Somebody just posted a question on our credit repair forums asking whether or not he could purchase a home after a bankruptcy.

In this case I think it was a bit too soon. However, this is a good opportunity to discuss what you can be doing immediately after a bankruptcy to repair your credit and get ready to buy a home as quickly as possible.

While bankruptcy is the last thing you ever want to think about financially, it does present some opportunities to make lemonade out of lemons.

First of all credit repair after a bankruptcy is easier then you might think. The first thing you want to do is make sure every item that was covered is listed as “included in bankruptcy”. If they are not marked as such, they are probably showing as a open debt unnecessarily harming your credit score.

Once you’ve made sure they are all listed as such, you can dispute the accuracy of all of them (if you think something is inaccurate of course). We’ve found that very few of them ever validate the debt. The reason they fail to do so is incentive. They have no incentive to waste their time since they cannot collect a penny.

If you’re lucky enough to have them all removed, all that will remain is the BK which also can be challenged.

Once you’ve finished your credit repair, start establishing new credit. Lenders love to give people credit after a bankruptcy. Why? Because you have no debt, they assume you probably learned your lesson and since you’re now debt free, the risk to reward ratio is in line.

Establish a balanced credit profile, manage it well, don’t max out your cards and you’re well on your way.

On average, with a good plan, patience and discipline you can be close to AAA paper as soon as 2 years.