne Legend. If they dont ask then dont tell. Like they say "ask me no questions I tell you no lies"

If you have large debts then on a privates pay you are going to take ages to clear them, The best thing is to get to some level where you can manage them before you join

Like i say - I applied for the Royal Engineers back in 1999 and all i had was a car on finance but because the balance was over £2500 the sgt said i wasn't eligible, so what I had to do was to get my mum to write a letter stating that she would hold responsibility of the loan - all was good. However things have changed and I am now officially insolvent however all the bills added up, the wifes wage covers it, so if i joined up then she'd live off my wage as i imagine recruits don't have that much spare time to spend it.

If anybody else wants to know for sure then i'll ask the AFCO and stick it on here,

Thanks for all your suggestions and i am total agreement with you, but I do think that if they have such criteria then they should make it common knowledge so that potential young recruits don't go borrowing money willy nilly and scuppering any chances of getting into the forces.

I'm pretty certain the application form does ask for various financial details...I may be getting confused with higher vetting, but I seem to remember they ask for your basic income/expenditure/credit details.

Get caught lying in your application and you've no chance. Bear in mind that an IVA will show up on your credit report, and whilst the Army may not be massively organised, I'd like to think they'd have enough nonce to do something that basic.

Just my 2p.

Not sure how it affects your eligibility, but I joined with around £8k of debt in 2004.

gt1980 wrote:Like i say - I applied for the Royal Engineers back in 1999 and all i had was a car on finance but because the balance was over £2500 the sgt said i wasn't eligible, so what I had to do was to get my mum to write a letter stating that she would hold responsibility of the loan - all was good. However things have changed and I am now officially insolvent however all the bills added up, the wifes wage covers it, so if i joined up then she'd live off my wage as i imagine recruits don't have that much spare time to spend it.

If anybody else wants to know for sure then i'll ask the AFCO and stick it on here,

Thanks for all your suggestions and i am total agreement with you, but I do think that if they have such criteria then they should make it common knowledge so that potential young recruits don't go borrowing money willy nilly and scuppering any chances of getting into the forces.

Wage for Phase 1 is just over 750 quid a month, Thats why we say under 250 quid a month! You dont need extra pressure from debt when you join up!
Over £10,000 may make you in eligble, however if your older then they may be a bit more lenient than if you were maybe 17 and in debt up to your eyeballs.
The question about Debt is one of the first questions asked on Initial contact Interview (the first time you step in the door to enquire)
I work in a AFCO/ACIO so that is the DS solution fella's

when I went in I had a house and car to pay for . They did ask initially what my outgoings were etc so I just said 'the usual'. All they said to me was that it was none of their business anyway but if it became a problem further on after you joined then it probably would become more of THEIR business. with hindsight It would of made my life hell of a lot easier having nothing to pay for as a recruit. I should of flogged the house and car before i joined, as you really dont get paid enough at that stage. i had to be mega prudent with money. Fact is you dont HAVE to tell them your situation, it may well set you up in a negative light. however from my experience I'd advise yourself to get squared away with money before you join up, as its a right ball n chain if you dont!

can i just ask.....some of you mention that a recruit gets approx 750, is that take home pay after all expenses has gone out of it. or does accomodation and food come out of the 750

When I initially filled out paperwork with the RAF at the AFCO, he just asked me 'do you have any severe financial difficulties?'. I took the key word to be severe, and said no. I think we'd all be liars if we said we didn't struggle with money at point time or another. There's a difference between being in debt and having a debt problem though.

gt1980 wrote:can i just ask.....some of you mention that a recruit gets approx 750, is that take home pay after all expenses has gone out of it. or does accomodation and food come out of the 750

£750 take home pay