The first thing you absolutely want to do is get a copy of your credit report. Look it over carefully and make sure that everything included in bankruptcy is marked as such and not open or overdue. If it’s not how it should be then you are going to need to contact the companies and keep talking to people there until this is taken care of. A lot of people have unnecessary shame with their past financial troubles and this stops them from taking care of this important step- don’t let that stop you! The next thing you want to do after bankruptcy is shop around for a secured credit card. These are very similar to the unsecured cards of your past, but with a much lower limit. When you apply you deposit a few hundred dollars into a savings account which the bank will use as collateral and in the event that you fail to make payments the bank will collect their money from the account. When you look for a card make sure to ask that the company reports to the three major credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, or all your efforts are doing you no good. The card also needs to have the option to switch to an unsecured card after 12-18 months of on time payments, and there should be no application fee. The annual fee should be reasonable. I recommend searching around to compare rates. Once you have your new card, use it lightly, not passing 30% of your credit limit, and pay the balance in full each month. Once you have this going for you, you should look into obtaining some kind of loan- assuming you don’t already have some that weren’t discharged. You can find a car loan, student loan, or other form of small financing. Paying this off will help you build your credit history.

The goal in doing all of this work is to rebuild. Credit improvement is all about repairing and rebuilding—you’ve already cleared off your old debts which would be the repairing part, now it’s time to work on rebuilding. You want to have a good history with both types of payments (revolving and installment, which are cards and loans) and always make sure you have a good budget so that you don’t get in over your head. As long as you plan things out carefully and make steps you know you can handle, you’ll be well on your way to a much brighter future.

Hopefully you can make all this happen in a two year plan and have a real good credit score to your name by that point. Life hasn’t stopped, and neither will your finances. Be bold and take control of your finances right after bankruptcy.

The first thing you need to do is fix the problems that got you into troubled waters in the first place. If one problem was overspending then it’s time to build a realistic budget and spend within what you make monthly. If you had lost your job and not been able to pay for things, then let’s work on building up an emergency fund. The last thing you want to do is take the time to build up a strong financial history only to end up in another financial crisis and having to declare bankruptcy again a few years down the line. The next thing to do is check your credit report for mistakes. Your score is based on information in the report. You want to make sure that everything included in the bankruptcy is marked as such. If not, you need to call the company and keep calling until this is changed. Accounts marked as open or overdue will hurt all of your positive efforts so it’s important this is taken care of. Once these problem areas are taken care of you’ll want to focus on building up a positive history. There are two ways you want to do this: installment payments and revolving payments. Installment payments would be some kind of loan, like for college, a car, or a mortgage. Revolving payments are credit cards or home equity lines of credit. If you didn’t discharge a mortgage loan, then you are set! Just remember to make timely payments. Otherwise, consider an auto loan or other financing options. For revolving payments, if you aren’t interested in securing home equity lines of credit, then I suggest looking at secured credit cards. These work just like other cards, with monthly payments, but you put a few hundred dollars into an account for the length of the card, typically 12-18 months, and that money secures your card. You can usually find these at your bank.

There are some important things to keep in mind when searching. Only use 30% of your credit limit and always pay the card off in full every month. Call the company before you apply and make sure they report to the three major bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. If they don’t the card does you no good.Make sure the card will become unsecured after 12-18 months of timely payments.You should NOT have to pay an application fee and the annual fee should seem reasonable. You may want to compare fees at several banks.

With all of this going for you, after two years you should be in good standing. Even though past problems won’t fall off your report for a good deal longer you can still have good credit after bankruptcy.

The first thing to start working on is letting go of your feelings about everything and coming to terms with all that has happened. Often, there was some big event (like a divorce, medical issue, natural disaster, etc) that happened before you wound up in your bad financial situation and then had to go through the process of discharging your debts. This hasn’t given you much time to deal with your emotions. If you are feeling guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed it can keep you feeling scared to make any financial moves. If you’re too scared to do anything financial you’ll never rebuild your credit and be free of all of this.

The next thing to do is start setting up an emergency fund. Set up an initial one of about fifteen hundred dollars so that if anything comes up (flat tire, broken water heater, emergency vet bill) you don’t need to do something like charge up a credit card or get a loan—otherwise known as go into debt. Whenever you have to borrow from this fund, replenish it.

