Life after Filing Bankruptcy

What should you do after you file bankruptcy to make sure that you get back on track as soon as possible?

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Filing for bankruptcy often brings with it mixed emotions... relief that your creditors will now stop calling you along with the fact that your bills have now disappeared. At the same time though, you have feelings of guilt and failure. What about the fear of knowing that you are now carrying around the "bankrupt" label? To recover the fastest, you must decisively move forward and live your life.


You are Not Alone: Over 1 million people file every year. People from all walks of life and all kinds of personal and professional backgrounds file bankruptcy. Many famous people have filed bankruptcy as well. Some say that they reached the height of their success after they had filed bankruptcy! If you can accept this is a small bump in the road it, too, will pass. 


Credit Rebuilding: The first thing that will need to be done is to re-establish credit. Once you file bankruptcy you will lose your positive credit history that was reporting on your credit report. All your accounts will begin to show up as negative items if they weren''t already reporting that way. Building new positive credit will begin your path towards repairing your credit after bankruptcy.


Save More: The average American''s saving rate is terrible. You must start saving NOW, even if amount you start with is small. Since you have filed more than likely your debt load is much lower so you should be able to put some away towards an emergency fund. Please don''t put this advice off. It might be best if you set up an automatic transfer from your checking account into your savings account weekly.


Start Your Credit Repair: Your credit report will have multiple errors after your bankruptcy is discharged. Creditors forget about updating your report when you file against them. You will be surprised how many accounts continue to report you as late or even charged off, with balances etc. This will have a terrible effect on your credit scores. It is imperative that you start your credit repair process as soon as you''re discharged. Not doing so will just delay your healing process.

All this may seem a little overwhelming, but the truth is that learning to handle money is something crucial that we all need to learn. I find it ridiculous that we learn so little about personal finance in school. It''s no wonder why so many people go through life "charging" everything only to have to file bankruptcy. Please learn from your mistake and make some major changes in the way that you live your life.

Shayne Sherman is the author of www.credit-repair-story.com a consumer credit blog.