Believe it or not, you will be able to get a mortgage to buy a home or loan to buy a car after bankruptcy, but you’ve got to be smart - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Most people have seen ads telling you that you can buy a car or qualify for a mortgage even if you’ve just come out of bankruptcy. What those ads don’t tell you is that the interest rates and other fees you will pay to get the loans will be extremely high. Therefore, we recommend that you stay as far away from those loans as possible.

In order to qualify for a car loan or mortgage with a good interest rate you will need to re-establish your good credit over a period of at least two years. The best way to do that is to take these simple steps:

• Open and maintain a checking and savings account, making sure to never bounce a check;
• Build up your savings as much as possible over time;
• Pay your rent and utilities on time each month, every month;
• Open up a secured credit card account and use it at least once a month, and then make payment in full each month;
• Once you have $2,500 in your savings account, go into your bank and find out about taking a personal loan to be secured against your savings account. Pay the loan off on time and never miss a payment; and
• Reduce your monthly spending to be sure that you always have money left over at the end of the month.

Many of our past bankruptcy clients have gone on to purchase homes and automobiles, and have done so after as little as two years following the completion of their bankruptcy case. These are people who have approached their post-bankruptcy lives intelligently and carefully, recognizing that bankruptcy is truly an opportunity to start over.