Although bankruptcy remains on your credit report for 10 years, if you have fallen behind in your payments, that stays on your credit report for 7 years. Even worse, if you have a judgment against you, that remains on your credit report for up to 20 years. If you have large debt, late payments and judgments you will not be able to rebuild you credit.

If you are deep in debt, bankruptcy can be the first step towards rebuilding your credit. Once your bankruptcy is completed, the fact that you have filed bankruptcy will become less and less of an issue to creditors as time goes by. In fact once you have received your discharge in bankruptcy you will probably find that you are receiving offers from credit card companies. They are not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. They are sending you those offers because they know that most likely you are out of debt and can’t file another Chapter 7 Bankruptcy for eight years.

If you have sufficient income, I recommend that you examine the offers and except one or two of the best ones. Use the credit cards and pay the bills in full every month. If you find that you can’t pay the bills at the end of the month, then don’t use the cards again until you have paid them in full. By doing this you will quickly reestablish your credit.

Also, if you wish to buy a house I suggest that open a savings account and start putting aside money for the down payment. Two years after your bankruptcy, if you have sufficient income and money for a down payment, you should be able to buy a home.