One of the most common questions I get from clients is “how can I improve my credit after bankruptcy”. In order to maximize your credit score after bankruptcy, you need to establish positive credit reporting. To establish positive credit report you need to MAKE YOUR PAYMENTS ON TIME, EVERY TIME. Do not be late on anything. If you have a vehicle or home, do everything you can to make those payments on time.

If you did not reaffirm your vehicle or home and are still paying on it, your creditor(s) may not be reporting your accurate payments. To solve this problem you need to:

1. Keep proof of all payments made; and
2. Send a letter to each of the three credit bureau’s and dispute the reporting by your company. In that letter, make sure you provide proof of all your payments.
3. Follow up in 30-60 days, you should get an updated report showing that you are current, which should increase your credit score significantly.

In addition to the above, it is extremely important to continue establishing a positive credit history. The easiest way to do that is to obtain a secured credit card. This is different from a traditional credit card in that you pre-pay your credit limit.

The way a secured card typically works is you pay a bank/company $300.00 and then they offer you a credit card that allows you to spend up to $300.00. The benefit of this is there is almost no risk for you and the company will report positively to your credit.

Think of filing bankruptcy as resetting your credit to when you were 18 again. You need to start re-establishing a positive credit history and the quickest and lowest risk way to do that is by obtaining a secured credit card.

Several banks will over secured credit cards so I would start off by doing an interest search but please be careful, there are so many scams out there so make sure you do your research before jumping in.