Charles Smith
Credit & insolvency writer at FiveSix. Charles turns the rules around bankruptcy, consumer proposals, and rebuilding credit into plain language Canadians can act on.
Writing that respects a fresh start
Straight answers, no jargon, and no promises a lender cannot keep.
Charles Smith writes FiveSix's guides to borrowing during and after a bankruptcy or consumer proposal. His work focuses on the questions people actually ask — whether a loan is possible mid-bankruptcy, how soon after a discharge you can borrow, what a consumer proposal does to your credit file, and which debts survive a discharge.
He writes for readers who are rebuilding, not for readers who have it easy. That means naming the trade-offs honestly: the higher cost of credit after insolvency, the legal duty to disclose an undischarged bankruptcy, and the situations where a loan makes things worse rather than better.
Every guide is grounded in Canadian law — the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, provincial consumer-protection rules, and the federal criminal interest rate — and held to a simple test: if a term needs a lawyer to explain it, it needs rewriting.
What Charles covers
Bankruptcy & Insolvency
How the BIA processes work, what a Licensed Insolvency Trustee does, and what a discharge really clears.
Rebuilding Credit
The order of operations that actually moves a credit file forward after a filing.
Borrowing Basics
The true cost of short-term credit, how to read an offer, and when to walk away.
Your Rights
The disclosures lenders owe you, and the protections that survive insolvency.
Browse every guide in the bankruptcy & insolvency blog →
Ready when you are
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