BR help from a newbie

fergusor

dalip wrote: »

You are getting mixed up with an Income Payments arrangement(IPA). These are sometimes applied for 36 mths if after all houseold bills ect you have any surplus over £99 a mth. Yes all debts are wiped off to a certain extent but if you do have any spare income then it is used firstly to pay the OR fees then any left is distributed to your creditors. D

You are likely to be given an IPA (income payment agreement) where the OR will take 50% of your surplus income to service your debts. This is after all your essentials like rent/housekeeping/bills etc have been taken into consideration.

Hi,

The above post is the one I've been refering to regarding the IPA.

I'm still being a bit thick here I think so please bear with me. If I decided to take the BR route would I still be liable to pay money back to my creditors after being declared BR?

I'm guessing at the moment I probably will, and afterwards my debts will be cleared. Let's just say I then start renting a house for £500 per month, have bills to pay of £250 per month and personal expenditure of another £250 per month. That then leaves me with £834 per month, will half of this money then be taken off me?

Sorry for being so thick here :-(

Richard.

skylight

Thats right Richard - in bankruptcy you *may* still pay towards your debts. But if you decide you really want to go down the BR route then you are allowed more allowances than you think - so your £834 will be greatly reduced. Post back here and we can sort your I&E (income and expenditure) out for you.

fergusor

skylight wrote: »

Thats right Richard - in bankruptcy you *may* still pay towards your debts. But if you decide you really want to go down the BR route then you are allowed more allowances than you think - so your £834 will be greatly reduced. Post back here and we can sort your I&E (income and expenditure) out for you.

OK thanks for that, I understand now. So what sort of personal expenditure do you think I'd be entitled to? I have no idea what sort of things to include?

I don't want to appear to be shirking my responsibilities for my debt... I've made my bed and all that, I'm just losing so much sleep over it and I'm constantly thinking about money and it's driving me mad, I want an end to it :-(

With regard to my new partner, he's completely unaware of this and to be honest I don't want to drag him into it... he's losing a lot being with me in the first place (not financial, but that's another story). I'm dead scared he's going to run a mile when (and if) I eventually tell him about it.

Thanks,
Richard.

skylight

Richard - bankruptcy is a public thing. It is supposed to appear in your local paper (with full address etc) and is searchable online. So, if he reads the small ads or likes to be nosey online he may well find out anyway.

With regards to allowances, they are not allowances as such more guidelines, so are flexible and adaptable to fit in with your needs. I have to go to bed now (pregnant and can't stay awake these days!) and I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you, but will look at your SOA you have already posted above and see what can be amended - if someone else doesn't beat me to it by morning!

Take care and try not to worry so much. (easier said than done, I know)

fergusor

skylight wrote: »

Richard - bankruptcy is a public thing. It is supposed to appear in your local paper (with full address etc) and is searchable online. So, if he reads the small ads or likes to be nosey online he may well find out anyway.

With regards to allowances, they are not allowances as such more guidelines, so are flexible and adaptable to fit in with your needs. I have to go to bed now (pregnant and can't stay awake these days!) and I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you, but will look at your SOA you have already posted above and see what can be amended - if someone else doesn't beat me to it by morning!

Take care and try not to worry so much. (easier said than done, I know)

Hi skylight, thanks ever so much for your help this evening. I look forward to finding out what my allowances are.

Would they include things like mobile phone, clothes, holidays (not that I've had one for a few years), that sort of thing?

And can you let me know what I would lose if I went BR? I have a big collection of DVDs, my car (on finance), CDs, computer... that sort of thing?

Many thanks,
Richard.

peachyprice

Hi Richard,
You're allowed a decent level of living without having to scrimp. You'll be allowed a mobile, clothes, some OR's allow for holidays, pretty much as normal life as possible, within reason.

They won't take any of your possessions, they're only intersted in assets they could sell at auction and fetch over say £1K.

Your car will depend on a few things. Is the finance HP or loan? If HP the OR won't take it because it doesn't belong to you until you've finished paying for it, however, there may be a bankruptcy clause in the agreement which will mean the HP company will take it back. If it's not HP, at £16K the OR will take it, but if you need it to get to work they may give you an allowance, usually up to £2k, to buy another car.

Dez-Titute

If you've seen the great film Field of Dreams the following will make sense.

If you post your SOA 'They will come'

Hope the advice has helped,
and keep posting

Cheers DEz

fergusor

The advice has been very helpful, thank you. I will continue to post.

What I would like is to know what I can have as allowances so I can try and work out the best option for myself... BR or trying to speak to the creditors myself.

I would prefer to pay off the debts I have, keep the house and car, but if I can't afford it then I have to admit defeat and learn from my mistakes. I'm going to the CAB on Friday to see what they can suggest... would making a minimal payment to the creditors instead of going bankrupt be better, that sort of thing.

Richard.

peachyprice

There are no set allowances, it's however much it honestly costs you to have a decent level of living. There will be things that you can try to claim for that some OR's will allow that others won't.

fergusor

peachyprice wrote: »

Hi Richard,
You're allowed a decent level of living without having to scrimp. You'll be allowed a mobile, clothes, some OR's allow for holidays, pretty much as normal life as possible, within reason.

They won't take any of your possessions, they're only intersted in assets they could sell at auction and fetch over say £1K.

Your car will depend on a few things. Is the finance HP or loan? If HP the OR won't take it because it doesn't belong to you until you've finished paying for it, however, there may be a bankruptcy clause in the agreement which will mean the HP company will take it back. If it's not HP, at £16K the OR will take it, but if you need it to get to work they may give you an allowance, usually up to £2k, to buy another car.

The car is on HP. I have thought about giving it back saving me the £280 per month but having a rubbish credit record lately I won't be able to get a cheaper car on finance and can't afford to save for one... it's a vicious circle

I'll go to the CAB this week and see what advice I can get from them... if I can avoid BR I would prefer it, we'll see.