After a long absence, I am back to blogging feeling refreshed and ready to write. And there’s much to write about:

1. On December 15, I attended my trustees meeting, the meeting with the creditors which is required for discharging debts in bankruptcy. It was a painless–really!–process that took 4-5 minutes. Seriously, I waited in the meeting room longer than my meeting with my trustee. After 5 minutes, the trustee said I was done. My credit card debts are discharged!

2. I started a plan to rebuild my credit score. I don’t want to be passive and let this bankruptcy problem keep me down. Earlier today I ordered my free credit report from annualcreditreport.com. The web site wouldn’t process my request online, so I had to use the telephone service which mails a printed report about four weeks later. I’m not sure why they couldn’t process my request, but at least I can say I did the leg work.

I should have my first free annual credit report from Transunion in four weeks. Starting four months from then, I will order a free report from each of the three credit reporting agencies (Experian, Transunion, and Equifax) every four months. I intend to regularly monitor my credit report and correct any inaccuracies.

3. I finally accepted one of the many, many credit card offers I have been receiving since getting my bankruptcy discharged. They only gave me a $300 credit limit. BUT–they have a 0% APR until September, 2006 and only charge a $39 annual fee for the “privilege.” Even better–the variable rate APR is only 14.9% after that, about what my other cards were charging after my finances started tanking a couple years ago.

I’ve read that to maximize the benefit of this credit card on my report, I need to make small purchases every month and pay them off in full. That shouldn’t be difficult considering the maximum I can be charged is $300!

Reading the fine print of the offer, I noticed that the company actually charges me for requesting credit line increases. I suppose that should be a cautionary tale for debtors: Once you screw up your credit, it will cost you money to fix it.