New York Times’ columnist Tara Siegel Bernard has written an article on repairing your credit after it’s taken a hit, whether by a foreclosure, short sale, or bankruptcy. Bernard recommends focusing on your FICO score. Much of the advice is for people whose financial situation hasn’t slipped to the point of considering bankruptcy. Nevertheless, once you make it through bankruptcy, these are good ideas to implement.
She offers some good tips, but there is one that I have to take issue with. She recommends that if you are having trouble paying your bills to call lenders and credit card issuers to see if you can make more manageable payments. While this sounds like a good idea, for people considering bankruptcy, it may be too late for that advice. Second, it is essential that you get any agreement to make smaller payments in writing and ask how they are going to report the payments. You may get black marks on your credit report, even if they agreed to take smaller payments, because you aren’t making payments according to the original terms of your loan agreement. Further, if you don’t get it in writing, you may find that the lender has “forgotten” your agreement and has decided to take collection action against you.
You can read the article here.