Going BR on wed 19 nov

stresspuppy

well as the title states my OH and i have decided after 2 years of struggling to pay off debts to go BR and that happens on the above date.

Heres a little history about us.
My wife has been registered disabled since she was 21 with severe artheritis and more recently has had two hip replacements and been diagnosed with oestio perosis she is now nearly 50. We were married 15 years ago and i have always been employed, our debt problems started about two years ago when we needed to modernise our home. We origionally had a small mortgage through west bromwich mortgage company and decided to remortgage to the value of £65k not a huge ammount by anyones standards but the extra cash was needed to give us a modern kitchen, bathroom and central heating system.The money we had coming in from wages and my wifes benefits easily payed for the increase in our mortgage, then something went wrong, i wanted a new car, so i bought one on finance, my wife wanted a new car so i took out a secured loan from halifax for £20k that bought her a new car and we had a fantastic holiday in the maldives for our tenth wedding aniversarry.
We stupidly took out credit cards with halifax, and my wife has two catalogue accounts with littlewoods, needless to say we got careless and ramped the cards and the catalogue to the max., mainly on holidays and further car purchase for my daughter when she passed her test as well as insurance and tax, before we new it we had amased debts of £115k and starting to struggle to pay the minimum payments.
We realised that we had to do something to eliviate the problem and took the decision to sell our home last year and move into a council property, the capital we raised from the sale of our home was enough to pay off the secured debt but not the credit cards or the catalogues. The stresses and strains started to take their toll and i had a breakdown in may of this year leading me to lose my job hense now not having enough cash to pay the minimum payments and only having my wifes benefits to live off paying for the essentials i.e rent, council tax, heating, food.
On a brighter note i have now gained employment elsewhere albeit for not much more than minimum wage, so our financial situation remains the same unsecured debts of £30k with no hope of paying the minimum amounts being asked for currently £650.00 per month.
We approached citizens advise giving them all the information, earnings, debts and asked what to do, they suggested going BR a big decision and not one to be taken lightly, unfortunately it seems to only way forward.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
best regards
stresspuppy

dalip

Well done on facing your to your problem. First off i would suggest you contact the 2 debt charities whoose numbers are in my sig and see what they reccomend. If their answer is the same as cab then come back and ask as many questions as you can think of.Dx

So_Sad_Angel

Hi SP,

Welcome & a big pat on the back for posting & deciding to tackle the reamaining debt. The last thing you need is this stress when you have both your health issues.
You have sold your house to help the situation but it is often when an unexpected event such as your breakdown that will make the issue untenable.
As D says...get onto CCCS and/or Nat Debtline....I`d always recommend a 2nd opinion...having said that I have a lot of faith in CAB & they are so supportive. So ask as many questions here as you need & get the knowledge so that you can make an informed decision.

BR can be daunting & it is definately life changing but also its last resort . Sounds like you are realising that anyway.

So keep posting,

Angexx

LOUISE22_2

Hello I am also going BK on the 19th, fingers crossed for you xx

stresspuppy

Many thanks for your replys.

As i stated in my previous thread we have already got the appointment with the court to hear our BK petition on the 19th, believe me we have not taken this decision lightly, and firmly believe that this is a last resort to relieve our current financial predicament. If there were any other way i would take it or at least seriously consider it, but i cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear, the min payments remain the same but the income has taken a serious battering and after reveiwing my soa i have only £40 left as disposable income no where near the £650.00 my creditors require.

After reading much information on this board over the last couple of months, we firmly believe that this is our lifeline, and a chance to start afresh, albeit the feelings of guilt, depresion, and shame will live on longer i feel.

Still we have eachother, and in the end thats all that really matters.
regards
stresspuppy

dalip

oK . Sorry thought you were asking for advice:o . Can i ask what sort of time scale were the holiday/cars and how was it paid for? You may get some awkward questions from the OR if it was in the last 2 years(maybe longer depends on OR),but that is just one of those things that come with bc i am afraid.Dx

stresspuppy

Hi dalip,
The holidays were inbetween the years 2003-2006 and were mainly paid for on the credit cards, and my daughters car was bought in the july of 2005 again on the credit card.

fiveyearplan

Hi stresspuppy and welcome to the forum. Congratulations for starting to take control over your debt. Life's too short and health is far more important than the debt.

cazjenki

Good luck at court, try not to worry about it though, everything will be ok.

dalip

Oh good you should be fine then as most OR's only ask for 12 mths statements. Good luck with it all. Anything you are unsure about fire away.Dx

DesperateDanny

Stressypuppy I went BR on 20/10 with not as much debt as you but enough, the Judge simply asked me if I seeked advice, even though I told a few porkies because I never just through viewing this forum and another plus through the help of a friend who has already done the deed.

It's the easiest thing i've ever done but in between Court and OR interview I lost my job. The OR was very understandful, helpful even by suggesting I'd need my car to actively seek employment.

I too have found new employment and start on Tuesday, not the best of hours and again just over the minimum wage but one other difference...

I now have no creditors to pay, no worries about someone knocking on the dorr or snotty letters, just throw them in the bin with a smile on my face. Really is as simple as that.

One of the most daunting things for people is the local paper as well but the only person to actually say anything to me was one person who asked advice.

I'm not trying to persuade you to do it but simply give you advice. Anyway, all the best for you and your wife and stop worrying, smile