Our Oregon and Washington bankruptcy clients are often extremely concerned with repairing their credit scores after obtaining their bankruptcy discharges. It is important to note that your credit score is likely to recover exponentially in the two years after your discharge in bankruptcy. This is particularly so, if you manage to stay employed(not always a simple feat these days) and pay your bills on time. That said, there are steps you can take to stack the deck.
Opening up a few secured credit cards where you have to pay a deposit to open a card can be extremely helpful. If possible, I would open three of them in the months after discharge. If that option is not open to you, I would recommend becoming an authorized user on someone else’s credit cards, provided of course that those cards are in good standing.
If neither of these options are available, then and only then should you file an application for subprime credit cards. These cards are obviously dangerous because they come with viscous interest rates and burdensome fees. While the fees may be unavoidable, the interest rates can be bypassed by paying them off on time every month. Charge only small balances on these cards and pay them off religiously every month. I would view the subprime card as a means to an end: A way to improve your credit score, not a tool for paying bills.
We are perhaps the only bankruptcy firm in either Oregon and Washington that actually provides its clients with the tools for repairing credit scores after bankruptcy. To that end, we have actually retained a company to provide our clients with credit repair information to our clients. We offer this service free of charge. In fact, you can even hire another firm and I would still be happy to provide you with this service. Let me know how we can help. Talk to you soon.
