Please help £100k in debt with a family

stevelinz · 15 January 2008 at 8:12PM

Hi I really need some advice.
My business is about to go under I have tried to sell to release the debt but I am losing over a £1500 per week and no one is buying. I have reduced the price but market forces and the time of year are not helping me.

I currently have debts of £45,000 which I owe to outstanding suppliers and £44,000 which I owe to banks and credit cards this amount could raise to another £15,000 with six weeks. This said I owe £100,000

Within this debt I have a deposit of £10,000 so that is 10% cleared to one person I owe the VAT approx £7,000 and PAYE £8,000 leaving £23,000 to energy companies telephone, council tax and other people who have supplied goods for my business.

The £44,000 is made up of two personal loans, and four credit cards nothing is secured on the house

I have a house which I have a joint mortgage of £160,000 and the house is worth approx £210,000. I live her with my wife and three children. I own a car which has a book value of approx £3,000.

With all this said if I do not get a buyer quickly I will hand back the keys and I will lose the deposit. I then will have no income but I am currently looking for work. This is proven harder as I have a 7 month old son and my wife has had to work to bring some money in so if I work full time we will incur approx £600 child minding fees.

My questions are.

What is the likelihood if I go bankrupt of me losing the house?

Will I have to sell my car?

What happens to items that belong to the family ie tv, video childrens games?

If I do go bankrupt what happens to any debts that I may not of accounted for in my past or within the last year?

I would really like some clear advice as looking at all the you gov leaflets seem to say one thing and then say another

Thanks
Steve

betterlatethannever · 15 January 2008 at 8:25PM

Hi Steve,
I'm no good with property/business etc but Richard/fermi/rog or some other will help you there.
Regards your other questions...
You may well have to sell (well the OR will auction it) the car if its valued at over 1k. Some people have had cars of lesser value removed while others have been allowed to keep cars of higher value. It all depends on the OR. You will be allowed money to buy another car though if its needed.
Nothing will happen to your household items unless you have stuff of a really high value.
Any debts not accounted for upto the time of BR are included in the BR. You can't, for instance, not pay your eleccy bill after BR then expect to add it.

Professional, free and impartial advice on debt problems can be obtained from several charitable organisations. They never make a penny from the advice they give, which means it will be given with only your best interests at heart.
You can contact:
Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor'.
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111
National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000

or visit
http://www.cccs.co.uk/
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/
http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index.htm

You may be best to contact one of the above. If you decide to go for BR then the judge will want to know you've done this.

Hope that helps a little, any more questions then ask away, and hopefully someone will be along soon to answer your other questions.
Good luck

stevelinz · 15 January 2008 at 10:49PM

Thank you I will look at the websites.

I have spoken to debt person who is more of a consultant but as you can imagine that does not come cheap

squirrel_pigeon · 15 January 2008 at 10:55PM

stevelinz wrote: »

Thank you I will look at the websites.

I have spoken to debt person who is more of a consultant but as you can imagine that does not come cheap

PLEASE do not pay for debt advice. There are places that give excellent professional advice completely free of charge.

Call CCCS, NDL or CAB as soon as you can x

debt_doctor · 15 January 2008 at 11:06PM

Hi Steve, Im assuming you are a sole trader not in a partnership or Ltd Company. There is £ 50000 equity presumably half of that is yours so you will probably have to find someone to come up with £ 25000 to buy out the OR and keep your house. (sorry )

If you can prove your car is essential for work you can keep it but at £ 3000 you might be made to obtain a cheaper one, poss £ 2000.

If you have any very expensive items at home 42" plasma tv etc then that might be at risk,but all normal household goods are safe so you cankeep your tv ( s) hi fi , dvd player, furniture etc

If you forget any debts they are still included in your BR.

DD

selectcase · 16 January 2008 at 12:39AM

I found the CCCS really useful - at the end of the day its not in anyones interest to make you homeless - go through the posts on this board and it will relieve a lot of the worries you have. this might sound soppy but at the end of the day you have your wife, kids, family - thats what really counts in life espically at times like this.

stevelinz · 16 January 2008 at 8:49AM

How does the OR value the home is it like a mortgage valuation or do they use various local agents?

backontheup · 16 January 2008 at 9:08AM

When I was facing this, I had an independent valuation done as 'back up', told the valuer why I was doing it and he gave me a sympathetic valuation (about £10,000 under market value). But then again, I was paying him.

My trustee in BR sent an agent from a local estate agent - guess they didnt want to spend £200 on a independent valuer. A very young girl, who valued it the same as the independent valuer anyway.

I would still recommend you get an indepedent value from someone who isn't an estate agent. They always inflate the initial price if you are selling, just to get your business. Your IV will always be a bargaining tool to get the value down.

I hope you find someone who can buy out your share of the house :-) You can always buy it back once you are discharged.

Good luck

tigerfeet2006 · 16 January 2008 at 9:46AM

Just to reiterate about ringing a debt charity for advice but with the business being involved you may be better off phoning Business Debt line as well, number in my signature.

stevelinz · 16 January 2008 at 12:29PM

Cheers I have spoken to cccs this morning and have an appointment in a couple of weeks.

Please help £100k in debt with a family

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