The above article only relates to England & Wales. The legislation is different here in Scotland. Just thought I should point that out.

I too went Bankrupt for Personal Reasons in January 2006 and although discharged after 12 months, I have to wait until January 2012 before it is removed from my credit file. I thought at the time Bankruptcy was the right thing for me, with £30,000 in debt I was struggling. However, if I could do things differently now I would have sold my home and paid as much off the debt as I could and either gone for an IVA or a loan to pay off the rest. Please ensure if you are ever considering your options you look at every possible option, its not always the best answer.

3 Years on, I have a bank account with Debit card from Barclays and a Visa with a credit Limit of £250 ... not much I know but its a start to build up my credit rating. I am looking at a car purchase now and looking at the loans that are on offer, it isn't easy and you end up paying almost double what your average Joe is paying but at the end of the day they have to cover their risk in this current climate.

I have got copies of both Experian and Equifax files, check both as they sometimes contain different information and just cause one of them updates the details, it doesn't mean the other company will automatically too.

All I can advise is please be weary of the advice you are given and check out all options before making a decision, I am trying to build my life back up and its tough!

I made myself bankrupt in 2005 and I found it very difficult afterwards. Nationwide offer a cash builder account that will get you started to get a bank account and after 6months you can apply for a current account but you wont get a switch/ visa card from them for bout 2 years. I'd recommend them straight away but you have to keep an eye on your finances. think banking have a good service but you'll wait 10 - 15 minutes on the phone to get hold of someone in customer service and then the service is not the best. busy times I have been in a que for over an hour trying to move money around. all in all once you have been bankrupt its going to cost you money to get your credit history back on track. I recommend subscribing also to experian so you can get crap taken off your credit history and stop companies selling the debt to max credit and max adding a record to your history. best way I found to start getting credit was to get car finance over 3 years, you'll pay 5k more over that time but if you can afford it then it add's a history of credit and payments to your history.

Simon

In the first of a series of articles on debt, financial journalist Jessica Bown looks at the implications bankruptcy has on your ability to get financial products – what will and won’t you qualify for?

Click here to read this article