A bankruptcy is going to be factored into your FICO® score until it falls off of your credit report. While it may take up to ten years for a bankruptcy to fall off of your report, the impact of the bankruptcy will lessen over time.

If you plan to file a bankruptcy, here are some things you should do to make sure your creditors are accurately reporting the bankruptcy filing:

• check your credit report to ensure that accounts that were not part of the bankruptcy filing are not being reported with a bankruptcy status.
• make sure your bankruptcy is removed as soon as it is eligible to be "purged" from your credit report.

After a bankruptcy has been filed, the sooner you begin retaining or re-establishing credit in good standing, the sooner you can expect your FICO score to rebound. A good practice is to obtain a secured credit card and continually make all of your payments on time. As time passes and the impact of the bankruptcy lessens, you might apply for a traditional credit card and also continually make all of your payments on time

A bankruptcy will always be considered a very negative event by your FICO® score. How much of an impact it will have on your score will depend on your entire credit profile. For example, someone that had spotless credit and a very high FICO score could expect a huge drop in their score. On the other hand, someone with many negative items already listed on their credit report might only see a modest drop in their score. Another thing to note is that the more accounts included in the bankruptcy filing, the more of an impact on your score.

While there are many things to consider when considering filing for bankruptcy, you can expect it to impact your score for as long as the bankruptcy is listed on your credit report.

What are the different types of bankruptcy and how is each considered by my FICO score?

A bankruptcy is considered a very negative event by your FICO® score regardless of the type. As long as the bankruptcy is listed on your credit report, it will be factored into your score. However, as time passes, the negative impact of the bankruptcy will lessen. Typically, here is how long you can expect bankruptcies to remain on your credit report (from the date filed):

• Chapter 11 and 7 bankruptcies up to 10 years.
• Completed Chapter 13 bankruptcies up to 7 years.

Keep in mind that these dates refer to the public record item associated with filing for bankruptcy. All of the individual accounts included in the bankruptcy should be removed from your credit report after 7 years.

The common alternatives to foreclosure, such as short sales, and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure are all "not paid as agreed" accounts, and considered the same by your FICO® score. This is not to say that these may not be better options for you from a financial perspective, just that they will be considered no better or worse for your FICO score.

If you are considering bankruptcy as an alternative to foreclosure, that may have a greater impact to your FICO score. While a foreclosure is a single account that you default on, declaring bankruptcy has the opportunity to affect multiple accounts and therefore has potential to have a greater negative impact on your FICO score.

Your servicer will likely use your FICO® score, along with other factors, to help determine the new terms of your loan, such as your mortgage rate. In general, your FICO score plays a key role any time you apply for new credit or change the terms of a loan. That's why staying credit savvy and maintaining a good credit rating remains so important.

A foreclosure remains on your credit report for 7 years, but its impact to your FICO® score will lessen over time. While a foreclosure is considered a very negative event by your FICO score, it's a common misconception that it will ruin your score for a very long time. In fact, if you keep all of your other credit obligations in good standing, your FICO score can begin to rebound in as little as 2 years. The important thing to keep in mind is that a foreclosure is a single negative item, and if you keep this item isolated, it will be much less damaging to your FICO score than if you had a foreclosure in addition to defaulting on other credit obligations.

If you are new to credit and are trying to build a credit history, here are a few ways you can get started.

• Apply for, and open one new credit card. Because you have little or no credit history, you may not get very good terms on this credit card – such as a high APR. However, if you charge small amounts and pay off the balance each month, you won't be paying interest each month so the high APR won't affect your bottom line.
• Open a secured credit card. If you are unable to get approved for a traditional credit card, a secured credit card can help you build your credit history. This type of card requires you to deposit money with the credit card company. You can then make charges on the secured card up to the amount you have deposited.

Whether you obtain a traditional credit card or a secured credit card, it is important to keep low balances and pay off your balance each month and never miss a payment. This will help build a positive credit history.

The short answer is no. We never recommend closing a credit card for the sole purpose of raising your FICO® score.

This may sound a bit counter-intuitive; after all, cleaning up your credit profile by getting rid of old or unused credit cards sounds like a good idea – and it may be from an overall credit management perspective. If you are tempted to charge more than you should just because you have more availability to credit, then getting rid of that temptation by closing some credit cards might be your best course of action.

However, your FICO score takes into consideration something called a "credit utilization ratio". This ratio basically looks at your total used credit in relation to your total available credit; the higher this ratio is, the more it can negatively affect your FICO score. So, by closing an old or unused card, you are essentially wiping away some of your available credit and there by increasing your credit utilization ratio.

It's a bit tricky, so here's an example:

Say you have 3 credit cards. Credit card 1 has a $500 balance and a $2000 credit limit. Credit card 2 is an unused card with a zero balance and a $3000 limit. Credit card 3 has a $1,500 balance and a $1,500 limit. In this scenario your credit utilization ratio looks like this:

Total balances = $2,000 ($500 + $1,500)
Total available credit = $6,500 ($2,000 + $3,000 + $1,500)
Credit utilization ratio = 30% (2,000 divided by 6,500)

Now, if you decide to close credit card 2 because it's an old card that you never use, your credit utilization ratio looks like this:

Total balances = $2,000 ($500 + $1,500)
Total available credit = $3,500 ($2,000 + $1,500)
Credit utilization ratio = 57% (2,000 divided by 3,500)

You can see that your utilization ratio rose from 30% to 57% by closing the unused credit card.