My SOA statement and a last question about fees

Apolonation

Thankyou for your replies over the past few days, this wouldn't have been possible without all your input. I have just spent the past few hours typing up the statement on the form for Cause of Bankruptcy, and wondered if you could tell me if it reads ok - or if theres anything you think It would be a good idea for me to add/edit/change.

Also I have just spoken to the court and arranged to present my SOA - I was told that my job seeker allowance needs to be 'income based' to qualify for automatic fee exemption... mine is 'contribution based' - because I was previously working... does anyone know if I can still qualify for the court fee waiver with this?

Thanks again, here's my statement: -

• My troubles started at 18 when I took a small loan out to start a business, I was told I could take more than I originally requested from the bank and it seemed like a good idea at the time. The business never took off in fact it never made one sale and I soon found myself unable to keep up with the loan repayments, I took a small credit card out to help but this obviously just made matters worse. By the time I had £200 of debt on the credit card, both the card and loan had been passed to debt agencies as I was unable to keep up with repayments on either. Because of this I delayed going to University for a year, opting for a ‘gap year’ and took a job in a local retail chain to try to pay off some of this debt, I could barely afford my living expenses however, and the situation continued to get worse.
• After my ‘gap year’ had passed I thought if I could somehow get through University I would be able to secure a better job and better salary and get this debt cleared – I was very mistaken but did not know this at the time.
• When I went to University after I had worked for a year, I was now trying to make payments to the debt collectors, and also trying to pay for clothing, books, and the other essential costs you would associate with University. I made the mistake of accepting an offer for a YYYY card shortly after starting University. The YYYY card came with a free popcorn maker as a promotion at the University. I never intended to use it (I was very naïve at the time) and soon found myself using it for small items, clothing and books, the debt on this card soon mounted. It was about 6 months later that things really started to spiral as I found my student loan barely provided enough for me to live on and by now I had managed to accrue about £600 of debt on the YYYY together with increasing debts for not being able to afford my living accommodation at University.
• I found it increasingly difficult to make payments to the University for accommodation, I did for a brief period work while at University but with the hours my course demanded found myself on the risk of failing certain key modules in the first year due to poor performance so had to leave the job to focus on my studies as the year progressed.
• A year into the degree things had got completely out of hand, I owed money to the University for accommodation, I owed money for the original loan I took out all those years ago and I owed money to both credit cards. I had no means of paying any of them. Despite passing the first year I just had no way of paying for myself any longer so had to leave University a couple of months into the second year, and get a job in an attempt to pay some of the greatly increased debt.
• The job which I had until about two months ago did not leave me enough money after living expenses to make any dents into the mass of debts I had now accumulated. I did try to make some token payments to the companies that I owed money to – but none of this did anything to remove any of the debt and with their costs and interest the debts just kept rising.
• I tried during the last year or so to get some control by using pay day loan companies (which I realise now could not have been a worse idea), but soon found I was paying about 10% of my salary every month in fees, I then found I had to borrow from them the next month just to get the money back I had just paid them, this vicious cycle went on until the cheques came on top and my bank paid them on my behalf as there was not enough money in my account to do so. This gave me an unofficial overdraft of about £1500, plus an enormous amount of fees. I could not pay this so my account was closed, and moved to a debt collection agency. The total of this debt alone now is just over £3000.
• This terrible cycle of debt has been with me for as long as I can remember, I have tried for the last nine years to get a grip on this debt but it is impossible for me to do so. I am 27 and until I learnt about bankruptcy recently was convinced there was no way out of this terrible situation and I would be unable to meet my outgoings for the rest of my life. To compound the situation I recently lost my job so am now unemployed.
• I have no means of making any payments currently and when I do get back to work – there will still be no way for me to make any significant dent into what has now spiraled into over twelve thousands pounds worth of debt.
• I hope that the bankruptcy will allow me to move on with my life, free from the paranoia and constant worry of not being able to make any inroads into the cycle of debt I fell into almost nine years ago which I very sadly now have no hope of ever being able to repay.

imcognito

HIya

Its long!! But detailed. Personally on my statement as to Why I got into debt it was maybe one paragraph. Short version yes but Im not sure they wanted my tale of woe and my stupidity..

Maybe soemone else will have ideas? Im not much help really sorry!

sandywindsor

Hi Ap,
i must admit mine was a bit shorter!!But each to their own!!!!
I claimed for the £150 on the day,I receive contribution based JSA,just took in last 3 months bank statements to show no savings and proof of JSA. I had to complete a form detailing my income and amount of savings:p
the clerk copied these and I only had to pay the £345.

I rang the court in advance and this was the info given above!!!

Sandy
X

Apolonation

oh thanks to you both i'll try to shorten it!

and thanks for that advice about getting your fees waived, I'll get back on to them nearer the time and ask about my contribution based JSA.

Thankyou !

dalip

If this helps at all.I did a short version for my SOA,after all the box is small:D .
Then sent a 2 page explantion to the OR with all my bank statements ect. I get very tongue tied on the phone and felt i could give a better explanation on paper. May be you might like to do that.Dx

fiveyearplan

Mine was simply a paragraph or two. I would definitely shorten it but I'm sure it was theraputic for you to put it all down like that.