Advice Needed Please!

emmao_3

Could anyone help, me and my husband are £30k in debt with credit cards etc, we are currently going through debt management, but we are struggling to survive once our morgage is paid also. We have a child 4 years old, and i am pregnant, due in March. We currently own our own house , but when i go on maternitly leave we are not going to afford to pay the morgage. We are thinking of bankrupcy, and selling our house to one of these companies who buys your home, you then rent it back , until we move on to an affordable rented accomidation. We just want a fresh start and cannot see any other way out of this mess, can anyone help or share with us?

skylight

If you go BR, then selling before then at below market value to one of these companies (I worked for one, this is what they do, upto 40% LESS depending on how desperate you are) will be frowned upon by the OR. You would be MUCH better at lowering the price yourself to sell it. These companies are vultures and are best avoided at all costs. Plus you are only guaranteed a standard AST - 6 month tenancy agreement REGARDLESS of what they claim. And the rent will eventually be vastly inflated compared to your mortage. It can help only a very few people - make sure you know EVERYTHING there is to know first.

Can you afford to rent a comparable property in your area AND still pay the DMP? If so, then perhaps BR may not be best suited to you.

Equity in the property? If BR is the best course of action for you then perhaps a voluntary repossession may be better. Less hassle for you really.

Have you spoken to Payplan or CCCS yet? One of the FREE debt CHARITIES - links are at the top of the BR board and should be a first port of call. Who manages your DMP currently? Unless its one of the free charities do not let them know your intentions yet. They make money from you and they are solely interested in what you can give them.

emmao_3

Thanks so much for your advice, bankrupsy is def the best option for us, i was not aware of voluntry repossesion, could you kindly tell me more about this? also our dmp is Gregory Pennington, not the best i know!, What do you think our best thing to do is, sell the house (or vol reposs) , then go onto rented , then bankruptcy?

emmao_3

Thanks so much for your advice, bankrupsy is def the best option for us, i was not aware of voluntry repossesion, could you kindly tell me more about this? also our dmp is Gregory Pennington, not the best i know!, What do you think our best thing to do is, sell the house (or vol reposs) , then go onto rented , then bankruptcy?:o

skylight

Rather than the mortgage company taking you to court to repossess the house after mortgage arrears, you simply hand it back. Now, that was a trick statement, cos I used the word "simply"! In a nutshell thats its, but doesn't quite work like that in the real world - as in most mortgage providers still go via the court route which is daft as it costs them and they don't get it back.

Anyway - voluntary or they do it, then your debts are included in BR as long as you give up the property at a similar or previous time. Giving up the property a year after BR will leave you with the debts.

Once you have decided what to do, then you need to make a decision on when to go BR. Now or after Christmas for example. Once you have made that actual decision, then surprisingly, things suddenly feel a lot easier.
At this point, stop paying ALL your creditors - DMP,mortgage etc. Its pointless throwing money at them now. And if you stop one, you must stop them all - or this is refered to as treating one creditor preferably over the others and ORs don't like this. You also need to save up as much as possible to pay rent/deposit and possible security bond on a rented property and this is a good way of doing so.

Then talk to your mortgage provider about their policies for vol repos. They may let it happen or threaten you with allsorts. Don't falter or panic - all debts are included in BR - BUT NEVER EVER SIGN ANYTHING IN REPOSSESSION. Some contain clauses that you accept total responsibilty and can make your BR messy.

You must also speak to one of the debt charities. The judge on court day will ask if you have taken professional advice. This is an essential to BR and a judge could turn down your application if you have not taken the correct advice.

emmao_3

your advice is brilliant thank you, ok so we are going to go with the idea of voluntry repossesion, we have morgage arrears from last year, we last missed a payment in decemeber last year, have since made the payements plus £100.00 on top for arrears, this month we struggeld so only paid £250.00 , as we already have morgage arrears can the reposses us quicker do you know? so basicly we need to file for bankruptsy as the same time as going into voluntry repossesion? if we have made a part payement on the morgage this month, (usual payment of £700.00) how do we stand?

also, do we stand any chance with the council or probably not?

emmao_3

your advice is brilliant thank you, ok so we are going to go with the idea of voluntry repossesion, we have morgage arrears from last year, we last missed a payment in decemeber last year, have since made the payements plus £100.00 on top for arrears, this month we struggeld so only paid £250.00 , as we already have morgage arrears can the reposses us quicker do you know? so basicly we need to file for bankruptsy as the same time as going into voluntry repossesion? if we have made a part payement on the morgage this month, (usual payment of £700.00) how do we stand?

also, do we stand any chance with the council or probably not?

skylight

You have a cats hope in hell with the council. But get your name on the list anyway. Some councils are less stretched than others. Don't worry too much on the part payment this month - but the time it takes really does depend on the provider. Some take a few months some upto a year, so I could only guess.

It may be better to get yourself re-homed first, then go BR. As BR on your credit file may scupper plans to privately rent. It makes it more difficult when the letting agents do a credit check and then they may (or may not) want a security bond upfront. Plus with a family and baby on the way, it would be better (in my opinion) to get yourself settled first. BR can be stressful in itself, and everything at the same time can be too much.

emmao_3

Thanks so much cant thank you enough for your advice, we really appreciate it, will let you know how we get on! :beer:

emmao_3

At what time do we cease morgage payments? we are in the process are looking for rented property and just moving to ensure our familys security but the morgage money will be handy for deposits,fees,etc

skylight

Just before my bedtime! (Pregnant too, and knackered!)

Personally, I would stop now. You are already behind with payments and are not going to catch up with intended BR action. Its a waste of money really throwing it at a mortgage company. The calls for payment and letters will probably start pretty soon after non-payment, but it will be a few months maybe 2/3 - before you start to get any definite responses from them about repossession. Its not straight away.

Please, though, call one of the debt charities and chat to them about it first. They may come up with alternative suggestions we haven't thought of.