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 you've certainly heard of:
  1. Pay yourself first;
  2. Take your next raise and save it;
  3. Save 5 % of your pay;
  4. 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.