Citizenship, Good Character and Debt EEA applications PLS HELP

[PeterP]

Hello

After many many hours reading this forum and other websites I hope I can get help and hopefully help somebody in the same time.

I have all my docs ready to apply for British Citizenship as an EEA national. Got 3 kids, all born in the UK with british passports.

Now, few years ago I have money problems and I am still not sure how it will look like on my good character in application

I had rent arrears to local council and got evicted after case in court
Got couple of loans many years ago but they disapeard from my credit score without me paying them
I have 3,5k debt to coucil tax
I have 3 loans defaulted totalling less than 2k

What steps should I take before making application????

I have arramgment with coucil tax to pay in installments
I am working on arrangement with 3 loans providers

What about rent arrears? if they are not listed on my credits report would they have affect my application?

How long I should have been paying installments to creditors before appling for British Citizenship?

Any helps much much appriciated

[alterhase58]

The "Good Character" guidance for case workers (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... idance.pdf) has the following to say about debt:

Page 37/38:
Debt
An application will not normally be refused simply because the person is in debt,
especially if loan repayments have been made as agreed or if acceptable efforts are
being made to pay off accumulated debts.
However, where a person deliberately and recklessly builds up debts and there is no
evidence of a serious intention to pay them off, the application will normally be
refused.

Page 39:
Non-payment of council tax
An application will not normally be refused where the person has been unable to pay
council tax because of their financial position, particularly if an arrangement is being,
or has been, negotiated with the relevant authority. However, payment of council tax
is a legal requirement and non-compliance is a punishable offence.
Therefore, an application will normally be refused where a person has either:
• unreasonably failed to pay
• provided a false statement or statements, including failing to declare their full
circumstances, to avoid paying the correct rate

So with your debt history it seems you will have to show that repayment plans are in place and that you are complying with those plans or that you have completed the plans as applicable. Regarding rent, if you are taken to court this could lead to a CCJ which will be on your record as well. There is no rule on how long you should be paying off debt before applying - main question is are there arrangements in place and are you / have you complied with those. UKVI may ask for documentary evidence for this.

Another thing to consider: unless your debt position is under control a case worker might question why you are not putting the fees for naturalisation towards clearing your debt. This is just speculation on my part - but remember the "Good Character" requirement is not defined in law so UKVI might take a view.

[PeterP]

Thank you for your fast response. It clears a lot in my mind.

If I don't have CCJ in my credit report now and rent arrears to council are over 2 years old questions is where I can find them??? I cooperated with council closely during this time and I moved out before eviction date without problems. Could council write off this debt??? Are there any data bases I can check?

Thank you

[alterhase58]

All I can advise is that you need to be in contact will all the parties you owe money to, understand their positions and next steps. As I suggested you need to be able to demonstrate that you are in control of your financial affairs as far a payments are concerned, if they raise questions. If there is a CCJ then you need to disclose that for sure - but at the moment there is none as you say. As such you don't have to show your debt position, but UKVI have access to credit files, so you must be prepared to answer queries.

[PeterP]

Do I have to declare it all on my application or waiting until they will ask me to explain?

[alterhase58]

You need to declare any CCJ you have received.
Debts as such don't need to be declared but UKVI have access to credit reports and may raise queries if there are multiple defaults reported.

[PeterP]

I see you have deep knowledge on this subject

Thank you very very much for your help

When you say that I need to declare all CCJ, does it mean the one I had in the past and its not on my credit report anymore OE the one which I would have now, which I don't?????

Thank you

[alterhase58]

Most of us have been through the process with different experiences, knowledge gained from helping other members and monitoring developments.

I would disclose the CCJ - in itself it won't have an impact on your application as long as complied with the arrangements for paying down the debt. It's better to disclose rather than being prompted by UKVI. We don't know what other systems they have available where old data may be stored.