Bankruptcy can be stressful. Especially if you have questions about life following bankruptcy.
Life Following Bankruptcy | Reestablishing Credit
If you’re considering filing for bankruptcy, one of your main concerns is probably how long will it take to reestablish your credit. The good news is that it will not take very long. The bad news is that you will have to work for it. After a bankruptcy, you need to establish some sort of credit that will report your payments to the major credit bureaus. That can be accomplished by opening a secured credit card account where you deposit an amount of money into a bank and they give you a credit line in that amount – usually $300 to $500.
You may receive offers for unsecured credit cards again, perhaps with a lower limit – probably around $500 – and usually with a high interest rate. You can avoid paying that high interest, however, by paying the entire month’s balance in full. If you pay on time, those are good ways to rebuild your credit. Another good way is to have a car loan, if you pay on time. Doing that shows that you are creditworthy and, as a result, your credit score should see an increase.
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Life Following Bankruptcy | Reaffirming Debt
Sometimes during a bankruptcy, a secured creditor – such as your mortgage holder or the owner of your car loan – may ask that you sign a reaffirmation agreement. A reaffirmation agreement basically means that you continue to owe the debt after bankruptcy just as you did before bankruptcy. For such large items as cars and houses, you may have to enter into a reaffirmation agreement if you want to keep them.
Life Following Bankruptcy | Automatic Stay
The moment you file for bankruptcy, one of your most powerful tools comes into play. It’s called the automatic stay, and it requires all creditors to stop pursuing any action against you – whether it takes the form of phone calls, letters, law suits, or repossessions anything at all. Once you file for bankruptcy, creditors must immediately cease all their actions. If they violate the automatic stay, they might be liable to you for damages. Filing the bankruptcy as soon as possible will allow you to experience immediate relief from the actions of your creditors.
If you would like to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer about life following bankruptcy, please call our Buffalo office today.