Whenever you have to apply for anything there is one good rule that’s good enough to repeat: shop around, shop around, shop around. Always shop around and read through the terms and conditions anything so that you thoroughly understand anything you are signing up for. A lot of companies that are willing to work with people who have risky credit histories hide large fees in the terms and conditions. This goes for pretty much anything from loans, cards, insurance, and rentals (cars or apartments).

Always have money ready to go for deposits. There is usually a large deposit or collateral associated with any new accounts you open in your life after bankruptcy.

Use some of that deposit money to get secured cards and loans to rebuild your credit. You should work on building up your credit as soon as possible. In the first two years it is important to build a plan and do what you can so that in the years following things will be easier for you. In just a few years you can have an acceptable rating and be able to do things more easily—it doesn’t have to be until your bankruptcy falls off that things get easier for you.

Check your credit report often. This is something everyone should do really, but it’s more important when you have a bad rating and are working on improving your situation. A month or so after things are settled make sure that things were actually marked as included in bankruptcy and not late—and if they’re not marked correctly call companies and keep on them until they do it.

Just because things have changed doesn’t mean you can hide. Adjust, figure out how to live after bankruptcy, and get on with your life.

You won’t be able to find an unsecured card right away, but that’s ok. With a focused plan you can set the goal to be in good financial standing in two years, and this is an important part of a plan. The thing you have to do in these two years is show that you can be trusted to make payments and not get into debt problems again. Your history makes you a risk for companies, so you need to build two news years of positive history. Because you are obviously not the only person in this situation, there are products made specifically with this in mind. Banks and other financial institutions have secured cards. You deposit some money, typically a few hundred dollars, into a savings account which secures things for the bank. You use it just as you would an unsecured one, but with a much lower limit. This makes you less of a risk for the company.

When you go to look at credit cards after bankruptcy there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, you want to make sure there are no application fees and the annual fees seem reasonable so do compare between companies. You need to ask to make sure that the company does report to the three major credit bureaus; Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. If they don’t do this you are wasting your efforts, so go elsewhere. The last item of importance is to make sure that after 12-18 months of timely payments you have the option to switch to an unsecured deal. On your end, you need to make sure you use it lightly, and pay your balance monthly. This can be a hard pattern to get into if you’ve never done it before, but it will do good things for your credit.

Things are undeniably different for you now, but you don’t need to hide away from your finances. Take control and have a plan for credit cards after bankruptcy.

CD secured loans after bankruptcy are a great way to make things happen quickly and smoothly for you, assuming you have some money saved you won’t be needing for a while. CDs are certificates of deposit, you deposit a certain amount of money (typically $1,000 and up) into an account, agreeing not to take it out for a specified amount of time (about a year or more) and you’ll earn a higher interest rate on this money than you would in a normal savings account in return. Right when you start this account you can ask about taking out a loan using the CD as collateral. The downside to this is that you’ll only have a short amount of time to repay the balance, but you’ll have a lower interest rate than you will with more traditional methods, and have a much easier time getting approval. These types of offers are largely set up for this purpose so your lender will be familiar with the plan.

Secured loans after bankruptcy are really the easiest way to go. You’ll get offered more reasonable interest rates and have a much easier time finding approval. This is because whatever you offer up for collateral your lender will repossess if you fail to repay them, so they know they will be able to get their money back somehow. You can use a variety of items of things for collateral, but keep in mind that every lender will have different criteria for what they’ll accept. Real estate is the only thing that a bank will likely accept, the other most common thing of value is your vehicle. If neither of these things work for you, there is the option of high priced collectibles like jewelry. With these items it’ll be a bit harder to find a lender but when you do they will take possession of the item and hold it until you have finished repaying the balance.

Unsecured loans after bankruptcy are going to be a bit more difficult for you to find, and when you do, your interest rates will be very, very high. A lot of people decide to do this because either they need funding urgently (this is a bad situation to be in, but you probably know that) or because they don’t have another financing option and want to build up their credit history. In either situation this is an opportunity to build a new history and it’s important to take advantage of it. Accept now that you will be paying a lot in interest (and really if you’re just going to be building credit it might be better to take your time and save some money for the CD option mentioned above unless you’re in a hurry) and find the best deal you can. Make sure to read over the terms and conditions because lenders know that you don’t have a lot of options with your history and will try to take advantage of you by offering what seems like a low interest rate, and hiding a lot of fees to make up for it in the terms and conditions. Make sure you’ve read these over and you’re aware of everything you’re going to be paying so you can plan for it. No matter what you do, make sure that you do not accept an offer without first building a budget. The quickest way to end up in financial ruin is to go without a budget. If you aren’t very sure that you’ll be able to afford the monthly payments, do not move forward, no matter what.

