A bankruptcy will not ruin your credit forever. A bankruptcy will cause a drop initially in your credit score, but in many cases, this score can come back up fairly quickly. Taking the necessary steps after a bankruptcy discharge will ensure that your credit is repaired as quickly as possible. In fact, some cases have a higher credit score AFTER bankruptcy within one year. That is typically because pre-bankruptcy debt was already damaging the credit score. Every major credit bureau uses a different formula to determine a credit score, so it may vary.