A debt attorney sat down to explain what happens after bankruptcy. Filed the papers. Watched your credit score drop to numbers previously reserved for credit cards issued by gas stations. Now comes the fun part.
Rebuilding credit after bankruptcy means you get to spend the next seven to ten years proving to banks that you learned your lesson. You didn't learn your lesson. They know you didn't learn your lesson. But everyone pretends this is a meaningful rehabilitation process instead of just waiting for the bankruptcy to fall off your report while you pay 24% interest on a secured credit card with a $300 limit.
The attorney walks through the steps. Budget carefully. Save money. Don't take on new debt. Extraordinary advice. Revolutionary stuff. Nobody thought to try not being broke until a debt attorney suggested it in an explainer article.
Here's what actually happens after bankruptcy. You spend three years checking Credit Karma like it's a sports score. You celebrate when your score hits 580. You finance a Nissan Altima at 18% and tell yourself you're building credit strategically. You are not building credit strategically. You're making a car payment on a vehicle worth $4,000 less than you owe, which is exactly the kind of financial decision-making that got you here in the first place.
The bankruptcy stays on your credit report for seven years if you filed Chapter 13. Ten years for Chapter 7. Plenty of time to develop a gambling problem or discover NFTs or whatever new way to lose money becomes popular between now and then.
Turns out the best way to rebuild after bankruptcy is to have money, which really undermines the whole premise of needing bankruptcy advice.
Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash
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