3 Tips for Rebuilding Your Credit After Bankruptcy
There are many good things that can go along with filing bankruptcy. However, it can affect your credit for years afterward, which can affect your ability to get loans for houses, cars and anything else that you might need to finance. The good news is that it is possible to rebuild your credit after bankruptcy, and you might find that you are able to do it more quickly than you thought. These are a few helpful tips that can help you get started.
- Pay All of Your Bills On Time
The first and perhaps most important step to rebuilding your credit after bankruptcy is to pay all of your bills on time. Even paying one bill late can cause your credit score to plummet, which is obviously something that you want to avoid. Plus, after working with an attorney like the lawyers at http://naqvilaw.com to file bankruptcy, you probably want a fresh start, and you probably want to avoid allowing your finances to get out of control again. Coming up with a budget, signing up for auto payments and taking other similar steps can help prevent you from getting behind on your bills.
- Take Out a Secured Credit Card
Another step that you might want to consider when rebuilding your credit is signing up for a secured credit card. Even though it can be difficult to get approved for many types of credit cards after filing bankruptcy, secured credit cards are designed with people who are building credit or who have bad credit in mind.
With this type of card, basically you will have to pay a deposit that will be placed in a savings account. You will not have access to this money. You will generally be given a line of credit equal to the amount that you pay as collateral. Then, after you have the card for a while, it might be converted to an unsecured credit card, and you could be refunded your deposit. Otherwise, you will get your deposit back after you close the account. If you use this card responsibly, you can build up a credit history for making on-time payments.
- Take Out a Small Loan
Another option is to take out a small loan and to pay it back to build good credit history. It might be tough to get approved at first, but if you work with a small bank or credit union, you might find that it’s an option. It is very important to make your payments on time if you would like to improve your credit score this way.
As you can see, there are a few steps that you can take that can help you rebuild your credit after bankruptcy. Even though it might take some time before you see your credit score go up, in time, it should get to where you need for it to be. Then, you might find that it becomes easier and easier for you to do things like finding rentals or getting approved for various types of loans.