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I’m Bankrupt, Now What? Rebuilding Your Credit After Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy should only be used as a last measure for repaying debt. Be sure to consult a knowledgeable financial advisor before filing for bankruptcy. Once you have filed for bankruptcy and your debt has been absolved it’s important that you start rebuilding your credit. It will take time and commitment but if you follow our guide to credit repair you will be able to apply for a mortgage and rebuild your credit. Even before your credit’s perfect, Familylending.ca can help by offering private lending services and bad credit mortgages.

Spend less than you earn

The reason you had to declare bankruptcy in the first place was because you accumulated debt by spending more than you earned. This time around you’ll need to be very conscious of what you’re earning and what your’e spending.

Budget:

The only way to know where your money is going and how much you have left is to track it using a budget. Without one, you’ll be feeling your way through the dark not knowing where you can spend and save.

Save some money

When you’re undertaking credit repair, it’s important to have an emergency fund. Now that you don’t have credit, you’ll need to depend solely on your own savings while you rebuild. Take some of your income and let it build up in a savings account.

Pay your bills on time, all of the time

After you’ve declared bankruptcy you’re expenses should essentially be your monthly living expenses. Make sure that whatever bills you have get paid on time because any blemishes in your credit report will only make it harder and take longer to repair your credit.

Get a secured credit card

This is a credit card that is linked to a savings account or secured by a cash deposit. If you fail to make your credit card payments you give the credit card company permission to take the funds from your savings account. This allows companies to take the risk of lending you money while allowing you to build your credit.

Apply for a small RRSP loan

Save up $1000 and open an RRSP at your bank. Then ask them to loan you $1000 to put into that RRSP. Now you have $2000 in RRSP, which means that you’ll receive $500-$800 in tax refunds at the end of the tax year. You should use those tax refunds and whatever else you’ve saved to pay back the money to the bank. This type of short term loan will help you reestablish your credit.