Credit reference agencies collect information regarding your credit worthiness and then supply it to lenders who use the information to determine whether to lend you money or extend other forms of credit to you.

There are three credit reference agencies in the UK - Equifax, Experian and Call Credit. They gather information from a variety of sources, including banks and building societies, courts of law, credit card companies and so on (for information on how to obtain copies of your credit report see How to obtain a copy of your credit rating file from credit reference agencies).

When you are made bankrupt, your bankruptcy is made a matter of public record and each of the credit reference agencies will have access to this information.

But what many people do not realise is that although the length of time for an automatic discharge from bankruptcy has been reduced from three years to just one, a record of your bankruptcy will remain on your credit reference file for six years from the date of your bankruptcy.

This will adversely affect your credit rating for those six years accordingly.

And although being made bankrupt is a matter of public record, being discharged is not. So unless you pay the Official Receiver to advertise the fact, you will need to write to the credit agencies yourself with proof of your discharge.

The credit reference agencies will then update your credit reference file so that the bankruptcy entry shows that the bankruptcy has been discharged.

Six years after the date that you were made bankrupt, the credit reference agencies will automatically remove the bankruptcy entry from your credit reference file. You do not need to inform them in this instance although it might be wise to check that it has indeed been removed.

How to obtain a copy of your credit rating file from credit reference agencies