Figuring out what option will work best for you is really based on your own individual needs and what you’re able to do. Getting loans after bankruptcy is a very complicated decision that needs to be well thought out and working into your long term financial plans, but when you’ve gone over your budget and made things work it can be a great way to rebuild your credit history and move forward with your life.

The first thing you need to do, about a month after you’ve finally discharged your debts, is get a copy of your credit report. You need to make sure that all of your past debts have been marked as “included in bankruptcy” and not open, late, etc. This is very important. Many companies will fail to fix this because they have no real motivation to take care of it, but with it still on there it looks as though you had a bankruptcy AND still more debt. You need to call the companies and if they are not on top of things you need to ask to speak to managers, send a written request, and possibly just keep calling until it’s done. This is unpleasant, but very important.

Put together an emergency savings account with at least $1,500, and keep it replenished over time. This will keep you out of trouble when life’s unexpected problems come up, especially because of how hard it will be for you to get any kind of outside financing now.

Once you have the funds to do so, get a secured credit card. You can get these at most financial institutions. This will take some money, as you have to put some funds into a savings account that you can’t touch for between 12 to 18 months, but is a wise financial move that will really get the ball rolling for your two year after bankruptcy plan. This is one of the fastest, easiest, best things you’ll do to improve your credit.

Eventually, possibly a year later, get a small loan. It will be easiest to get a secured one, but you’ll have to go with what you’re able to do. It doesn’t really matter what it’s for (school, a car, etc) just that you’ve gotten a small amount of financing and pay it back with all of your payments on time. If you have a difficult time doing this, look into CD secured loans–this will require you to have some money available to buy a CD (certificate of deposit) but when all else fails, this is an easy option for getting loan approval.

During all of this keep an eye on your credit report and always keep working on building up a history of healthy financial accounts. The more on time payments, the more healthy activity over time, the higher your score will be and more willing people will be to work with you. In as little as two years after bankruptcy, with a good plan, you can have a good score and have an easier time financially.

The first thing that you need to be aware of is that you are most definitely going to have to pay a very large deposit. You will probably be asked to pay enough to cover last months rent plus an additional security deposit amount. You’ll want to know this ahead of time so you can make sure you have that much saved. This money should be refundable at the time you move out. Despite this large deposit, you are still going to have a hard time finding a rental, particularly depending on how recent your bankruptcy was. The more recent your discharges, the harder it will be. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible though (even though that’s sometimes how it will feel).

The problem is that most big companies will have policies that are going to rule you out, and they aren’t going to be willing to consider going around them. They simply aren’t interested in working with you. To get around this, you want to look elsewhere–look for an individual renting out their property who is going to be okay renting after bankruptcy. Be up front with this person from the get go so that you don’t waste your time or theirs. Tell them you have a bankruptcy in your past. If you have a good rental history (clear of evictions) tell them that. If you can, get some letters of reference from past landlords. You probably won’t be accepted at every individual landlord (and they are getting harder to find these days) but eventually someone should look at your situation and be willing to work with you.

To find individual landlords, look both online on websites like craigslist and your online local newspapers classifieds. Also look in print on your local newspapers classifieds, as often these ads are different. A lot of individual owned rentals are run by people who do things the old fashioned way, so print papers are a good resource. You can also drive around your town and look for some “for rent” signs yourself. Another way to find a place is to ask around, ask your friends, post on your social networks–these people may have rented from a great guy before and be able to send a lead your way, and you could then use your friend as a possible reference to get in the door with your prospective landlord.

As with all experiences after bankruptcy, keep in mind that the more you do to improve your credit in the years following the discharge, the easier renting will become for you.

The first thing to really understand is that your life is that while bankruptcy is just a mark on your credit report, it’s going to have an effect on your life that is much bigger than that. This won’t just be coming up when you go to apply for loans or credit cards, this is going to come up on a much more regular basis than that. When you go to apply for any kind of insurance, when you go to apply for a nice job, when you go to rent a car or an apartment or anything else this will come up, and you will have to deal with the stigma that the word has around it. Accepting now that these things will be difficult, and going forward knowing that, will make things a lot easier for you.

