How can I rebuild credit after I finish my bankruptcy?

Secured credit card

Upon completing your bankruptcy, you may want to consider obtaining a secured credit card and start to rebuild credit.

A secured credit card is “secured” by a financial deposit that you will be required to provide to the financial institution issuing the card to you. Your credit limit on the card will be equal to the amount of security you provided to the financial institution. For example, if you provide a security deposit of $500.00, you will have a credit limit of $500.00 on your credit card.

You will be expected to make payments on your credit card, just as you would with a regular “unsecured” credit card. In the event that you default on a payment, the card issuer has recourse against you security deposit.

The advantage of the secured card for an individual a bad credit history is that the financial institution that issues you the card will report your payments regularly to the major credit bureaus. This allows for rebuilding of positive credit history.

Here is a link to a booklet about secured credit cards published by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada , an agency of the Government of Canada. We encourage you to review this booklet to educate yourself before applying for a secured card:

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Secured Credit Cards

Pay your bills on time

When you pay your bills for your cellphone, internet, cable TV, these payments get reported to the credit bureaus and go onto your credit file. Therefore, it’s very important that you continue to pay your bill on a timely basis after you’ve been discharged from bankruptcy.