If you are in bankruptcy and are going to or have received a bankruptcy discharge, you are probably wondering, what now? While bankruptcy will affect your credit, you can have a fresh start.
Your Chapter 7 bankruptcy may be reported for ten years from the date of filing your case. Generally speaking the credit reporting agencies will report a Chapter 13 bankruptcy for seven years from the date the case was filed.
It’s s good idea to immediately start the process of rebuilding your credit after the bankruptcy discharge. Some options on how to rebuild your credit:
- Start a budget and stick with it
- Make your payments on time (this is especially important for debt you are going to continue paying such as mortgages, car loans, and student loans)
- Open a secured credit card and pay it off in full every month
It’s also important to check your credit reports regularly for any discrepancies. You want to make sure all of the discharged debt from the bankruptcy is being reported to the credit bureaus with a zero balance. Every now and then, you may get calls from creditors trying to collect on debt that was included in the bankruptcy. I have seen this happen often. All you need to do is tell the representative calling that you’ve filed bankruptcy and give them the name of the attorney that helped you file.
If you have questions about bankruptcy, please contact our office at CALL, or by email at: [email protected] for a free consultation.
We are so pleased to announce that Darcel Lobo, the owner and attorney at DAL Law Firm, has created Your Planning Coach, a financial coaching business to help people after their bankruptcy discharge. If you’d like help getting started with planning your finances after bankruptcy, here is a great guide you can use: Budget After Bankruptcy Guide.