On A Mission's road to BR - diary thread - OR interview 19/9 DONE!

On_A_Mission_7 · 16 July 2008 at 4:01PM

Hi everyone, I've spent a lot of time on this forum the past couple of days reading up on lots of posts (thanks Scarlett for your fab diary!) and am hoping you can help.

We are now seriously considering going down the bankruptcy route as we see no other way out of our financial problems at the moment. We've already tried following the CCCS advice to offer all of our unsecured creditors a token £1 but, not surprisingly, many aren't going for it. Even then, we couldn't afford our general living expenses anyway which is why we can't do a DMP or IVA. We've tried contacting CCCS again today to run it past them but our counsellor wasn't available so will try again later.

We have a mortgage with a secured loan plus a whole heap of unsecured credit that we've been having to use to try and meet our bills and cost of living. Terrible I know. There is no equity in the house so could not sell and use proceeds to pay off the secured loan so we're now thinking about voluntary repossession. We haven't yet missed a mortgage or secured loan payment but have missed a few of the unsecured ones over the past couple of months and are getting to the constant phone calls and threatening letters phase in some cases. We really need to act fast!

Here is where it gets tricky, we have an 18-month old child and our next one is due at the beginning of January so we need to be either still in our own home or settled into rented accommodation by then - trying to move house with a huge bump or within days of the birth doesn't appeal in the slightest. We just can't quite get our heads around what order and when to do things...

Do we stop paying all of our creditors, including secured, now to build up a deposit, rent and BR fees or do we keep paying the secured ones for now and paying for our food on a CC which is the state we're in now?

If we did stop paying the mortgage and secured loan with immediate effect, approximately how long (based on your own experiences) would it be before we got an eviction notice through? This would be useful to know in case we decide to stay here to have the baby, we don't fancy the bailiffs knocking on the door in the middle of giving birth.

If we were to move out of the house Oct/Nov time into rented, when would you go BR and when would you hand the house keys back? (I know everyone's situation is different but any thoughts or suggestions would be great)

Would you go BR as soon as the first CCJ notice came through or wait until the house situation is decided?

As you can see, we're in a bit of a muddle and can't decide when to actually 'go' BR and get it over with. We just want to be able to get on with our lives and would rather do this when the kids won't have a clue and don't have xmas/b'day wishlists. Our long term plan is to emigrate so giving up our house now doesn't seem such a wrench anymore like it used to, although the brave face does slip at times.

Sorry for waffling, I hope you can help.

dalip · 16 July 2008 at 4:12PM

Hi and welcome

Before you stop paying anything you must have been advised by a professional debt advisor to go bc. From what you have said that has not happend yet. Try ringing NDL, number in my sig and see what they say. If they agree that bc is the only way then stop paying all unsecured. As far as the house and SL is concerned you will have someone with some experience come along soon, afraid i did not have a house and although i am prety sure what you should do(from reading others threads) unless i have actally done it myself i wont advise. D

On_A_Mission_7 · 16 July 2008 at 4:21PM

Thanks dalip, we are already with CCCS and have a case number and designated counsellor but we just couldn't get hold of her today to ask about going BR as opposed to trying to dig ourselves out of the ever deepening hole. Is that classed as professional debt advice or do we need to speak to somebody else as well?

CCCS_Matthew · 16 July 2008 at 4:34PM

Hi there,

We can still provide you some advice without having to speak directly to the counsellor you had the original apponitment with. I'll PM you with a number to call for existing clients and someone can provide you some advice, and if necessary book you in 2nd appointment to discuss this in more detail with another counsellor.

Hope this helps
CCCS

On_A_Mission_7 · 16 July 2008 at 4:45PM

Thanks Matthew, we did run the situation past another counsellor but they just said they weren't sure and to wait to speak to our own after all that.

On_A_Mission_7 · 17 July 2008 at 10:41AM

We've got another appointment booked in with our CCCS counsellor for 2 weeks away (the soonest she could do) to discuss going BR but any suggestions before then would be much appreciated.

dalip · 17 July 2008 at 10:48AM

Try ringing NDL they will usually give you a ref number and tell you straight off what they reccomend. Number is in my sig.Worth a try rather than wait 2 wks in limbo.D

DEBT_23 · 17 July 2008 at 11:11AM

i missed 4 mortgage payments ,then it went to court where the judge gave a repossesion suspended for 28days allowing me to repay 200pm on top of mortgage to clear arrears. i have since booked in for court to go BR on 6th aug and i know if mortgage dont get there payment on 1st aug they going for repossesion anyhow.. by then i shal be in renting to go BR on the 6th.
not my ideal plan in life but hey we all human .

I sit here as i type this with my blinds closed to when collectors ( robson way etc) and welcome for my missed secured loan payment) knock on my door they think im out.. I cant wait to move into rent on 2 weeks. BR in 3..

no more hiding.. im soo looking forward to a fresh.. and all by the age of 24. .

peachyprice · 17 July 2008 at 11:30AM

Hi On a Mission,

Without all your other debts could you afford to stay in your house? This is the first question you have to ask yourself.

As there is no equity the OR will have no interest in it and as long as you can afford it you'll be able to stay.

If you decide you can't and want to move into rented you can stop paying your mortgage and s/l, the mortgage company probably won't be in any rush to evict you but the s/l people are a whole different kettle of fish they'll push for repo as quickly as they can, which is roughly 10-12 weeks.

Billy_Liar · 17 July 2008 at 4:00PM

Hi
Your situation sounds very similar to ours. There are people here far more qualified than me to answer many of your questions, but we also moved out of our house and into a rented one. If you do decide to give up the house, try and move before your credit rating gets very badly affected as many, if not all letting agents do a credit check. We were still pretty credit clean when we moved so that wasn't a problem. Keep in mind that the Official Receiver might decide to contact your landlord at a later date to confirm the rent. We've been v lucky as our landlord is fine with our BR as long as we can pay the rent. We also have a guarantor which means that if we default, they have to cover us. It's a good friend who knows the situation and we don't expect this ever to happen - it just makes landlords feel more secure. However they could ask for six months rent in advance and may have tenancy agreement clauses that annul the agreement on going BR. Read the small print. Hope this helps. BL

On_A_Mission_7 · 17 July 2008 at 4:57PM

Thank you for your replies, some very useful info there.

Even if we didn't have the u/s debts, we still couldn't afford the mortgage + s/loan as well as living expenses, there's a shortfall of circa £500 every month. It's a shame it's come to this but I really can't see any other way to go.

If we stopped paying the mortgage and s/loan straightaway, we could only save about £600 a month so it would take us a while to build up rent, deposit and BR fees. It sounds like we would run out of time with the s/loan people very quickly!

Having looked at rentals we're looking at a minimum of £550 p/m, which we could just about manage post-BR as well as very basic no-frills living expenses but there'd be nothing left after that so hopefully that would mean no IPA.

It's just such a relief to finally be taking positive action rather than trying to tread water and buy time when we know damn well our situation won't get better in the foreseeable future.

On A Mission's road to BR - diary thread - OR interview 19/9 DONE!

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