If you have a recently discharged bankruptcy and want to begin reestablishing your credit then you will want to read on. We will be looking at everything you need to know about getting credit cards after a bankruptcy.
Make sure your credit report is accurate
You may think that reviewing your credit right after a bankruptcy discharge is not that important. This is not the case! Creditors routinely misreport accounts that have been included in a bankruptcy. Instead of reporting them as included in the bankruptcy and discharged, they report them as being open and currently past due. This lowers your FICO score and makes it hard to get new credit.
You will need to dispute any accounts that are not reporting accurately with each of the three major credit bureaus. Once this is corrected, it’s time to start shopping!
Shop wisely
If your bankruptcy discharge is recent, you will want to shop for a secured credit card. If you are at least six months out from your bankruptcy discharge, you may want to consider applying for an unsecured card for people with bad credit. If you decide to try to get an unsecured credit card, you may want to look for a company that offers both secured and unsecured cards. That way if you can’t get an unsecured card, you can still get the secured card.
Make sure you select a card that does not carry exorbitant fees. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that you should be happy than anyone will do business with you and accepting the first card you find. There are many vulture companies out there that charge fees that are almost equal to your entire credit line. This is not what you want! Look for a card that does not have an application fee and whose annual fee is $45 or less.
It is critical that you make sure that any credit card that you select reports to all three of the credit bureaus. Most credit card companies report to all credit bureaus, but you will want to verify this up front!
Credit cards that offer an automatic credit line increase after a set number of payments are also something you should look for. These type of programs can help you build up your credit history without having to remember to call and request credit line increases.
Vincent Polisi is the founder of Credit Repair College. To learn more about credit repair and getting a post bankruptcy credit card , please visit him on the web.