Brent’s Credit and Debt blog

After my bankruptcy was filed, I made a huge mistake. I didn’t apply for any credit. In fact, I waited two long years before even attempting to get a credit card. My credit scores didn’t go up much, and I was in pretty bad shape from a personal credit standpoint. Then, I discovered the sub-prime credit market.

One of the little secrets about credit is you have to use credit in order to build your scores. If, after a bankruptcy, you don’t have any credit, your scores will stay very flat. In order to fix this, you have to get credit, and use it responsibly. Each month that you make an online payment, you will get a small boost in your scores. This small boost, over time, will give you a much better credit score. You will also have access to more credit as your scores build. You HAVE to make sure your report stays clean!

The first thing you can do is try to apply with a couple of different creditors. Orchard Bank, Household Bank, and Target will all give a person a chance on rebuilding their credit. However, they may want your bankruptcy to be discharged before they will talk to you. Orchard bank usually gives a starting credit limit of $300.00 to $500.00, and Household bank is at about the same level. Target starts most people with a $200.00 limit.

You can apply for all of these cards online. They are real credit cards, unsecured, and they all report to all three of your credit reports monthly.

If they turn you down, try for a secured card. In my next blog entry, I will give you more information about that.

Here are links for the banks I mentioned:

Orchard Bank: http://www.orchardbank.com

Household Bank: http://www.householdbank.com

Target Redcard: http://www.target.com

The important thing is to make sure you can handle the credit! If you get cards and use them irresponsibly, you will ruin your credit. Make your payments on time, and don’t go over your limits!

To learn more about how to fix your credit and keep it clean, get my e-book ‘Credit Cleanup’ by clicking the link. ‘Credit Cleanup’ will walk you through how to repair your credit, and tell you how to keep your credit clean.

To get a copy of my FREE e-Book ‘The Top Ten Ways You Can Wreck Your Credit’, just click the link. You will be taken to a page where you can get more information about downloading the e-book. This book tells you what you should avoid doing concerning your credit, and what negative impacts can occur if you treat your credit wrong.