Filing for bankruptcy can destroy your credit for a long, long time.  The best thing to do is to avoid filing at all costs, but in the event that it’s absolutely unavoidable you’ll have to do something to repair your damaged credit.  Here are a few options for those unfortunate souls who are unable to escape filing for bankruptcy.

Secured credit cards – a secured credit card is often one of the best options because you can usually get approved without even having to go through a credit check.  You’ll be required to deposit funds into an account as collateral before you actually obtain the credit card and the amount you deposit or sometimes a small amount more will be your credit limit.  The minimum deposit on some cards is as low as two hundred dollars and on others the maximum deposit can be upwards of ten thousand dollars, every card is different.

Virtually all secured credit cards charge an annual fee, some charge application fees and still others charge insurance so it’s very important to know all of the fees involved with the card that you  are applying for – you don’t want your entire deposit to be used up with all kinds of unnecessary fees.

There can be some glaring disadvantages to some secured credit cards, but the biggest advantage can far outweigh them all – if you make sensible purchases and pay your bill every month your credit score will begin to go up.  With many secured cards, if you show that you can manage the debt for a period of time (usually a year or more) you will be offered your initial deposit back and the card can become an average unsecured card.

Cards for people with poor credit – there are some banks that do offer unsecured cards specifically for people with poor credit.  These cards normally come with annual fees and don’t usually have the optimal interest rate, but on the plus side – you don’t need to make a deposit up front as collateral to obtain the card.  Just as with the secured credit card, you need to make purchases on the card and pay the bill every month and after a period of sticking with this practice you’ll start to see the change in your score and you’ll be eligible for cards with fewer fees and better interest rates.

Prepaid credit cards – a prepaid credit card can be an okay option if you are just interested in having a credit card to be able to rent a car, make a hotel reservation or make purchases online, but unfortunately most prepaid credit cards won’t do anything to help your credit score.

Credit repair services – If you obtain a copy of your credit report and find a number of erroneous charges that are negatively affecting your score you can enlist the help of a credit repair service.  Though a credit repair service is not a magic cure all that can erase negatives on your credit report that you are responsible for, if there truly are errors, a repair service will likely be able to get them removed easier than you would if you tried removing them by yourself.

Your best bet financially is to avoid bankruptcy if at all possible, but in the event that it can’t be avoided, the above mentioned are some avenues that you can take that will at least give you the option of using credit again and maybe help you repair what the bankruptcy had damaged.