It almost goes without saying that nobody PLANS to file for bankruptcy. The detrimental effects of bankruptcy on your life and for 7 to 10 years on your credit report is not something that anyone would want to do or plan for, given a viable choice. One of the most difficult things about filing for personal bankruptcy, especially in the past several years, is that after coming out of bankruptcy, all of a sudden you find that people, even your friends, start to treat you like you have leprosy or the plague. You even find yourself feeling guilty when you buy something, even a gallon of milk at the grocery store, because there is also a psychological detriment to declaring bankruptcy. You feel as if you have failed -- failed yourself as well as your family.

Things happen and you need to embrace that fact. You didn't PLAN to file bankruptcy, it was just an unfortunate series of events or circumstance. The very first thing you need to do is to get over the psychological effects of it. You are not a bad person, and in fact, in the course of mentally reviewing what led you to that point (which you probably do several times a day anyway, right?), you have actually LEARNED some things along the way, which will allow you to avoid the same pitfalls in the future as you move forward with your life.

After you have declared bankruptcy, you need to understand that life goes on. You will still need to purchase basic necessities of life, you will still need a place to live, you will still need a car, etc. But one of the things you will undoubtedly find, and find quickly, is that obtaining credit for something like a mortgage or even a used car is going to be very difficult. To qualify for a loan after bankruptcy, you are going to have to be able to meet the lender's minimum criteria for your credit score, and bankruptcy puts a serious dent in your credit score rating number. The lower your credit score, the greater the chance that the lender will deny your loan request, or in best case, will approve your loan but at an interest rate that would make Bill Gates' eyes roll.

After you have obtained your loan and/or new credit cards, make more than the minimum payment and make sure you make that payment so that it gets posted to your account BEFORE the due date. For example, if your minimum payment is $25, make the payment for $30, or even more if you can afford it. If your payment is due on the 10th of the month, make sure you mail it no later than the 3rd of the month to make sure it reaches them on time AND gets posted to your account before the due date. Many banks offer free online checking and free online bill paying, which is a great way to go to get those bills paid on time. It's all done electronically, and besides saving yourself the cost of a stamp, you have also saved yourself the hassle of the possibility of delayed postal mail and the delay of the MANUAL process for the lender to post the payment to your account.

The bottom line is to make sure you have LEARNED something from the necessity of filing for bankruptcy. Understand what went wrong and be sure to watch for those pitfalls to make sure that you do not need to repeat that bankruptcy step.