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Desperadiso

Hello everyone, this looks such a fantastic board, I'm glad I've found it!

I'm seriously considering bankruptcy having been on a DMP with the CCCS for about 6 months, which has worked well, but due to have my second baby and go on maternity leave in a few months (I am the main wage earner) and don't know how I'll manage after that. Plus this month I had a letter from the tax credits people stating that they've somehow managed to significantly overpay me and I'm going to be about £250 worse off a month due to this overpayment from when I completed the budget for my DMP. CCCS have re-negotiated my DMP but the letters from creditors and default notices have started again :-(

DH an I have joint debts of about £60K and a joint income of about £30K, a great chunk of this gets eaten up in nursery costs etc. We sold our flat for negative equity earlier this year and were left with about £25K of our debt due to this (we had to move as I was pregnant with second baby and we were still in one bed flat and had 5 sales fall through due to freeholder problems and had to practically give it away to a developer in the end)

Just a few qs to get me started, if anyone can help...

*Dh and I both plan to go bankrupt at the same time. Will we be able to go into court / see the OR together?

* It is highly likely that we will have to pay the OR some money from our wages as there will be a monthly excess. How long do you have to do this for? Can you request that the budget be regularly reviewed as clearly things will change when my maternity pay goes down, I go back to work and have to pay for two lots of nursery fees etc. Plus dh was hoping to go to university next sept (09) so that we are working towards a brighter future- will this be taken into account?

* What are people's experiences with their landlords like following bankruptcy- has anyone been asked to leave (our rent has always been paid right on time).

*Does your address always have to get published in the paper? I do a job where I regularly work with quite dangerous people and would never want to put my children at risk by them discovering my address.

Thanks very much for your time.

Despardiso
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GettingHopeful

Hi Despardiso,

Unfortunately, I don't have answers to all the questions, but great that you have posted, and am sure someone else will advise.

If there is a surplus over £99 per month then the OR applies what is called an IPA which means that a percentage of the surplus is paid for 3 years. However, this can be reviewed as there is a fluctuating income, and you do need to allow adequate to cover your family and living expenses - reasonable figures should be taken.

If you post your income and expenditure, am sure further comment can be made on this board.

Regarding publication of your address, have a word with the judge and include a note in your BR forms. If there is a risk of personal injury to you and your family, the judge may well stipulate some alternative not so local publication.

All the best.

dalip

Desperadiso wrote: »

Hello everyone, this looks such a fantastic board, I'm glad I've found it!

I'm seriously considering bankruptcy having been on a DMP with the CCCS for about 6 months, which has worked well, but due to have my second baby and go on maternity leave in a few months (I am the main wage earner) and don't know how I'll manage after that. Plus this month I had a letter from the tax credits people stating that they've somehow managed to significantly overpay me and I'm going to be about £250 worse off a month due to this overpayment from when I completed the budget for my DMP. CCCS have re-negotiated my DMP but the letters from creditors and default notices have started again :-(

DH an I have joint debts of about £60K and a joint income of about £30K, a great chunk of this gets eaten up in nursery costs etc. We sold our flat for negative equity earlier this year and were left with about £25K of our debt due to this (we had to move as I was pregnant with second baby and we were still in one bed flat and had 5 sales fall through due to freeholder problems and had to practically give it away to a developer in the end)

Just a few qs to get me started, if anyone can help...

*Dh and I both plan to go bankrupt at the same time. Will we be able to go into court / see the OR together?You MAY both go in to see the judge together,depends on the court. May not even see the judge. Your OR interviews will be seperate by either phone or face to face.You will both have to pay the £495 fee

* It is highly likely that we will have to pay the OR some money from our wages as there will be a monthly excess. How long do you have to do this for?36 mths from the first payment. It can be lowered,highered,suspended or even dissolved at any time in those 36mths. Can you request that the budget be regularly reviewed as clearly things will change when my maternity pay goes down, I go back to work and have to pay for two lots of nursery fees etc.You have to inform the OR of any income change(up or down) within 21 days of said change Plus dh was hoping to go to university next sept (09) so that we are working towards a brighter future- will this be taken into account?Yes as and when it happens.

* What are people's experiences with their landlords like following bankruptcy- has anyone been asked to leave (our rent has always been paid right on time).Check your tenancy aggreement to see if there is a bc clause.If you pay your rent on time and have no arrears then it is unlikely they will evict you. The OR does sometimes inform your LL of your bc.

*Does your address always have to get published in the paper? I do a job where I regularly work with quite dangerous people and would never want to put my children at risk by them discovering my address.You can appeal to the judge to withold your address going in the paper. Be warned people have dne this and the judge has agreed but the persons address has still be published.

Thanks very much for your time.

Despardiso
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Hi and welcome
Have tried to answer your questions. When you feel ready pop your income and expenditure up and we can make sure you allow for everthing. The allowances in bc are much better than a DMP so you may not have an IPA. Also some benefits are not inclued in your income,although you still have to include them on your SOA.Any other questions fire away no matter how silly you think they are one of us will usually know the answer. Good luck.D

tigerfeet2006

Can't add anything to Dalip's excellent advice. Just want to say welcome to the board and well done for having the courage to deal with what is happening. Make sure you get back in touch with CCCS and discuss the fact you want to think about BR.

fiveyearplan

Hi and welcome. I think Dalip answered all your questions thoroughly so I don't have anything to add to that, I just wanted to welcome you to the board.

