Think I am going bankrupt

nrsql

>> Senior banking software consultant
>> he is 49 years old, even tonns of experience does not count.

Are you sure?
Does he have any technical experience? If so contact a few contract agencies and get some freelance work. No need to specify the age unless asked - and it shouldn't matter too much for contracts.

Debtomaniak

Thank you,
That sounds like a great idea. I will tell him that. Tomorrow when he starts his job hunt again, he might have some luck. Not sure about how much of technical expirience he has, but most of his CV is full of some technical terms, software titles and sounds to me like a total different language.

Eager_Elephant

Hi,

Sorry it's taken a while to come back to you.

If the house is worth £250,000 with a mortgage of only £70,000 then you have equity of £180,000 which is more than enough to clear the debts. If your husband decided to go bankrupt there is every possibility that the house would have to be sold especially if you have not got kids.

If your husband can get a job then maybe he should remortgage and include the debts in that, however it is not normally recommended as you are swapping unsecured debt for secured .ie. if you do not pay your mortgage then you could lose the house anyway.

Credit cards and loans are very different but they are still both debt, basically with loans you are given all the money up front in your bank account and from day one you owe all the money plus the interest but with credit cards you pay for things on a card and then interest is added monthly.

So if your husband has been unemployed for 6 months where is the money coming from to pay the bills because I'm sure your £150 is going to barely touch the sides. Has he been borrowing more since he was unemployed to keep up the lifestyle you and him have become accustomed to.

I'm not saying you have an extravagant life but just paying day to day bills must come in at around £1000 to £1500 per month, so each month his debts will be increasing.

It seems to me that your husband has been hising this from you for a very long time, did you come over form Russia to be with him? If you did maybe he feels he has to put up a pretence that everything is alright. Marriage should be about trust and respect and you should be able to talk about anything.

At least he has told you know without you finding out the day the bailiffs come knocking.

I don't wish to alarm you but I think if your husband went bankrupt then there is every possibility that he will be unable to continue with his career in banking. When you go bankrupt there are certain professions that you will be unable to work in, normally this is finance. Especially as he is a software consultant I'm sure it would only take him a few clicks of a button to be able to transfer money from one account to another and thus commit a crime. The other thing is people that are struggling financially are open to blackmail as a way of making quick money.

I am in no way suggesting this is what your husband would do but obviously banks cannot run this risk.

Has your husband considered other jobs other than in finance? Can he not take any job just so he is bringing money into the house?

Is he receiving Job seekers while he looks for work?

Has he missed payments on any of his debts?

If he isn't then your situation looks pretty dire as you can't even pay the everyday bills, I know I am making assumptions here but I'm sure I would feel the same even if you posted your incomings and expenses.

I know all the above seems pretty dire but it's only right to be up front with you.

Debtomaniak

Eager_Elephant wrote:

So if your husband has been unemployed for 6 months where is the money coming from?
WELL, I think he just keeps transferring balances to 0% Cr Cards, so that he doesn't have to pay anything for as long as he can.

I'm not saying you have an extravagant life but just paying day to day bills must come in at around £1000 to £1500 per month, so each month his debts will be increasing.
SUSPECT that is how his debt got so out of hand. He thought it was only about £40,000. He had a shok himself, when I made him to add it all up and tell me what it was.

It seems to me that your husband has been hising this from you for a very long time, did you come over form Russia to be with him?
YES, we got married in Russia, but he always earned good money and did not think, that one day he would be made redundant and become unable to settle his debt. Ever since he was made redundant, he did cut back drusticly and we are very carefull with money. He has a friend who gives him odd job to do, now and than, so he is sort of selfemployed, earns about £200.00 p/w.

Has your husband considered other jobs other than in finance? Can he not take any job just so he is bringing money into the house?
HE SAID, he would get any job, if still unemployed by January.

Is he receiving Job seekers while he looks for work?/NO

Has he missed payments on any of his debts?
/DO not know, I feel I still do not know full story. He is still saying we are not in trouble, we are OK. I feel like tearing my hair out, but the only way he would speak to me about his debt is, if I remain calm. And when I suggest that we need help and the situation is bad, he says, "I knew I shouldn't have told you about my debts". :mad:


.

Thank you Eager_Elephant,
Please see my answers by the questions.
PS. Trying to make him make a call to ND, because he is the one in charge of all the debt and knows the full story. But because he would not even admit he is in trouble, it is not an easy task for me. Though he says he does not mind if I call them. Obviously they will ask me questions to which I would not know answers to. Know one thing for sure we need help. What do I do? :mad:
Thank you so much for your advise and help.

Eager_Elephant

Thanks for getting back to me.

Well if he has been transferring balances around even if they are small then this could be seen as him acting negligently if he was to go bankrupt. In other words he knows he can't keep up with the payments so is getting himself further in debt.
If he went bankrupt I'm sure he would not be prosecuted for doing the above however the Official Receiver (the bloke that oversees bankruptcies) could delay the date of discharge, normally it is one year but in some cases it can be delayed for I think 15 years.

