How Can I Set Myself Up For Success After Bankruptcy Discharge? 4 Things To Know

This is part 10 of 11 of my bankruptcy experience series.

For many people filing for bankruptcy would be the last thing that they would ever do to get their finances under control. There are some people who view bankruptcy as such a failure that they won't even consider it. Even if it is their best option. I personally filed for bankruptcy in July of 2022. To this day, I still believe  that it was one of the best decisions I ever made for my future. 

Bankruptcy can be an excellent reset point for anyone who may have let their debt get out of control or anyone who has experienced a financial challenge. It is definitely not as bad as people make it out to be. I had a very positive experience. 

Many of you may be wondering: “How do I ensure I will never have to file bankruptcy again?”

I cannot personally guarantee that you will never have to file again. Sometimes people have to file bankruptcy due to things out of their control like a job loss, medical expenses or other types of economic strain. 

I will tell you what I did to set myself up for success and make myself financially savvy to help me navigate any potential financial issues. 

Step 1: Make a list of all your bills and due dates for your debt obligations: 

I personally use an excel spreadsheet to track this and I update it every month. I make sure to include the dates on my calendar as well. I found this to be particularly helpful as my creditor mix increased. If you just have 1-2 accounts then it is easy. I noticed that once I got to 3+ accounts it became more challenging to remember. 

Step 2: Track all of your expenses and income:

After years of financial chaos, I have found that it can be extremely beneficial to know exactly how much money you have each month and what expenses you have. If you know where every dollar goes, you are going to be that much better off. Prior to my bankruptcy I had no clue where all of my money was going. I just knew that I needed to make X amount of money each month to cover all of my bills. After my bankruptcy was over, I sat down and looked at everything. I found out that I was paying over $250/month for basic streaming subscriptions that I rarely used. That is over $3000 a year! 

One tool that would be really helpful would be the Ascend Free Fresh Start Portal. We have designed this with you in mind. We want everyone to have quality tools that are free to use. You are able to add your income and monthly expenses. This will allow you to see exactly where you stand each month. 

Step 3: Look at your credit report, or have someone look at it with you

Throughout the duration of your bankruptcy, many things will change on your credit report. I was constantly getting notifications from my credit monitoring apps that there was activity. After my bankruptcy was over there were a lot of errors on it. There were accounts that were still reporting balances that should not have been. Some accounts were still reported as open and derogatory, which also should not have happened. 

If you would like to take a look at your credit report you can schedule a call with us and we can go over it together. Your analyst will help you make a game plan to set you up for success. 

Step 4: Make sure to keep your credit card balances low

I get it, life happens. You may get yourself back into a little bit of debt after your bankruptcy. I did! Various things can contribute to this, big events, medical expenses and economic factors. While this is not the end of the world, it is important that you get it handled quickly so that your bankruptcy filing was not for nothing. 

When it comes to repaying your debt, you are going to want to take many things into account: 

• Debt amount 

• APR/ Interest Rate

• Fees Involved

In our fresh start portal we can help set you up for success and get the debt back under control. You can track your pay off date, schedule a call to go over your other options as well. 

Conclusion

Debt is not a fun subject to talk about. Neither is how to resolve the debt. There can be many ways to handle the debt. You are not alone in this journey, we are here to help you in all stages of debt relief. Use our free debt relief calculator if you want to explore all of your debt relief options! Or give us a call at 833-272-3631 and one of our analysts would be happy to help. Even if you get out of debt, and end up in debt again - we are happy to help you.