New and worried

iwantout

Hi, I am new on here, and I just wanted to ask some questions so if anyone had a couple of mins to answer I would be really grateful.

I am saving up for the fees for BR, I expect to have the in Sept/ Oct. I am not currently working and I have a baby son, so I live off CTC, CB and my husband (who has his own debts but does not need to go BR).
I got a letter from a DCA about a debt I have not payed anything towards, issuing me with a default notice and threatening a CCJ, so I have sent them £20 as a token payment in the meantime, but what will happen if they do take me to court, because I have no income or anything, and like I say I am trying my best to get the cash together for BR?

Also, I am hoping to start a course to train as a teacher in Sept 2009, and would get a bursary for it, would that be affected by the BR? I can only afford to do the course if I am allowed to use the whole of the bursary for nursery fees, so if the OR is going to take it then there is no way I can afford to do it.

My husband and I have a joint account at the moment, does he need to get me off his bank account before I go BR? What about a bank account my baby has with Nationwide, do I need to get my name off that? He doesn't have much in it, but if he gets money for Christmas or birthdays, would that be affected if my name was on the account?

I have opened a Co-op Cashminer account and I need to sort out the CB and CTC going into it, does anyone know how long it takes and will it be frozen too?

Will the OR take any of my husband's income to pay my debt? He is paying off his own debt and he can't really afford to pay mine too.

Am I likely to get a BRO? The debt is about £60k I think and I accumulated it whilst I was at Uni, and at the time, when I graduated I had every expectation that I would be able to pay it off, but I then became ill with depression and dropped out of my course, and then obviously didn't end up with the well paid job I was expecting to have.

We are moving house at the end of September, so am I better to do it at my old house or my new one?


Thanks in advance for anyone who can answer anything!!!

homeschooler

Hi

Have you received advice on BR yet? If not I found CCCS were fantastic. I filled in a debt remedy online and it recommended BR. It gave me a special contact number to phone and talk to a BR advisor.

Have you contacted your local county court for an appointment yet as some have a wait of a couple of months and others have a drop in. It might be an idea to book in now perhaps if your court has a backlog.

My dh is self employed and has debts of his own too so also wouldn't have been able to pay anything towards mine. I was told by CCCS to just put whatever it is he contributes to the household (the amount left over after he has paid his own debts)

I don't see the need for the OR to know straight off that you are planning on starting a teacher training course in 2009. If you were to go BR in September you would be discharged by the time you started your course in september 2009 then anyway.

I would definitely take your name off your joint account and possibly take your name off your son's account if yours is linked to it and transfer it under your husband. Not definite on this though.

I applied for the co op cashminder account a few days before my BR and the OR said it was fine as I said it was to recieve wtc and child benefit.

It is extremely unlikely you would get a BRO. You borrowed the money in good faith that you would be able to repay it. Unless you have gambled the money away it will be ok.

Please try not to worry too much. Stop making payments to your creditors if you have not already done so to enable you to get the BR fees together. If they phone and hassle you for payment tell them you are seeking advice.

It is hard not to worry. 8 days ago I was petrified about the BR but it wasn't at all scary. I felt a huge relief like the chain around my neck had finally been lifted.

My OR interview was 2 days later and only lasted 26 minutes and the OR was lovely.

Hope that helps a little and try not to worry to much even though its hard.

Take care
Emma

iwantout

Hi Emma, thanks for the help!
It was CCCS who recommended BR to me, and the court where I am at the moment you just turn up before 9am so the lady told me when I rang up!
Hubby is out of the country at the mo so got to wait till he comes back to get me off the accounts then!
Just want it all out the way now, have been saving my pennies carefully, but money was tight anyway! Had to pay the £20 to the DCA because I was worried if they took me to court before I went BR that it might be affected somehow?

dalip

IWANT


Welcome.

First off get your name taken off both your joint acc and your sons. The co-op account is unlikely to get frozen but the odd one does.

The most importent thing is do not pay any creditors as this will be seen as favouring a creditor and that is a big no no by the OR,unless you pay the same amount to all your ceditors then it's ok.

A bro is only usually given for gambling or taking out further debt when you knew you were insolvent not the amount you owe,thank godness:o

The OR is only interested in your OH contribution to household expenditure not his income. It is your bc and has nothing to do with your OH what he spends his spare cash on.

Any other questions just ask away

iwantout

Thank's Dalip.
My husband is out of the country just now, so will have to wait till he is back before I can sort out the bank accounts as I think we both need to go into the bank.

I have all my debts except the Natwest ones that I was being threatened with a CCJ for on a DMP with CCCS but I am paying £5 per month to all of them on that, the same as Natwest are getting for their 4 accounts, but CCCS recommended I go BR as it is going to take me forever to pay off and meanwhile I am affecting my husband and son.

Does anyone know how long it takes to get Child Benefit and CTC over to another account as at the moment they are being paid into an A&L account in my own name, but I am assuming this will be frozen as it has a visa debit card and cheque book on it, and also if I swap them to the Co-op account, will the OR want me to pay that money to my creditors, as that is what buys my son's nappies and clothes? If it is going to be a problem, I will get it paid to my husband's account instead.

Glad to hear about the BRO, like I say, at the time I took out the debts I would have had the means to repay them, just that things changes unfortunately and left me in this mess. Was a bit worried about the BRO from what other people have told me though.

I am still a bit panicky about the threatened CCJ, does anyone have any experience of this? I sent them a letter with a postal order for £20 saying I couldn't afford to pay any more as I had no income at the moment, but have had no reply from them, I sent it recorded delivery so I know they have got it.

december

Hi,
Just my own experience of the token payment/CCJ issue. I made token payments to my creditors for a year before I went bankrupt and only made payments of £1 per month. All that happened in that time (although it was incredibly stressful) was that the debt was bounced from the lender to a debt collection agency, back to the lender and then to another debt collection agency. Although many lenders threatened me with court action,(after having refused my token payments) none of them took action until I stopped making the token payments. By that time I was bankrupt.

december

dalip

IWO
When i went bc i took my name off the joint account but still had my wages paid into that account. The OR will not be interested in your benefits but you could still have them paid into your OH account then open a co-op either just before or just after bc.After bc you will only be allowed a basic account and at the moment the only ones to appear to be bc friendly are barclays or co-op.I know when i changed over my dd to my OH basic account it was done more or less within a couple of wks so should not take too long for you to change over your benefit payments.D