Fixing Your Credit After Bankruptcy Discharge
You should only consider applying for bankruptcy after you have tried all the other ways to help solve your debt problems. It should only be a last resort but in certain circumstances it can be the best choice to make. For those who have to go down this road many will be wanting to know how do I file for bankruptcy and how do I save money by doing it for free.
The filing procedure is relatively simple and straight forward and the forms you need will be available at your local county court. There are admin charges applicable to sending in the forms and on average these charges will amount to around $300. However, if you can prove that you are on a low income. Then you can have these admin costs waived.
If you have no other alternative but to file a petition, then the first thing you really need to consider is restoring credit after bankruptcy. After you are discharged the bankruptcy will remain on your credit report for up to 10 years. This means that your credit rating will be negatively affected by this and this also means you will find it very challenging to get new lines of credit in the future. For this reason, you will need to rebuild your credit history and your score as soon as you possible can, otherwise borrowing will become very hard to obtain and very expensive.
The first task you need to do to rebuild your credit is to start using a credit card. This may seem the opposite of what you should be doing when you have just been declared bankrupt. However, you need to spend and show that you can repay your debts in full and when they are due. If you can do this continually, then this will over time, improve you credit history and rating.
With a bankruptcy on your file you will find it quite difficult to be accepted by the main credit card providers. However, there are other options that you can use. One of these options is the secured card. Works on the same principle as a ordinary credit card, but the only difference is that there is no credit involved. You have to provide your own money as the deposit and that deposit becomes your own spending balance. These cards are easier to obtain because the provider is not taking any risk. The only thing is, you want to use a provider that records your transactions with the credit agencies as this will rebuild your credit history.