New any advice over the coming months greatly appreciated

completemess

I have been reading this forum with interest over the last month or so and thought it's about time I post.

My husband and I are as my username suggests are in a complete mess. Basically to cut a long story short my husband is in the process of winding his business up because it has gone into financial difficulty. We can no longer afford the mortgage payments on our home and are one month in arrears. Our house has just gone on the market but nothing around here is selling and I honestly think it will be repossessed/voluntary repossesed at some point in 2009. We have decided that bankruptcy is our only option because my husband has business debts he is personally liable for plus we have debts of our own. Luckily my husband now has a full time job but staying in our home is not possible and our debts are out of control - my health is beginning to become affected through the stress of letters/phone calls.

Anyway enough waffling please can anyone advise me on the following:

1. If we go bankrupt and have the house voluntary repossessed can the mortgage company chase us for any shortfall in the future or does including it in the bankruptcy stop this?

2. We are going to privately rent, if we save up 6 months rent so a landlord will take us on will this not land us in trouble with the OR?

Thanks for any help. I am thinking of going to my doctor for some help as I have a toddler and newborn and am not coping well at all x

MissKJ

Whoa there tiger! You have gone from nought to sixty in 5 seconds! You have two babies and are probably suffering from stress/depression. Dont you think you may have made some rash decisions? Or perhaps you have already gone through the figures but have no other options?

Bancruptcy and reposession should be a last resort, there are many other options first. Your hubby has a job, so post up your SOA (statement of affairs) and let all the experts on here help you see the true picture.;) Chin up, we are all in a similar boat, but you need to get all the information first before you write off your family home.

fudgecat

So sorry to hear about your difficulties. I completely agree than posting an SOA first will allow the many wise heads on this forum to advise you. If bankruptcy is the only option, then putting your house into the "package" will ensure that no-one can come after you later. Be warned, after bankruptcy some banks will try to get you to sign a document that effectively makes you agree to pay more after the bankruptcy term is over. Don`t fall for it.
Have you taken any financial advice or debt advice? Don`t pay any companies who offer to sort it for you - they will all rip you off. Citizen`s Advice or the free debt agencies will give you the same advice for free.
You must see the doctor - your health and the care of children is an absolute priority. Start hoarding some cash now (this is unofficial advice, but was essential for us in the same position), so that if bank accounts are frozen you have some money for living. Renting will be OK if you have a decent deposit, although if you can get someone to act as a guarantor, it will ease any problems. If just your husband goes bankrupt, it is easier as you can act as signatory, etc
A little random with the advice, but I have been in your position, so I can tell you that a few years down the line it will be a bad memory. Keep the family together and my very best wishes for you all.

RAS

Hi there

Since this involves a business, your OH needs to talk to the Bisiness debtline for a start.

CCCS 0800 138 1111 National Debtline 0808 808 4000 Business Debt Line 0800 197 6026 Insolvency Service- 0845 602 9848 (thanks Tiger)

And even if you or OH have to go bankrupt, it is not a foregone conclusion that you have to lose the house.

If you stop paying other creditors, can you afford the mortgage?

And is there any equity in the house?

WOWICANDOIT

I agree if you loose your home you will still need to pay rent what would be the diffrence between the two, is it a huge difference. At least at the moment you are in your own home look at how you can reduce your outgoings. At the moment you are a month behind pay this month when due and if possible speak to your morgage people about repaying the missed month.
Renting always incurrs costs to move deposit ,rent in advance etc ,I would look at every possible option and I am sure others will be able to help. If I was in this position after feeding the kids I would bend over everywhich way to use everypenny to pay the morgage and keep the home.
I dont know if this is possible for you but please read the advice others give you at least then if you cant keep the house you will know that you did look at all possible options, it is early days it is one missed payment you are a long way off reposession

MissKJ

Completemess is off-line, I hope she comes back when kids are in bed and we might be able to help.

missyp123

i agree too. we were the same and i understand that you just want it over and done with, often assumming selling or being reposessed is the only way.

we tryed to sell and im glad we didnt get any offers! we would have incurred allot more debt and still would have the large loan we had with our together mtg.
with the help of this site and debt advice line we still have our house with a new mtg deal fixed for 5yrs.
we stopped paying our debtors 6 months ago, but continued to pay token payments. Yes they will persue us and we have jsut had ccj claim forms from nrock, we are aware they will prob put a charging order on the house but we are prepared for that.
at least we are back to living again without trying to earn extra money out of thin air and then worrying about food etc.

you do need to call a free advice line and posting your soa will allow people to offer lots of advice.

good luck and keep us posted :T

completemess

Thank you for your kind responses. I did go off on a tangent earlier - typing it out has made me feel better in a way.