Well I'm glad that you are cutting down drastically but I can't see how he can meet the minimum payments but obviously at the moment he is transferring the balances but this can't go on forever because eventually he will run out of credit.

I can understand your husbands worries, it has obviously taken a lot of courage to admit his debt to you and as he is supposed to be the provider he probably feels that he has failed as a husband.

All you can do is be supportive and not get angry or upset - I know it's difficult but you need to keep the lines of communication open.

It really should be your husband who rings National Debtline as like you said you do not know the answers to some of the questions and as the debts are in his name they may not talk to you anyway.

Even if National Debtline recommend bankruptcy it doesn't mean he has to rush out on Tuesday and declare bankrupt, they will give advice and then send out an information pack and then you and him will have time to mull over what you are going to do. If you have to wait until the New Year so you can start the year afresh.

Anyway it costs over £400 to declare bankrupt so he would need to find that money first.

If he cannot get through to National Debtline what about Payplan or CCCS, they are both charities too, believe there website addresses are:

https://www.payplan.co.uk

https://www.cccs.co.uk

Both of the above websites will have telephone numbers that he can ring tomorrow.

I think they also will reply to e-mails but then if they have questions it could be like a ping ping ball all day, better to speak on the phone and deal with it all in one go.

I'm not sure what they will recommend but with the equity in the house it will make for a complicated bankruptcy and the possibility of losing your house and one that could be avoided if you could draw down some equity.
But this extra mortgage could only happen if your husband got a job as otherwise you won't be able to keep up with the repayments.

Back to the job front, if all the debt is credit cards then minimums payments are probably around £2000 per month without mortgage payments and household bills so any income into the house is going to have to be quite substantial.

Thats just my opinion, feel free to ignore.

I'm off to bed now but please try and get some sleep tonight, nothing can be done until the morning anyway.

Addicted2Chocolate

With equity in the home at this level it would be realised in bankruptcy, there is no maybe or doubt.
The husbands intrest in the house is an asset in bankruptcy and trustee must realise it for the benefit of the creditors , various ways of doing this i) sale to a third party eg wife family memeber must pay to the trustee the full value of any equity ii) forced sale, where trustee gets an order of court allowing him to sell the house iii) a charging order, where trustee puts a charging order at land registry for total value of debts, plus his costs, plus statutory interest. So Bankruptcy must be a last resort in this case especially given his profession. The 'what will happen to my home' leaflet available on https://www.insolvency.gov.uk explains this.
If a bankrupts conduct has been dishonest, blameworthy or culpable the Official Receiver may apply to the court for a Bankruptcy Restriction Order of between 1 and 15 years ( this is what eager elephant is referring to) . Examples of conduct that may lead to a BRO are incurring credit without reasonable propect of being able to repay, selling at undervalue/transferring/gifting assets to friends or family and to the detriment of creditors....gambling materially contributing to insolvency.............the list could go on... using credit whilst unemployed may or may not be reasonable depending on his expectations of finding work but if he hs defaulted and should be aware of his inability to pay his debts when they fall due, it would be in his interests to stop obtaining further credit. If granted the person would be formally discharged but subject to the restrictions of bankruptcy until expiry of the Bankruptcy Restrictions Order.
The husband must face his situation and seek professional advice, i suggest seeing an Insolvency Practitioner , choose one from the yellow pages. he must do this himself you cannot do it for him,. Good luck.

Debtomaniak

Addicted2Chocolate wrote:

must do this himself you cannot do it for him,. Good luck.

Thank you. My husband does not know I am writing this here. He still would not admit, that we are in trouble. Heard about that fellow who killed himself, because he had a massive debt ( not far rfom my husbands), on GMTV. Scared so much, do not know what to do, do not want to push my husband in case it'd be too much pressure. God, what am I going to do?????

Addicted2Chocolate

you need to let him know that you weill be there for him whatever happens. there is a big stigma in this country about money but life changes like losing a job or ill health can happen to everyone. Keep reassuring him that you will be at his side whatver happens, and maybe he will build the strenth to do what needs to be done. be patient with him. i really feel for you.

Debtomaniak

Addicted2Chocolate wrote:

you need to let him know that you weill be there for him whatever happens. there is a big stigma in this country about money but life changes like losing a job or ill health can happen to everyone. Keep reassuring him that you will be at his side whatver happens, and maybe he will build the strenth to do what needs to be done. be patient with him. i really feel for you.

Thank you. Just spoke to him, hope he is calling ND at this moment.

Debtomaniak

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to say thank you so much for advice and a kind support of everyone who took time to reply to me. In case anyone wondered what happened after all that, my husband has called National Debtline because I begged him to. But I suspect he did not tell them all the truth, because all he got out of conversation with them was information pack, not sure if that was all he supposed to get, but I do not know how much it will help us. I think, it might be too little too late for us, unfortunately. However we shall read it and see if anything can be done. Also I have ordered Martin's Money Diet book, which seems to be very helpfull on money saving subject.
So thanks to you all again.