Today’s topic involves a reoccurring issue about items on your credit report. The misconception is that filing a bankruptcy ‘gets rid” of negative credit events, such as missed payments. (The technical term for this is a ‘derogatory’.) But a credit report is a factual history of your credit affairs. Legitimate credit events that have not expired will continue to remain a part of that history even though the debt has been discharged in a bankruptcy. And that’s what the credit report will cite – that the debt has been discharged in bankruptcy. There is no legitimate way to remove a valid and accurate credit event but you can contact a credit reporting agency if a credit item fails to notate that it was discharged.
Derogatory credit events on your credit report begin to fade in relevance in the months and years after a bankruptcy filing. You can also take affirmative steps to rebuild your credit, like using secured credit cards. Responsible use and timely payments of these kind of credit instruments will help you regain your credit worthiness.