How Your Credit Score is Affected After Filing a St. Louis Bankruptcy

One of the most commonly held beliefs about a St. Louis bankruptcy is that by filing such a thing, your credit score is ruined for the rest of your life. This is in fact a misperception for several reasons, not the least of which having to do with the fact that creditors tend to give false or misleading facts about the effects of bankruptcy on someone’s credit.

When you file for bankruptcy in Missouri or Illinois (whether it is a St. Louis Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a St. Louis Chapter 13 bankruptcy), the court provides you with a discharge of your unsecured debts. This would include things like credit cards, medical bills, payday loans, and deficiencies from a car repossession, home foreclosure, or abandoned rental contract. Once this discharge is granted, you can expect your credit score to jump upwards by about 30 points. Thereafter, it depends largely on how aggressive you wish to be in your efforts rebuild.

When a Missouri Chapter 7 is filed, people can typically expect to see their credit score rise to a level that would permit them to negotiate decent rates on a new car loan or house mortgage within one to two years after the case is complete (the length of a Chapter 7 is approximately three to four months from start to finish). In a Missouri Chapter 13, a repayment plan is created in which certain creditors are paid back over a period of three to five years. This means that anywhere from 36 to 60 monthly, methodical payments will be made to the Trustee, who will in turn disperse the monies to the various creditors listed in the plan. The end result of these monthly payments is a very solid credit score once the plan is completed three to five years down the road.

The entire point of filing for bankruptcy is to provide you with a fresh start / clean slate. It is a chance to wipe the slate clean, so that you can start fresh with a second chance in life. This means that you will have many opportunities to rebuild a credit history and score. The affordable St. Louis bankruptcy attorneys at The Bankruptcy Company have been helping people regain financial control of their lives for years. Our goal is to make sure that you are guided through the process from beginning to end, and heading towards the path of success.