Life After Bankruptcy

After a discharge, most people have three practical questions: how long the bankruptcy stays on their credit report, how to build a credit record again, and when they could buy a home. The short answers: federal law lets a credit bureau report any bankruptcy for up to 10 years from the filing date, for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 alike. No federal law stops you applying for credit once your case is over, though each lender decides. And mortgage programs, not bankruptcy law, set the waiting periods for a home loan, each counted from the discharge or dismissal rather than the filing.

This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Bankruptcy law and exemption amounts vary by state and change. Ask a bankruptcy lawyer, legal aid or the court about your situation.

We don’t name or rank credit cards, lenders, credit repair companies or mortgage brokers, and we earn nothing if you open an account. Read the guides below in order: the credit report first, because everything else builds on it, then new credit, then a mortgage. Each rule comes from the statute or the program’s own text, with the date we read it.

Three clocks that start on different days

Two dates matter. The filing date is the day the case starts; in a case you file yourself, the filing is the “order for relief” (11 U.S.C. 301(b)). The discharge is the later court order that ends your personal duty to pay the debts it covers. Different rules count from different ones:

• The credit report entry counts from the order for relief, so in a voluntary case from the filing date, not the discharge (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)(1)).
• Each debt in the case has its own reporting clock. An account charged off or sent to collection can be reported for 7 years, counted from 180 days after the missed payment that led to it (1681c(a)(4) and (c)).
• Mortgage waiting periods count from the discharge or dismissal in every program we read, and each program stops the clock on a different date.
• Another Chapter 7 discharge can’t be granted in a case filed within 8 years of the filing of an earlier case in which you got a Chapter 7 discharge (11 U.S.C. 727(a)(8)). Other combinations have their own periods. Our tool for the periods between filings shows the statute’s arithmetic between two filing dates; the court decides.

Start with your credit reports

The 10-year limit in the Fair Credit Reporting Act is a maximum, and it is the same for every chapter. The “7 years for Chapter 13” you see quoted is a practice that one nationwide bureau publishes, not a rule in the statute. There is also a case where no time limit applies at all: a report used for a loan of $150,000 or more, life insurance with a face amount of $150,000 or more, or a job paying $75,000 or more a year (1681c(b)). Those amounts aren’t adjusted for inflation.

Accurate late payments from before the case can stay. A discharged account still shown with a balance owed or as past due is a different matter: a discharge stops any attempt to collect a discharged debt as your personal liability (11 U.S.C. 524(a)(2)), and examiners at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have found lenders failing to update accounts discharged in bankruptcy. You can get a free report from each nationwide bureau every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com (15 U.S.C. 1681j(a)), and a bureau must finish a free reinvestigation of a dispute within 30 days of receiving it, with some extensions (15 U.S.C. 1681i).

Our guide to how long bankruptcy stays on your credit report sets out each clock, a checklist of common errors and the dispute steps in full.

Building a credit record again

The Bankruptcy Code’s anti-discrimination section protects you from some decisions by government units, employers and student loan programs made because of the bankruptcy (11 U.S.C. 525). It says nothing about card issuers, banks or other private lenders: they can see the case on your report and take it into account. What rebuilds a record is new payments made on time and reported to the bureaus, over months and years. The CFPB’s own words: it “takes time. There are no shortcuts or secrets.”

A few rules are worth knowing before you apply for anything:

• New debt is owed in full. A card opened after your case is over isn’t covered by the discharge.
• In a Chapter 13 plan, ask first. A creditor’s claim for new consumer debt taken on during the case can be disallowed if the trustee’s prior approval was practicable and wasn’t obtained (11 U.S.C. 1305(c)), and many courts add local rules. Ask the trustee’s office or your lawyer before you borrow. Our page on the Chapter 13 payment plan explains the trustee’s role.
• Only reported payments count. The CFPB names secured cards, credit builder loans and store cards as products that can help, if the lender reports to all three nationwide bureaus. Paying by debit card or cash, prepaid cards and payday loans don’t build a record.
• A first-year fee cap. Required fees on a credit card account in its first year can’t exceed 25 percent of the opening credit limit (12 CFR 1026.52(a)(1)). Interest and late fees aren’t counted.
• No one can remove accurate information. The FTC says a credit repair company can’t legally remove information that is accurate and current, and a paid credit repair company may not charge before the service is fully performed (15 U.S.C. 1679b(b)).

Our guide to rebuilding credit after bankruptcy covers each kind of account, the CFPB’s steps for using new credit and the offers in the mail to be wary of.

Buying a home later

No law stops you buying a home after bankruptcy. The waits come from the mortgage program a lender uses, and they are minimums, not approvals: a lender can set stricter rules of its own. Some examples from the program texts we read on 7 November 2026:

• FHA: 2 years after a Chapter 7 discharge; under its manual underwriting rules, 12 to 24 months may be acceptable with extenuating circumstances and a documented record of managing money responsibly (HUD Handbook 4000.1).
• Fannie Mae: 4 years from a Chapter 7 discharge or dismissal, or 2 with documented extenuating circumstances; 2 years from a Chapter 13 discharge, with no exception (Selling Guide B3-5.3-07).
• During a Chapter 13 plan: FHA, VA and USDA rules allow a loan after about 12 months of plan payments, with approval of the new debt by the court (FHA) or by the trustee or the judge (VA and USDA).
• VA and USDA set no fixed countdown in their regulations. VA says a loan within 12 months of a discharge “will not generally be possible”; USDA treats a discharge within 36 months before the application as a reason for closer review.

Because each program stops the clock on a different date, the same discharge can meet one program’s wait and miss another’s by a few weeks. Our guide to buying a house after bankruptcy has the full table for FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the rules after a foreclosure or short sale, what counts as extenuating circumstances, and the debts to the government that block a loan whatever the wait.

Debts that carry on

Some debts go on after the case: debts the discharge didn’t cover, such as certain taxes, support and, unless the court finds undue hardship, student loans; a mortgage or car loan you kept paying; and debts you agreed to keep in a reaffirmation agreement. Where a lender reports them, a late payment hurts your new record like any other. Our pages on what the discharge wipes out and on reaffirmation agreements explain the rules. Whether a particular debt of yours was discharged is a question for your discharge order, the court or a lawyer.

Your next step

1. Gather your papers: the case number, chapter and filing date, the discharge or dismissal order and its date, your schedules of debts (Schedules D and E/F), and any reaffirmation agreement you signed.
2. Pull all three credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and dispute any discharged account still shown as owed or past due.
3. If your Chapter 13 plan is still running, read your court’s local rules and ask the trustee’s office or your lawyer before taking on new debt.
4. Before you apply for any card or loan, ask whether the lender reports to all three bureaus, and read the fees and the interest rate.
5. If a home is the goal, count from your discharge date under the program you’re considering and ask the lender which date it measures to.
6. If a creditor tries to collect a discharged debt, a bankruptcy lawyer or legal aid office can tell you what your discharge order means in your case. Complaints about a bureau or lender can go to the CFPB.

Sources checked on 7 November 2026.