After going through a bankruptcy, most people are a little apprehensive, if not downright terrified, of building their credit rating back up. On the one hand no one wants to sleep in the motels that only take cash, so a little credit would be good, but on the other hand, you don’t want to get sucked right back in to the addictive credit cycle and end up back where you started.
What you need to do is start improving your credit rating with baby steps. Your first goal is so prosaic it may not need mention, but start paying installment bills on time. Car, student loans, and mortgage payments, on time, each month. This is the first step to inching that rating north a little bit, a month at a time.
The second step is less intuitive. You need to start saving. How much? I will tell you: your first goal is to save $1000. Pay yourself first out of each check, and it will soon become a (good) habit. Even if you are collecting unemployment, pay yourself a token amount from each check.
Third, when you have hit the thousand dollar mark for savings, you are clear to start adding a little extra payment to the installment loans each month. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but this will decrease the principal owed, which improves your credit ratios and hence your score.
Be patient, give it a year from the filing date of your case and you WILL see progress. Good Luck!