Sorry I should have said in my post we have been liaising with the CCCS and they have gone through our outgoings and we have a deficit of -£221 just paying mortgage and essential bills. Our mortgage is for over £1000 per month, a similar property rented round here is around £700. Even if we manage to sell our home for what it has been valued at we'll still have a lot of debt because we bought at a bad time and have lost a lot of money & the money has been used to do the house up (it needed gutting) and the business :-(. If i'm honest the other part of the debt has been robbing Peter to pay Paul with credit cards to get by while we came to the end of our fixed rate term so we could remortgage from the subprime lender we are with and pay off our debts (bit naive with hindsight with the old credit crunch here now eh? - Cannot tell you how foolish I feel).

My husband has been speaking to Business Debtline too but some supplier bills/Inland Rev/vehicle HP etc he's personally liable for.

Think I will go to my doctor if things get any worse, today has been a particularly bad day because the estate agents sign has gone up, house is on Internet now and a guy came round to do the HIP report so it all feels a bit too real. I can't possibly see any way we can keep the house we love. My husband is lucky as he works to take his mind off it while i'm at home 24/7 worrying.

Sorry for the rant x

savingholmes

Hi - I experienced post natal depression after my children were born and that was without the financial pressures you are currently facing. In my view it can't do any harm to go and see the doctor - it might even help. You may be able to get more help from a health visitor or something like surestart. Even tho you say you have talked to CCCS and that's great - there may also be more advice available regarding your statement of affairs - which you can post using the website makesenseofcards. I haven't used CCCS but my impression is that they take your figures to some degree at face value whereas for good or bad the posters on here are a) a bit more challenging and b) can make practical suggestions concerning what's worked for them.

I've free up loads more money for debt repayment when I didn't think that was possible when I joined in July. We are all in the same boat here - and most of us are a friendly bunch and we report the ones that aren't !

Good luck, welcome and well done on everything you've done so far to try and resolve this!

completemess

Thank you I will definitely put my statement of affairs on here as soon as I get a minute.

I'm going to see my doctor too next week if I feel the same. I had an allergic reaction last week (never had one in my life i'm sure it's stress caused) it looked like I was covered in nettle rash and was incredibly itchy. Anyway my doctor put me on oral steroids to clear it up and since being on them i've felt worse than ever. This is listed as a side effect in the instruction leaflet - depression, etc. I finish them today. A chat with the hv is a good idea too thanks.

Am I wrong in thinking we've struggled and struggled for so long that bankruptcy is the only option with the level of debt we are in? The CCCS guy even said it is a possibility for us - we are going to lose our family home anyway whatever we do whether we sell it or face respossession.

I will put the soa on here as soon as I get a min, I know it must be hard for you to help me when you can't see the figures.

My other question; if we do what the CCCS say and not pay the mortgage and save up a rent deposit if we save say £650 a month so we'll hopefully have 6 months deposit plus our BR fees can we not get in trouble with the OR? My mum has said she'll be guarantor too. I enquired with a local letting agent and they said they would want 6 months due to our situation.

Thank you so much for all your help x

dancingfairy

Hi. It really is difficult to advise without seeing the figures but there may be other options. For example CCCS may allow you 250 a month to feed 4 (I don't know I am guessing here) whereas you might only spend 150 with careful shopping, etc, etc. You may find you can give up the car and use public transport.
What I am saying is - yes bankruptcy may be a solution but there may also be others so pop up your SOA and we'll see what we can do.
I mean you may be able to get family to look after kids and do an evening job or 2nd job etc as your shortfall is not copletely disatrous. Anyway SOA needed please and we'll take it from there.
Please try not to worry as there will be people around to help you through it all.
df x