Bankruptcy: Ways to Repair Your Credit
After bankruptcy there are processes you can follow to help repair your credit back to its original state. This will not happen immediately, but over time you will see results. Make sure to follow the right steps to remove the negative entries left by the bankruptcy and get you back on the right path.
What can you do about a bankruptcy on your credit report?
Any debts that were discharged during bankruptcy will show up as either “Charge-off” or “BK Liq Reo.” The bankruptcy will itself appear under the public record section as a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13.
The best way to remove a bankruptcy from your credit file is to contest it with Experian, Transunion and Equifax directly. Find some mistake in the actual bankruptcy claim; you can usually discover mistakes since a human had to add the bankruptcy into your credit file.
Look closely on your credit report for any error the data clerk made when adding up all of the bankruptcy accounts. They often round the number to the next dollar amount and this is technically not the actual number. Therefore, you could challenge this and in a lot of situations the bankruptcy will be eradicated.
Often, bankruptcies are easier to extinguish than other listings on your credit file. This is because bankruptcy files hold a plethora of information, so the possibility of mistakes is extremely high as items are usually entered by busy or overworked court employees.
There is a difference when working with the government compared to other creditors. The government will take much longer to reply and therefore make it harder for the bureaus to come back with an answer to your claim. The government’s inability to move quickly can be a benefit to you.
This next step is important: send a demand for correction to all three bureaus, not to the court that filed the bankruptcy claim. The credit bureau will need to correct any of the incorrect information on the credit report in a specific amount of time or eliminate the information from the report. You should take advantage of this system.
A bankruptcy is not a death sentence for your credit, and often it is much simpler to resolve a bankruptcy record then a number of small miscellaneous accounts on your credit report. Examine your bankruptcy records completely, find a mistake, then file a demand to have it removed from your credit report, so that you can start building your credit again.