This isn’t just going to affect your finances, it’s going to take a toll on you emotionally as well. It’s the emotional part that really stops people from moving on–both emotionally and financially. If you’re too scared and ashamed to do anything, your life will simply stop. To move forward and really have a life after bankruptcy you need to build a plan to get your credit back on track and implement it. Once you start making some moves, you’ll become more confident and get the hang of what you’re doing.

While this isn’t going to come off your credit report for many years, you can have a decent score again in as little as two years with a lot of careful financial planning. Look at financial things you CAN do easily to get things started. There are financial products out there built just for people in your situation, because there are so many other people who are. Look at joining a support group to help you with tips, and to just meet some people who are going through the same things. To get started, look into secured credit cards, secured loans, and save up money for financial emergencies, because things come up.

Your life after bankruptcy will be different. It will take longer to make things happen, you’ll have to fight harder, and things in general will have to be more calculated–more thoroughly planned. The key to moving forward is to not let this get you down and give up, stay active and move forward.

In your new life you are free of your old debts and this should be a new start for you. The big downside however being your credit report. That big black mark on it is making it difficult for you to do much of anything. When you have a bad rating it can really put a hold on your whole life, and that’s no way to live. But that mark won’t come off of your report for ten years, so there’s nothing to do about it, right? While it’s true that it won’t be coming off anytime soon, you can still have an improved rating in as little as two to three years with a lot of hard work and planning. The older your discharge is, and the more positive history you’ve built up on top of it, the less heavily that is going to weigh down your rating.

So how do secured credit cards after bankruptcy come into play? They help you build up a positive payment history on a new account. In order to improve your score you’re going to need to build up a lot of positive payment history, and this is just one big step in that direction, and something you can do easily even with your history. What are these accounts, exactly? Well, first of all, security means collateral. In the beginning of your new life it’s going to be difficult to get any companies to work with you. It’s a lot easier to get approval on new accounts if you have some kind of collateral, however. So, while getting the unsecured cards of your past would be very difficult if not impossible, this is a way for you to get back into the game.

Now, how exactly do you get a secured credit card after bankruptcy? Well, you can get these types of cards from your bank. You’ll need at least a few hundred dollars to put into a savings account, which will work as the collateral and also set your limit on the card. Then you use the card like you would an unsecured one, which, for good credit building practices, would be using under thirty percent of the limit and paying off your balance at the end of every month. When you sign up for the card, make sure that they report to the three major bureau or you’re not doing yourself any good. Also, the card should have the option of switching to an unsecured account after twelve to eighteen months assuming that you have made all your payments on time and are in good standing.

The accounts themselves are very straightforward and the reason for getting a secured credit after bankruptcy is pretty straight forward as well. It’s just about moving on with your life, rebuilding, and not letting any of your past issues rule your present.

How are things going to be different? Your life is going to be affected in practically all areas. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s true. You may not have noticed in the past, but many job applications ask if you’ve claimed bankruptcy in recent years, they’re going to ask on any kind of rental application (apartment, car, etc), your insurance rates will go up, and in your personal life, you’ll find yourself constantly explaining how you ended up in your past financial problems. It’s overwhelming, but you do adjust, and it gets easier as time goes on.

When can I start building my credit after bankruptcy? Immediately! A lot of people are so overwhelmed by their situation and all of the work they were doing to discharge their debts that they hide away from anything financial, but the sooner you start facing things and doing the work, the sooner you’ll be able to start moving forward with your life and putting some of this behind you.

When can I get a credit card? You can get a credit card right away, just not the ones you’re used to. Typically, people get unsecured credit cards. This is probably what you’re used to, and possibly the only thing you’ve ever heard of. There are secured credit cards, however, which use a savings account that you agree not to touch as collateral for the card. You will typically be on the secured plan for about twelve to eighteen months, and then graduate to an unsecured option after that. This is a great thing to do in order to build up your credit history, as long as you make sure to make your payments on time each month.

Can I get a cell phone after bankruptcy? Yes, but as with most things now, there are hoops you have to jump through first. You will need to a security deposit in order to open up a new account. The amount varies, and you’re going to find different deals at different companies. Make sure to ask about when they will be paying your deposit back to you. This will come up when you open basically any utility bill, so you’ll want to start saving money up for these occurrences. If you don’t have the cash in this instance for a payment like this, you can always consider a pay as you go phone, which you can get with any type of credit history.

Obviously this isn’t all to know about your life after bankruptcy, but it is a big start in the right direction to get your life moving forward.