Bankruptcy means you can’t get credit for ten years

number two filing bankruptcy means you can't get credit for 10 years and i can't tell you how many times i've heard this over the years you know just about everyone that comes into one of our offices most of the people that i consult with personally when i ask them what worries them about bankruptcy they'll say something like well my credit will be ruined and i won't be able to get credit for seven years or i won't be able to get credit for 10 years here's the truth folks if you file for bankruptcy protection the fact that you filed bankruptcy can be reported on your credit for up to 10 years the fair credit reporting act provides that a bankruptcy filing can be reported on your credit for up to 10 years but that by no means indicates that you can't get credit in fact most of our clients begin rebuilding their credit shortly after their bankruptcy is filed and are able to get new credit almost immediately after their discharge when their bankruptcy is finalized uh and in a chapter seven bankruptcy that's only four or five months after you filed reorganization bankruptcy it's going to be a little bit further down the line but you know whereas 30 years ago i spent a lot of time helping my clients try to rebuild credit following bankruptcy you know we still do that but but a bigger current concern for me today is i don't want people to get into credit problems again right after filing bankruptcy because credit today more than ever is readily available to people immediately after a bankruptcy discharge and you may wonder why is that you know why is somebody going to lend me money after i've gone through a bankruptcy look at it from the perspective of whoever it is that that's evaluating whether or not you're a good loan risk so say i'm facing a whole lot of debt i can't pay my credit cards as they come due i'm behind on my mortgage um i you know i may have had a car repossessed but i've never filed bankruptcy and i go to a local lender and i apply for a loan now that lender's going to look at me they're going to say why would i lend money to brad number one he can't pay all of the bills he has today and number two if i lend money to him today he may file bankruptcy on all of us next month

but if i go to that same lender after my bankruptcy's over i've gotten rid of most that debt that i can't pay and i'm either going to be unable or unlikely certainly to file another bankruptcy in a short period of time so i'm going to be a much better position to pay that lender immediately after my bankruptcy then i would be when i'm overwhelmed with debt and have never sought bankruptcy protection our clients typically start getting pre-approved credit card offers letters from local automobile dealerships offering financing shortly after the bankruptcies filed so as opposed to being concerned with whether or not you're going to be able to get credit what we want you to be concerned with is not getting into credit problems again following your bankruptcy so as you rebuild your credit we'll help you to do it responsibly and help you rebuild that credit score quickly