When you have successfully completed your bankruptcy case and received financial relief, there may be a few more things to consider.
Discharge
- Do you have a copy of your bankruptcy discharge paperwork?
- Are you still being contacted by your creditors attempting to collect on debt already discharged?
- Is your home or auto lender sending you letters telling you are behind in your payments?
If you are still being contacted by lenders listed in your bankruptcy, contact your lawyer for resolving them.
Rebuilding Credit
When you got behind in your bills and filed bankruptcy, negative marks would have appeared on your credit report. It may take years for your score to go back up. In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to help repair your credit.
- Check your credit report, if there are any inaccuracies you can dispute them and ask them to be removed.
- Pay your bills on time.
- Try taking out small loans and repay them quickly to show you can pay them back.
- Have you canceled high-interest credit cards or lines of credit?
- Shop around for better credit terms, don’t assume you have to take bad terms just because you have poor credit.
Avoid the offers of credit you will start receiving shortly after your bankruptcy case is over. These lenders will charge you high-interest rates, knowing that you will not be able to receive another bankruptcy discharge for 4 to 6 years.
Your credit report should not be such a huge worry for you that you let your bills get further behind because you are afraid you will no longer be able to get credit if you file bankruptcy. While it’s true, a bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for ten years; you should be able to get reasonable rates on loans long before the ten years are up.
When you have fallen on hard times, you may want to take steps to get financial protection by filing bankruptcy. Contact a Hidalgo County bankruptcy attorney today to get started on your financial relief.