Bankruptcy Trustees

REBUILDING YOUR CREDIT AFTER BANKRUPTCY

When a person declares bankruptcy the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy notifies the credit bureau. This information stays on your credit bureau report for 6 - 7 years. You can start to re-establish your credit by doing the following:

Talk to your banker and say you want to re-establish your credit rating;
Open a savings account;
Be a regular and persistent saver. Use the common techniques I am sure you have heard of:

Pay yourself first;
Take your next raise and save it;
Save 5 % of your pay;
Have your savings come right off your pay and into a separate savings account;
Take out a small loan using the savings account as collateral, and then pay it back;

Apply for a credit card with a low limit and secure the limit by using your savings account as collateral;
Pay your credit card balances on time.

GETTING A CREDIT CARD FOLLOWING A BANKRUPTCY CLAIM

When a person goes into bankruptcy he has to hand in all his credit cards to the Trustee.

After that person has been discharged from bankruptcy, he or she is often a good credit risk, since that person has no debt. Regardless, a discharged bankrupt often has a difficult time getting a new credit card.

An option is to request a "secured card" from your financial institution. A "secured card" is a card backed-up or secured by funds you have deposited with the bank or credit union. The card looks like a credit card, and acts like a credit card but will have a limit depending on the amount of money that secures the card.

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