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Chapter seven bankruptcy is the most common form of bankruptcy that is used in the world today. It is the type of bankruptcy that liquidates your business or assets to allow them to be used to pay the people that you owe money to that you cannot pay back yourself. This liquidation happens all too often in our atmosphere of misused credit today.
There are several small steps you can take to get back on your feet after bankruptcy. However, most of these methods take time, because it is impossible to be instantly qualified for credit and back on track right after you have claimed that you cannot pay off your debt. Having credit card companies, banks, and other lenders trust you with credit again is going to take some time.
Build Your Credit Score
The best thing you can do to qualify yourself for good credit, better interest rates, and descent credit limits again is to build your credit score. Unfortunately, the only way you can really do this is to use some form of credit, like credit cards. So at first it may be difficult to pay those high interest rates and have such low credit limits, but you must face the consequences of filing for chapter seven bankruptcy and pay the price until you are back on your feet. Once you have again established a good credit rating, you will have lower interest rates and higher limits because you have rebuilt your trust and lowered your risk of another bankruptcy.
Manage Your Credit Wisely
The fact that you had to file for chapter seven bankruptcy alone should be a lifelong lesson that will get you to be more careful about your spending habits and your payment abilities. Now that you are trying to move on, you should create a budget for yourself so that you know just how much you can spend on credit, how easily you will be able to make the monthly payments on that amount, and how many things you could go without so that you can gain a better credit score.
Getting Another Credit Card
Getting a credit card after you have filed for bankruptcy will not be difficult. You will still receive offers and qualify for several different kinds of cards. In fact, if it is used more wisely than it was prior to your bankruptcy, a credit card may be the very thing that gets you out of your slump.
Having a credit card and using it sparingly after bankruptcy will help to build your credit score and get you back to where you were. The way in which you could do this is by getting a card, only spending a small amount of money on it, and paying it off each month. Keeping your credit card account open and paying it off frequently will build your credit score more rapidly than it would if you just let your credit card debt stay at a plateau or continually increase.
Tags: bankruptcy, chapter_seven, credit_cards, credit_card_companies, credit_limits, credit_rating, credit_score, good_credit, high_interest_rates, spending_habits
Secured Credit Cards | Mack Bartlett, 25 Sep 07 | 
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Good credit cards are hard to come by. Even half descent credit cards are not easily found. You can get one that looks great when you apply, but down the road you learn that you could have had it better. Sometimes looking at the credit card advertisements alone will make it difficult for you to know just how good the card actually is. Here are some things to look for when you are searching for a credit card that will be of benefit to you when you use it to buy items on credit.
Interest Rates
Any credit card can offer you a great interest rate to start out with, but will that rate change after a certain period of time, and what will that rate change to once that time is up? Knowing what your interest rates are at the beginning, what they will be if they change, and what they could be if you make late payments is important. If you have a good idea about just how much you will be paying on interest, it is easier to shop for the best card and figure out what card will save you the most money because of their rates.
Credit Limits
What the credit card limit should be depends on what you want to buy, how punctually you will be able to make the monthly payment, and how long it will take you to pay it off. Many credit card companies will offer you sky high maximum credit limits, but the best thing is to determine yourself how high you can allow your limits can be. The credit limit will differ for each person according to their credit rating, but credit cards should give you a fair range of money in which you can spend.
The Companies
The credit card you get is only as good as the company it belongs to and the people that run it. They decide what the terms are when you apply for their credit card. You have to know what you’re getting into and who you are dealing with so that you can not only compare credit cards, but you can also compare the companies that make them.
Services
You need to be able to take advantages of certain services offered by credit card companies. You need to be able to do things such as cancel your credit card and cut it off from your account if it ever gets stolen. You need to be able to talk to someone who is willing to listen if you feel that there has been a mistake made by that company.
Rewards
Any kind of credit card you get should have some sort of rewards program. Not getting rewards on your credit card is like buying something at one place when you could have gotten the exact same thing somewhere else on sale. It’s a really good way to save money, and any credit card that saves you money should definitely be considered.
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You know that your credit score is based on how well you can pay back your credit card bills. So how do we know when we’ve spent too much to pay back? Thank heaven for credit limits. We set these limits so that we do not exceed the amount that we know we can easily afford to pay back. So how close can you get to your limit before it starts to damage your credit score? Here are a few tips to help you understand how much you really should spend within your limit in order to maintain a good reputation in the credit world.
DO NOT go over your credit card limit
No matter how much you want to pay for that riding lawn mower with your credit card, even if it costs more money than you have within your limit, don’t do it! Going over your limit can cause your credit score to go plunge dramatically. Even calling in to the credit card company and prearranging an expense that will exceed your limit will not excuse you from the penalties. If the credit card companies authorize you to go beyond your limit it may exempt you from getting your interest rates heightened, but you will still be subject to the consequences on your credit rating.
Spend only up to about 50% of your credit limit, then pay it off
Sometimes the best way to ensure that you do not go over your credit limit is to set a goal that you will pay off your credit card bills once you have spent half of your limit. That way you will not even get close to maxing out. This also helps you to keep your monthly dues at a reasonable amount, allowing you to pay them easily and on time. Being smart and conservative with your money will show that you are responsible enough to pay your debts, allowing for your credit score to steadily improve over time.
Don’t set your credit card limits too high
You should set your credit limits to an amount that you know you will be able to pay back. Having a limit that is too high puts you at risk of spending more than you can afford to make a monthly payment on. It may be somewhat beneficial to set your limit a little bit above your afford ability in order to keep from getting too close to exceeding it. But having a credit limit that is too high for you to ever be able to pay back lulls many into believing that just because they don’t go over the limit means that it’s okay to go up to that amount.
The main thing to remember when you set your credit limits is that your credit score can benefit only if you do not exceed your limit, and if you pay off your debt before you get too close to that limit. Credit cards can either help or hurt you, depending on how you manage them.
