A bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for ten years. However, if you demonstrate responsible credit habits immediately after the bankruptcy, you will greatly improve the odds of getting the credit access you need at affordable rates. A bankruptcy is certainly a negative item and it will affect your credit report but it becomes less important over time particularly if you can prove you now have good credit habits
A Fast and relatively easy way to post positive items on your credit report is to obtain a personal loan from your bank. On the surface that sounds like a crazy idea. What bank is going to loan you money just after a bankruptcy. The answer is “most banks” providing you explain what you are trying to do and how the bank is going to benefit.
Now that you no longer have monthly credit card and loan payments, make it a priority to save $1000 as fast as you can. When you’ve reached that cash goal, go to the bank where you have your checking account and ask to see a loan officer. Explain to him or her that you want to get a positive item on your report and you would like to do that by taking out a $1000 personal loan and offering a $1000 Certificate of Deposit as collateral.
The loan officer is now looking at a win win situation for the bank. They are faced with a no risk loan that they will earn interest off of backed by the sale of one of their Certificate of Deposit products. How can it make sense to say no?
What you get is an almost immediate posting of a loan on your credit report, and providing you make your payments on time, an immediate demonstration that your credit management is pointing in the right direction. Take the $1,000 from the loan and open a savings account. Use this money to pay back the loan. You will be out the cost of the loan interest but that will be offset somewhat by the interest on the CD and the savings account.
If your cash flow allows, you may want to repeat this process once the loan is paid back. Also ask your loan officer about a secured credit card. If the bank offers that service, read the terms and conditions carefully to insure you understand the fees and limitations of the card. Make sure they report it to the credit reporting agencies as a standard credit card rather than a secured card.
These are small but necessary steps in rebuilding your credit after a bankruptcy. You’ll discover, providing you pay your bills on time, that your FICO score will improve dramatically over the first 9 months as it projects your behavior based on a responsible history, not just the bankruptcy.