Possible BRO and whether to fight it?

peterkay369 · 15 March 2017 at 6:29PM

Hi all,

Received a letter through the post today notifying me that my conduct may warrant a BRO. My debt is due to gambling however the reason that they are investigating me is down to: "Obtaining credit with no reasonable prospect of repayment".

At the time of me obtaining credit, I was able to repay the credit without an issue and was fully up to date with my repayments until a few months ago where I was made homeless and also had a change of job with a drop in pay.

Do you think it's worth fighting against this, or is it just a case of rolling back and accepting it? I was hoping to apply for a mortgage ASAP (I know this will be until at least 3 years until after discharge) and have also thrown around the idea of starting up a business in the future, both of which I won't be able to do under a BRO.

Help please

silvercar · 15 March 2017 at 6:50PM

What do you lose by appealing?

peterkay369 · 15 March 2017 at 6:54PM

I thought it may be a case of if it goes through the courts to decide, it'll be harsher/longer?

london1973 · 15 March 2017 at 6:59PM

When did you obtain the credit, in relation to your bankruptcy date, and in what form did it take (i.e loan, credit card etc)

Also do you mind me asking when you were made BR and when your OR interview was?

peterkay369 · 15 March 2017 at 9:42PM

have had loans, credit cards etc for years, however took two fairly big loans out mid/late 2016 (approx 30-40% of total valye). made homeless end of 2016. new job (less money, less stress!) beginning of 2017 and bankruptcy applied for at the start of Feb when I knew for definite things wouldnt improve.

BR is start of Feb, 3rd or 4th maybe and OR interview was around the 10th Feb

london1973 · 15 March 2017 at 10:42PM

If you are confident you can argue that at the time of taking the loans you could service them, on your salary at the time, then I would suggest you have a good case to appeal, given the timelines between the point you took the loans and your BR date

peterkay369 · 16 March 2017 at 1:42AM

Thank you.

The letter received today is just to notify me that they are looking at it and states I don't need to reply.
Would it be better to instantly go in on the defensive and show I am not just going to roll over and accept it? In the hopes that they may see it as "too much hassle" to pursue? Or shall I stay quiet until I'm asked for anything?

Has anyone on here disagreed with them receiving a BRO and appealed against it, and more importantly not received one as a result of this?

london1973 · 16 March 2017 at 10:21AM

i would do nothing, seems to be the repeated advice on the forum, the more visible you are the more likely your file will be nearer the top of the pile, that's just a hunch gained from reading this forum for the past 12 months

with me they are also 'looking into' something and I haven't heard anything for 5 months now, so i'm sweating it out and keeping as low a profile as possible

Again my advice is based on instinct, I am not an expert

A4445 · 17 March 2017 at 1:12PM

I received a BRU for 3.5 years for spending money with no reasonable way to repay. I had some serious mental health issues at the time, but it was true I spent the money.

I didn't appeal I took the punishment. If it had gone to court they were applying for 4.5 years so I got a year discount for agreeing to it.

TBH it was no big deal having it didn't make any difference to my day to day life. It would be better not to have one, but if you get one I wouldn't worry about it.

debt_doctor · 17 March 2017 at 8:12PM

Hi,
Thanks for your PM.
I would be inclined to do nothing until asked, but would be building my case in the background.
I see your point about the 'borrowing money with no reasonable prospect of repayment' as it appears that you could afford the repayments until the event(s) that quickly led to bankruptcy, namely homelessness and a drop in income.
Your bigger danger is if they claim you where involved in 'Rash or hazardous speculation' as if gambling was directly funded by the borrowing and was a significant portion of the BR debt then this could be relatively easy to demonstrate.
Both behaviours could bring about a BRU/O.
With the suggested behaviour in the ORs letter, then I think you should challenge their claim (when they get back to you), and see if they push that after your counter argument.
Sometimes the IS propose a BRU when they know they do not have the evidence level for a BRO through the courts. Obviously I can't tell if this will be accurate in your case.
The whole point of a BRO/U is for public and future creditor protection. If you have since received help with your gambling problem and you no longer gamble, then you could also make the point that the behaviour they are trying to protect against is unlikely to happen.
DD

peterkay369 · 19 March 2017 at 10:59PM

A4445 wrote: »

I received a BRU for 3.5 years for spending money with no reasonable way to repay. I had some serious mental health issues at the time, but it was true I spent the money.

I didn't appeal I took the punishment. If it had gone to court they were applying for 4.5 years so I got a year discount for agreeing to it.

TBH it was no big deal having it didn't make any difference to my day to day life. It would be better not to have one, but if you get one I wouldn't worry about it.

Thank you, good to know I guess that it'll potentially be a harsher punishment if it does go to court. Fingers crossed it doesn't go that far!

Possible BRO and whether to fight it?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free