I have had hundreds of clients successfully purchase homes after they received their bankruptcy discharge. The bankruptcy discharge is what you receive once you have completed your bankruptcy.

If you filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy and received a discharge, you will be eligible to get a loan for the purchase of a home after 2 years from your discharge date. Now to qualify, you still need to meet the income requirements and credit score requirements.

At Herrin Law we provide each of our clients a post-discharge blueprint on how to maximize their credit score. If you recently received a discharge and your goal is to purchase a home, here is what you need to do.

• Everything you do post-discharge is going to be looked at carefully. So make sure you maintain a positive credit history. Do this by making all payments on time. In addition, make sure you don’t over-use any new revolving credit accounts (i.e., credit cards). The technical term is credit utilization – simply put, it looks at how much of your available credit you are using in a given month. If you have a $1,000 credit card limit, you don’t want to use all of that up, instead, try to only use 20 to 30% of your total available credit and always pay off the entire balance due at the end of the month.
• Try to not make any big purchases within the 2 year window (i.e., purchasing a vehicle).
• Focus on increasing your income and make sure you maintain a stable employment history.