Another "reason for bankruptcy" thread - your thoughts on this please?

sieve

Hello all,

I've just finished writing my epitaph of how I got myself into this situation and have posted it below. I'd be grateful to hear your thoughts - too much info, not enough, just right, etc etc.

Thanks a lot!

S

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Back in 2005, I was working a full time job which was paying a good salary so I sold my flat and bought a house. The purchase price was £140,000 and my mortgage at the time was £118,000, as I had made a profit on my previous property so had a reasonable deposit. At the time I was meeting my commitments and this continued for a good couple of years. Unfortunately what I stupidly didn't realise was that although I was making minimum payments on my credit cards, the balance wasn't actually going down at anything near a reasonable rate so I continued to think that by spending my salary on bills and commitments and topping things up with credit cards, things would be alright.

By 2006 I had been working in my role for about six years and I decided it was time to move on. During my time at that company (about 2 years prior to my actual leaving date) I had come to the conclusion that I wanted to try and start my own company, so I began to build up my contacts and then decided to take the step of leaving my paid work and going full time. At the time I had enough credit available to keep me going for a couple of months if things did not take off as I had hoped for. In hindsight that 'credit' should have been 'savings' but I was quite desperate to move on by that point so I thought it would be a good idea to do so.

Business was slow to start and after having only a negligable income from the two clients I had at the time as well as the increased costs of starting the business, paying for marketing materials, advertising, travelling to visit new clients and such, I had quite a sizeable amount of debt. By the time January 2007 came, my debt was in the region of £30,000, so I remortgaged my house up to a new value of around £170,000. After fees and early redemption penalties, this freed up approximately £33,000 which I used to settle my outstanding credit card debt and my only bank loan.

At this point I should have realised the seriousness of the situation however very quickly after that point, business picked up quickly so I became distracted and was under the false illusion that I could continue spending as before. In July 2007 I took on an employee for around four months when there was lots of work to do - again in hindsight, it was not a good decision, and cost me around £5,000. As I again failed to modify my spending and lifestyle habits to accommodate the extra expense, debt again started to mount. Again, I was able to meet payments for a good year or so, so continued as before. As I had been bailed out by the equity in my property before, I thought "it's okay, I will shortly be able to remortgage so I can clear this off, and then I will have to concentrate on being sensible with my money as I can't keep going on like this".

However my property then started falling in value and a few months ago, it fell into quite significant negative equity. Realising my situation, and realising that my property's value would have to increase by about £25,000 before I would even be able to pay off my mortgage by selling, my situation dawned on me. I continued to pay my liabilities but as cashflow got much tighter and I had to write off a few thousand pounds in debt owed to me by clients who had gone bankrupt, things got harder and harder to pay. I fell behind on my credit cards, loan, overdraft and VAT payments, and the money I had banked on using to pay my tax bill when it became due simply wasn't there any more. I rang HMRC to negotiate a payment plan but quickly realised that even though they were generous with what they allowed me to do (split it over 10 months), it was still an unaffordable amount.

So that afternoon I sat down and added up what I owed and came to the shocking realisation that including the HMRC debt, it was almost £50,000. So I called the Business Debt Line and Payplan who advised me on my options. With the surplus income they worked out I have around £60 per month, and they calculated that even if all my creditors froze all my interest, it would take nearly 70 years to pay it off, and an IVA was not an option as my surplus isn't high enough. This, coupled with the fact that my biggest creditor is HMRC, made them suggest bankruptcy as my only realistic option, and this is why I am filing for it.

nervousmother

Sounds good. All the facts given. Doubt they will have anything to say.



good luck

sieve

Thanks very much NM. Hopefully it will demonstrate that I realise that most of it is my fault too...

natalouie

Hello again, It is really well written, however as I type these things for a living I would advise making it far more condensed. Keep to key facts, the judge does not have time to read all the detail I am afraid. We all have this feeling that if we can make him understand us it will be ok. Stick to Basic Facts, bad advice you were given, ways you tried to get help, Just include one heart felt but compact sentance re regret, error of your ways. The BR petitions I type rarely go on to the continuance sheet if they do I am normally asked to edit them. So use this as a guide for how many words. I would be happy to format it for you if you like, you would not have to use it if you prefer yours but I can show you how I would present your history if I was working on it. Just trying to help really... well done for getting so far.

sieve

Thanks Natalouie, if you have absolutely nothing better to do I would appreciate your suggestions on how to cut it down or rewrite it but please don't go out of your way to edit it just for my sake!

Many thanks,

S

natalouie

This is how I present them:
My name is xxxx and I live at xxxfull addressxxx I am employed/unemployed as a XXX for xxx since xxx. I am single/married etc to XXXX. We have xxx children who live with us/live elsewhereXXX. I have £??? of secured/unsecured debt. My problems began in ???year when XXbrief discriptionxxx such as My husband lost his job/sickness/bad advice to consolidate from bank/caught up in credit spiral/ neg equity. Then add effects on your life, stress, illness, divorce( hope not). Then any advice or attempts to rectify the situation you have tried summing up that after taking advice BR reluctantly is your only option.
Not sure technically how to edit your History as I am Computer idiot :rotfl: but if any one knows how would be happy to try.
natalouie

sieve

Thanks Natalouie, looks like I have a lot of re-jigging to do!

dalip

Nat go to sieves thread starter and click on the quote box, you can then edit/add to it,then post.Dx

natalouie

I am sure it was quite therapeutic to write it all out like that though, you can forgive yourself now and either set fire to it or tie it to a balloon and let it go. The key to getting over this is forgiving yourself and moving on.
Here's to a new life :j
natalouie

natalouie

Thanks Dalip! Someone with a computer brain :T Will do this if Seive get hung up on the jigging!
natalouie

dalip

natalouie wrote: »

Thanks Dalip! Someone with a computer brain no just been on this forum too long:o :T Will do this if Seive get hung up on the jigging!
natalouie

Have to say i think your offer to help was a very nice gesture.Dx