Rebuilding credit
Rebuilding credit is important to everyone; however, to a person who just filed bankruptcy, it is critical to get back on their feet. Bankruptcy gives a debtor a fresh start – use that fresh start to boost your credit score to a higher score than it was prior to filing bankruptcy.
Will bankruptcy hurt your credit score?
A bankruptcy filing will reduce your credit score. A chapter 7 bankruptcy will remain on your credit report for 10 years. A chapter 13 bankruptcy will remain on your credit report for 7 years. However, if you are considering bankruptcy, your credit score may not be the best right now. Regardless of what your credit score is prior to filing bankruptcy, the filing of the bankruptcy will provide you with a clean slate to begin the rebuilding process.
Bankruptcy can improve your score – over time
The bankruptcy filing will eliminate late payments, overdue balances and improve your debt-to-asset ratio. Thus, many of the factors that drive a person’s credit score down are eliminated.
Steps to improve your credit score after a bankruptcy
Improving your credit score after a bankruptcy is not hard to do, but rather, it involves hard, diligent work. Steps you can do to improve your score include:
- Obtain new credit, use the credit, and pay it off each month
- Stay current on secured debt (e.g. home, car)
- Stay current with student loans
- Maintain a low debt-to-asset ratio
Solvent can help you rebuild your credit
At Solvent, we provide you with the tools necessary to improve your credit score quickly. We provide the following services (which are no cost to our bankruptcy clients):
- 720creditscore.com
- The 720creditscore.com program is a virtual learning environment for people who have filed bankruptcy and need guidance to rebuild their credit score. The program’s lessons are emailed directly to the client and each lesson helps the client rebuild their credit score. The cost for the 7 Steps to a 720 Credit Score is $1000.00; however, for bankruptcy clients who file with Solvent, there is NO COST. It is part of the bankruptcy services provided to our clients.
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”)
- Under federal law, your credit report needs to be accurate. After bankruptcy, credit reports are highly inaccurate. At Solvent, we help our client with credit report clean-up after a bankruptcy. We work with our clients to dispute any inaccuracies with the credit bureaus. If the credit bureaus do not fix the inaccuracies, we can bring a federal lawsuit against them under the FCRA. A successful suit can provide the client with an accurate credit report, pay the attorney fees, and pay damages to the client.
