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Bankruptcies can hang on your credit report for up to 10 years and can butcher your credit score by hundreds of points. But by using these tactics, you could improve your credit score and become creditworthy several years before the bankruptcy drops off your credit report.

Repairing your credit score after a bankruptcy is far from being not burdensome. “Filing bankruptcy is supposed to be a fresh start,” says Stephen Snyder, credit expert and author of “Credit after Bankruptcy.”

After a bankruptcy discharge, make sure your credit report is correct. After all, your goal is to increase your credit score hastily, and inaccurate information will only draw out the time it takes to score high enough for conventional credit. You are entitled to one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three national credit bureaus. Credit bureaus generally have 30 to 45 days to investigate your claim.

One of the most productive ways to boost your credit score after bankruptcy is to procure a secured credit card, she says. Secured cards are credit cards secured by a deposit account (usually a savings account) owned by the cardholder.”Those cards were designed for people with bad credit to remain in very low-credit-limit situations for a long period of time at a high interest rate,” says Stephen Snyder, author of “Credit after Bankruptcy.”Having more than one type of credit line will help boost your credit score.

“The point is most people with great credit scores probably have two credit cards from well-known, well-respected banks, a house payment, maybe a boat payment, and they keep those balances below 15 percent [of available credit] every month.”About 10 percent of your credit score is calculated based on the types of credit you use (i.e., credit cards, mortgages, installment loans and retail accounts), according to MyFICO.com.

Another 10 percent is based on new credit accounts ” which can include credit lines established after your bankruptcy. Although the FHA program does not officially use credit scores to qualify a loan, individual lenders may. Some credit-repair and credit “doctor” companies make grandiose claims that they can clean the slate and repair your credit file, often for a substantial fee. Only time will cause those entries to drop off your credit reports.

Mallory Megan works for a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. Also, she composes stories on business and finance, consumer spending and collections agencies.

Your credit history. It could be your best friend, or your worst enemy. Most of the time it\’s like a nosy mother in law coming to visit. You know that she\’s coming, and that\’s always bad news, but you are too afraid to ask or even consider how long she will be staying. Even though that was the worst analogy ever, read on to see how long negative marks stay on your credit history!

In my humble opinion, there are two records that really count in life. Your criminal record and your financial record. Unlike your criminal record which will sway over your head for a very long time, your credit report and scores are not permanent, thankfully. But how long can these negative records exist on file?

First off, mistakes in your credit report will be removed immediately. It you find a error, or a negative account that doesn\’t belong to you, contact the credit reporting agency and the creditor. You should be able to have the negative account removed within 180 days.

Anytime your credit report is pulled at your request, something called an inquiry is put on your report. An occasional inquiry couldn\’t hurt, but if you have placed a large number of inquiries within a short time period, this usually lets prospective creditors know that you need the dough and you need it fast. The bottom line is that the more inquiries that show up on your report, the lower your score will drop. These will usually last only up to two years.

But here\’s the scoop about inquiries. Not all inquires will negatively affect your credit score. Soft inquiries, like when you get your credit score, or when companies check your credit for purposes of making unsolicited credit offers do do any harm. When you apply for a credit card, the creditor pulls your credit report that will result in what is a hard inquiry. This may potentially lower your score.

Mallory McGuinness-Hickey works for a debt collection agency. She also composespieceson the credit industry, business, finance, and debt collection. Don\’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.