Desperadiso

Thanks so so much everyone, what a lovely warm and helpful welcome :A

I definitely think it's going to be the right thing to do for us, as the DMP we are on is not predicted to finish for 14 years :eek: and that's assuming the creditors freeze interest, which most of them are not- and many still charge monthly late fees so as far as I can work out, we are actually in slightly more debt now than we were 6 months ago when we started it, so we are getting nowhere at all :mad: I don't want to do an IVA because of the changes we are going to be going through over the next few years which means we can't confidently commit to the monthly payments (having babies, DH going to uni etc)

I also wanted to reflect on how much i have actually enjoyed the last 6 months on our DMP- since I turned 18 and went to university, I don't think there's been a single month that's gone by where I haven't slightly lived beyond my means. In the last 6 months there hasn't been a single instance of me or dh buying something we couldn't afford / not paying for something outright. This is the first period of time this has happened IN MY ENTIRE ADULT LIFE :eek: and looking back on this I actually feel like a cured addict or something, as I never rally viewed my lifestyle (which was far far from exstravigant in any way) as dysfunctional, as it just seemed to be what everyone does (put the last tesco shop of the month on the cc, when your wages run out, etc).

From what I can see is that most people's BO is discharged within 12 months and then the fact that you've been BR stays on your credit file for about 6 years? Is this right??? If all goes to plan, in 6 years we should actually be in a good position- both children will being primary school so much cheaper childcare costs, dh will have finished uni and will be earning a decentish wage, I should have been promoted, and (because of the BR)we shouldn't owe anyone a penny and should have managed to saved up quite a bit (and I've never saved anything before really).

So whilst I have nooooooooooo desire to ever get into any debt whatsoever ever ever ever again, and DH is fully committed to this too, I would one day like to offer my children the security of us owning our own home once again one day. I'm hoping that maybe property might be quite a bit cheaper in 6 years time, so it might even be a wise move and an investment for our children to inherit. God only knows I am going to blooming well teach my children the value of money and make sure they never ever end up in the mess!!!!

So anyway, my question is, is it likely that in 6 years time someone (and not just someone who's going to really really rip us off) may give us a mortgage? Or should I kiss the idea of home ownership goodbye forever? We are both only 28 now, so at 34 I will still be young enough to have paid a 25 year mortgage off by the time we retire.

I've read the other thread on mortgages and know about the advantages of renting etc (and blimey I am enjoying renting at the moment- that feeling of not worrying about the next thing to go wrong with your house / boiler blowing up / electrics going wrong / roof leaking / damp patches appearing etc!), but it's the security for my children I am thinking of.

Thanks again guys

Dxxxx

tigerfeet2006

There has been several people on here who have got a mortgage after discharge. Obviously the further there is between your discharge and asking for a mortgage the easier it will get. Use the time to get together as big a deposit as possible.

Make sure you join your local Freecycle groups. https://www.freecycle.org .Click on browse groups. It's like ebay where you express an interest in goods by emailing the offerer. If you are then offered the goods you go and pick them up for free.

Desperadiso

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

There has been several people on here who have got a mortgage after discharge. Obviously the further there is between your discharge and asking for a mortgage the easier it will get. Use the time to get together as big a deposit as possible.

Make sure you join your local Freecycle groups. www.freecycle.org .Click on browse groups. It's like ebay where you express an interest in goods by emailing the offerer. If you are then offered the goods you go and pick them up for free.

Thanks Tigerfeet, definitely not wanting one anywhere near after discharge! It will be a long time before I feel anywhere near ready to take on a huge commitment like that again! But glad there is hope that we may be able to one day :T

Thanks for the freecycle tip too
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fiveyearplan

I'm not sure property prices will be any cheaper in 6 years time. Before this last credit crisis it was possible to get a mortgage straight after bankruptcy now I'm not so sure lenders will want to know.

It's not worth worrying about at this time anyway. Enjoy your lives and enjoy your children while they are young. You can always get another house but you can never get time back!

Desperadiso

fiveyearplan wrote: »

I'm not sure property prices will be any cheaper in 6 years time. Before this last credit crisis it was possible to get a mortgage straight after bankruptcy now I'm not so sure lenders will want to know.

It's not worth worrying about at this time anyway. Enjoy your lives and enjoy your children while they are young. You can always get another house but you can never get time back!

Thanks fiveyearplan- yes you're right. Certainly not going to worry about it at all- there's loads more important things! Not wanting to lose precious time with our babies is exactly why I'm doing this BR anyway- there's no way I want to go back to work full time when this one's 4 months old like I did with my dd!

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Desperadiso

So another update...

called CCCS and told them we were seriously considering bankruptcy. They talked it through with us and agreed that it was totally the right thing to do, especially given our debt is actually increasing since we started the DMP and the whole thing had messed up because of the stupid idiots at the Child Tax Credit place :mad: !

So they cancelled the DMP and are actually refunding this month's payment as they hadn't paid the creditors with it yet, and told me to use what we would have spent the next 2 months DMP on for our court fees instead. So it looks like we will be ready to go in two months :eek: So I'll be rolling up at the Court 8 months pregnant (maybe the judge might take a bit of pity on me then ).

I love the CCCS so much, I can't believe how lovely and well trained and helpful they all are and that it's free. One day, when this is all sorted out and I'm not struggling to make ends meet, I'm going to set up a monthly direct debit donation to them- because they are wonderful :A and I want to help other people in my situation.

Was also reassured by loads of things she told me- apparently as there is no clause in my Tenancy Agreement about bankruptcy and my rent is all up to date, if we just bring a copy of the agreement and proof of our rent payments with us to see the OR it is highly unlikely they will even bother contacting our landlord as we'd have saved them a job. Also because we set up a current account with the Coop when we started our DMP, they will hopefully be able to just switch it over to their cashminder thingy and not freeze it at all hopefully.

So all good news and actually feeling quite positive this evening!

Thanks again all, sorry for my long-winder=d rambles- having a bit of a brain dump here is so helpful as I can't talk to anyone about this (other than dh) IRL!

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