Bankruptcy usually is the last ultimate answer for a lot of debtors who have unbearable debts. By filing a bankruptcy, you will get rid of debt fast and relief you from the harassing call of your creditors.

While bankruptcy has several undesirable penalties, such as your bad credit record will stay on your credit report for seven to ten years, but with a bit of work, you could improve your credit even before these negative records expire.  Here are 5 simple steps you can take on how to rebuild your credit. 

Step 1: Get to know your current credit status 

The first step to rebuilding your credit is to take a look at exactly where you stand.  Order all your 3 credit reports from the three national credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.  You may order these reports online, it is easy and safe. 

Print every report and review it closely.  Try to comprehend the information listed in your credit reports and highlight any negative records or inaccuracies that are hurting your credit score. 

Step 2: Check the expiration dates 

By law, your bad credit record will stay in your credit report for seven to ten years, but the precise expiry date could be different among these three reports.  Your bad credit record will still remain at your credit report even though you still have to pay off your old debts and discharge from bankruptcy. 

Look up the exact date of each one of the bad records including judgments, liens, late payments, charge-offs, bankruptcy filings, and collection records.  You will almost certainly see a big improvement in your credit score once these records expire. 

Step 3: Request For Correction on any inaccurate records 

If you discover inaccurate records, fraudulent accounts, or records that should have expired on your credit reports, then you have the right to send a separate dispute letter to each one of the credit bureaus to each one of the credit bureaus to fix your Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion records.  The bureaus will initiate a 30 days investigation process to see whether your requests are valid and if so, they will correct the discrepancy in your credit report. 

One thing, though, don’t try to dispute any of the positive information listed in your credit reports.  It is a waste of time to attempt to dispute these records.  Disputing positive information can actually harm your credit scores. 

Step 4: Start to create good credits 

Since you cannot remove your bad record from your credit report, the best way to improve your credit score is to add good credits to build up your credit from there.  A great way to do this is by opening up a new credit card from banks like Orchard Bank (Orchard bank  has credit card plans intended to assist individuals rebuild their credit after bankruptcy). 

Use this new credit responsibly and make the payment each month on time, this way you will be building new history of good credit behavior on your credit report.  Over time, you might want to open additional credit card accounts or obtain a loan in order to increase your credit score. 

Step 5: Monitor your progress 

Subscribe to a credit card monitoring service or get a credit card monitoring software and utilize it track your credit score progress closely .  Your credit score should get better progressively as you continue to use credit responsibly and add new positive information to your credit reports.  

Summary 

Bankruptcy doesn’t have to chain you to bad credit for the next 7 to 10 years, but you should be proactive so that you can recover and rebuild your credit.