The discharge order arrives and then, oddly, nothing feels different for a while. Here is roughly what the first three months look like and what is worth doing in them.
Check that your reports were updated
Discharged debts should show a zero balance. Frequently, at first, they do not. Pull all three credit reports — you are entitled to free copies — and dispute in writing anything still showing a balance owed on a discharged debt.
This is the single highest-value hour of admin in the whole aftermath. Nobody does it for you, and an uncorrected report follows you for years.
Expect the offers
Credit offers arrive quickly after a discharge, and they are aimed at you specifically because you cannot file again for years. That makes you, from a lender’s perspective, a captive customer.
Read the interest rate before anything else. Then the fees. Some of these products are reasonable starting points; a great many are designed to put you back where you started.
Do not sign a reaffirmation you do not understand
A reaffirmation agreement puts you personally back on the hook for a debt permanently. There are sensible reasons to do it for a vehicle you genuinely need. There are very few good reasons for anything else. If someone is pressing you to sign one, ask your attorney first.
Open a proper bank account
If you were with a bank you owed money to, get a fresh account somewhere that has no history with you. Keep it clean — no overdrafts. Basic banking stability is quietly one of the more important foundations of the next two years.
Start the boring part
A secured card, used lightly and paid in full every month, does more for your credit over two years than anything anyone will sell you. Credit repair companies mostly charge for things you can do yourself in an afternoon.
And then
Very little. That is the point. The absence of the phone ringing is the thing you filed for, and it takes most people a month or two to stop flinching at it.