Ah yes, the 800-pound gorilla that you would have to take on rebuilding your credit. Fortunately for you, filing for bankruptcy does not have quite the same social and financial stigma it once did ten, maybe twenty years ago. ‘The purpose of filing is a safety valve, says Roger M. Whelan, resident scholar of the American Bankruptcy Institute, a nonprofit professional organization. ‘Thank God, the day in which it was like wearing a blazing star on your forehead is over.’