To get the most out of your after bankruptcy new start, here a five websites you should visit.
1. Get a couple new credit cards: wallethub.com
After your bankruptcy discharge, here are five websites you should visit.
Most people get several credit card offers in the mail around the time of the bankruptcy discharge. A lot of those have steep application fees. If you shop around, you can probably find some better deals.
Wallethub.com is one place to look. Creditcards.com also has a list of cards for people with bad credit.
Keep in mind, you do NOT care much what the interest rate is. That’s because you are going to pay the card off in full every month. (All you should charge is one or two tanks of gas. And pay each month in full.) You do care a lot about low application fee and low annual fees.
After a few months of doing that, good offers should come to you in the mail. I explain more here.
2. Check your after bankruptcy credit score: lendingtree.com
Most people get out of bankruptcy with a credit score between 600 and 640. You need to check a couple months after your discharge and see what your score is.
If your score is less than 600, it may mean that some debts discharged in your bankruptcy are still reporting you as late. That’s a lot less common that it used to be. (Most of the improvement is because of the White-Hernandez class action.)
If somebody is still reporting you as late, I’ll work with you until that’s fixed. No charge to you and we might get you a $1000 for your trouble. (Years ago, I was one of the first lawyers in the country to fight to get my clients’ after bankruptcy credit reports fixed.)
There are lots of places where you can subscribe to get your credit score. But you can get one free from Lendingtree.com. Or Discover.
3. Get a free after bankruptcy credit report: creditkarma.com
After bankruptcy, you should check your credit report. Especially if your credit score is below 600, some of debts cleared in the bankruptcy may still be reporting you as late.
And even if your credit report is right a couple months after the bankruptcy, sometimes after a computer update, the cleared debts start showing up later. So it’s a good idea to check every month and keep checking.
Credit Karma is the leader in really free monthly credit reports. Stay away from freecreditreport.com, which tries to trick you into a monthly subscription you have to pay for.
(Now if there is a problem with your credit report, Credit Karma is NOT the best place to track it down and fight back. Annualcreditreport.com is the place where you have the right, once a year, to see the details of what the three credit bureaus have on you. That’s the one we need if there is a problem, to see what the problem really is. I explain more about that, here.)
4. Join a credit union:
Usually, the best place to get a car loan is from a credit union. (The exception is when the factory is having a special.)
Most of the time, you need two years after bankruptcy to get a decent car loan, and three years to get a really good one. But it is a good idea to establish a relationship with a credit union ahead of time.
I made a list of some of the credit unions you might be eligible for, here. This is not a complete list. There might be others where you work, or where you live.
5. Review Bob Weed: reviewbobweed.com
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The banks and credit card companies want people to think that bankruptcy is terrible. It’s people like you, have have been through it, who can testify that bankruptcy can be a way to be happy and debt free.