Do we both need to go BR??

garyj123

Hi all, i am going to go bankrupt as soon as i have saved up enough money.At the minute i am back at my parents and my wife and kids at her parents as we cant afford the mortgage anymore so i am going to do a voluntry repo. I have been told to send the keys back to the building society but not sign the form which they provide. Do i give them my parents address where i am now???
ANother thing is all the debt is in my name, a loan and 3 credit cards totalling about 28k.
When i go bankrupt what happens with the house/mortgage?? This is in joint names so what happens if i only go bankrupt? does my wife have to go br also?
Any help would be appreciated as i am going to start filling in the forms online soon.
Thanks in advance
Gary

nervousmother

Your wife may or may not need to go BR, She is not responsible for your debts but the fact the mortgage is in both your names could be a problem. How much is the house worth? is it in negative equity?
If there is equity in the house and once it has sold reaches a good sale price with nothing owing your wife will not need to go BR
If it is negative equity and you go BR your wife will become responsilbe to pay the shortfall to the mortgage company

It is worth bearing in mind even if you feel its got equity in it now (say even 5k) that would be eaten up with the fees involved in the repo and estate agents fees, It is likely they would sell the place cheap to get it off their hands. The whole time they have the property they add fees onto the amount you owe. There is a good chance your wife would go BR if it took a year to sell.

You would need to put down your parents address as the one you are living at on your BR forms.

skylight

You will need to put down the new address on your BR forms, but do not have to tell the mortgage company.

Your wife will be liable for any debt that arises from any shortfall with regards to the property. The mortgage company would chase her quite agressively for the money - for the outstanding debts until the repo and the shortfall thereafter. She may need to go BR after all is done if you are unable to cover this amount.

As she has no debt now, she cannot go BR now. She would have to wait until the property has been repo'ed and there is a debt to pay (if BR is the route she wants to take). Is everything in your name? Including joint bank accounts etc??

garyj123

Yes everything is in my name. Bank accounts and mortgage is joint names. If I don't forward my new address or the address where my wife is staying how would the mortgage company chase her down for any remaining debt?

skylight

They will find her eventually. Collection companies use tracing companies if necessary and although their methods can be a bit unorthodox, they will find her. After all, it is difficult to drop off the planet (so to speak) for any real period of time. If the debt is written off, they won't bother.

Its far better for her to go BR if she is unable to pay the shortfall and get it over and done with, than get the hassle from these people. They will find you through electoral rolls, any accounts you want to open will place your current address on your credit file that they can check at any time and so on.

garyj123

Many thanks for all the advice. Will start filling in the forms online and no doubt will be back here as I am bound to get stuck somewhere on the forms. I hate filling forms in!