OK – so you’ve filed for a chapter 7 bankruptcy. The next question is – what just happened?

Over the years, we’ve seen an awful lot of people with false expectations and some outright misconceptions about their bankruptcy. The best way to clear the air is to describe what exactly happens when you go through a bankruptcy.

Most people have the false expectation that the debts that were put into the bankruptcy just “disappear.”

I really don’t like being the messenger of bad news, but folks, that just ain’t so.

A quick look at your credit report may just startle you. The debts are still there. And most of the time, these debts are still being reported as past due, delinquent, derogatory – you name it.

The usual reaction for most people is to launch into an angry tirade against the lawyer they used for their bankruptcy. And, they’re wrong in this assumption. Dead wrong.

First of all, unless you hired your lawyer to help in rehabilitating your credit, you got exactly what you paid for. The lawyer did their part. Those debts are now no longer your problem (as far as repaying them, that is).

The debts have been “discharged.” That’s what the court labels them. Once the debts are discharged, you are no longer legally liable for them.

So what about that ugly credit report?

That’s another matter altogether. You must understand this: the credit bureaus merely report the information supplied by your creditors.

Technically, these creditors are supposed to now report those old debts as “included in bankruptcy.”

But there’s a rub. Or, if you prefer, a loophole.

They are under no time limits for updating your credit file. And, unfortunately, there are an awfully lot of them that just never seem to “get around” to updating your file.

That’s the bad news.

Now, for some good news.

You can get that mess cleaned up.

That’s right. You have the ability to actually get your credit report changed. We’re not going to go into the details here – you can follow the easy step by step process in Cleaning Up Your Credit After Bankruptcy.

That’s not the purpose of this article. We just wanted to let you know the bad news. And to let you know, you can do something about it.

So what are you waiting for? Get started now cleaning up your credit after bankruptcy.