If you have a discharged bankruptcy, here are three steps that could help increase your chances of qualifying for credit and loans:

1. Order copies of your credit reports

You will want to order copies of your credit reports from the major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union) after your discharged bankruptcy. You can order your reports by mail, telephone, or online.

You may even be entitled to a free copy of your credit report - check with each of the major credit reporting agencies. In After Bankruptcy Credit Solutions I cover five ways to get a free copy of your credit report. But free or not, ordering copies of your credit reports after your discharged bankruptcy is important if you are planning to apply for any credit or loans.

2. Clean up your credit reports

Once you have copies of your credit reports, you will want to review each one carefully. You will want to make a note of any inaccurate or obsolete negative information that needs to corrected or removed. You will also want to make sure that your discharged bankruptcy is being reported correctly on each credit report.

While there is not enough room here to go into detail on how to correct or remove any inaccurate or obsolete negatvie information on your credit reports, I explain how in After Bankruptcy Solutions - and also what to look for when cleaning up your credit reports after a discharged bankruptcy.

3. Focus on increasing your credit score

Cleaning up your credit reports after a discharged bankruptcy is one way that could help increase your credit score. There are a number of other ways as well including: Establishing some new accounts and paying them in a timely manner over time, maintaining low balances on your credit card accounts, and even adding years of positive credit history to your credit reports.

In this article we looked at three steps that could help increase your chances of qualifying for credit and loans after a discharged bankruptcy. There are a number of other strategies you can use – but I will save those for future articles dealing with credit and loans after a discharged bankruptcy.