Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

markw5

I have been contacted by a debt councillor (?) working on behalf of my landlord. She has asked me to put my landlords name on the utility bills of the flat I rent along with an entry on the electoral roll. This is to prove she lives here but I have been verbally assured that she only needs to do this due to the bankruptcy. I think she is also getting divorced. The councillor ("Debit Doctor?) told me that this is legal but I am afraid that we are being drawn into something that maybe on the very edge of legal (MP's expenses etc.) and may rebound on us in the future.
We have no debits etc but do not want to be blacklisted if, in the future, it is decided that we have deceived the court by allowing her name on these documents.
Any ideas if this is normal practice and is it legal.
Thanks

CCCS_Sarah

Angel1978 wrote: »

Cheers Sarah.

I'm just confused re a problem I have and i'm not sure what to do next. I've opened a thread on here I was hoping to get advice on.

Basically, a company was meant to be making me bankrupt on 5th may. The case has since been adjourned as the company didn't serve me with the papers. So although, I would quite like them to make me bankrupt now as it saves me the fees, they have to serve me to get it all moving again. Or will it go to court with a new hearing date whether they serve me or not?!! (I created a thread but i'm not allowed to post a link to it as i'm a new user )

I'm confused

Hi Angel,

Sorry it’s been a while getting back to you. Have you had other information from Lowell?

Sarah

StepChange_Private_Messages

babyfoxy wrote: »

Hi
I wonder if you can help. i have debts of around 30k consisting of 19k negative equity and 11k personal loan. Both these transferred to me when my expartner went bankrupt. I also have credit card debts of1.5k and a CCJ for £1k for coucil tax on former home(see N.E above) Havent informed any of the cos of my new address so havent heard anything from them for a couple of years which is very strange.
I have 3 children ,7 - eldest of who, is reg disabled. i am her carer.
We are in receipt of the following benefits
DLA,Carers allowance,Tax credits,Housing Benefit & CTB
Now also finally receive maintenance via CSA. Have received a huge chunk of arrears
My question is - if i go bankrupt to get rid of the NE can the OR take part of the CSA child maintenance ?? ANd can he seize the 3k i currently have recd in arrears? i wanted to pay this into 3 neaccounts for the girls to be held by my Dad(dont trust myself!!)
I have no other assets
CAB advised to just ignore it as the mortage co arent chasing - but Ive done that for 3 years now & cant stick my head in the sand any more
Please clarify for me as its making me sick with worry about what to do next
Thanks

Hi babyfoxy,

I am really sorry about the delay I have had to refer your query to the Insolvency Service and this was their response:

Where a bankrupt receives arrears of child maintenance prior to discharge or whilst currently subject to an IPA/IPO, they do not automatically vest in the trustee, but they should be treated as part of the bankrupt’s income and should be included in any calculation for an IPA/IPO. The CSA payments are additional income to the parent to meet the maintenance costs of any child/children (including food and shelter), the costs of which will be included in the bankrupt’s household expenses. It is possible to claim the lump sum as a ‘single payment’ IPA/IPO but consideration needs to be given to the reasonable domestic needs of the bankrupt and his/her family

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Matthew

mPazzer wrote: »

Been waiting for what seems like ages to get an answer back from RBoS about a hardship case for Bank Charges refund. I sent them a income/outgoings statement AND a copy of my bankruptcy petition which I thought would mean I was automatically covered as a hardship case(?)

I have got my dates mixed up, thinking that my hearing was this Thursday (14th) when it was last Thursday so I am now Bankrupt! so didnt ask for an adjournment.

Since then I have received a letter from the RBoS to say that they have accepted my case and an offer will be coming out in the post soon, and if I accept then will be credited to my bank account held with them. As the amount I was claiming was £8,100, I was hoping that this would maybe stop - if not at least post-pone the BR.

I am £2.5k OD with RBoS on that account so assumed that any offer would have been less this amount, but now the BR has been judged on, does this mean that once depositted into the bank account (they haven't given me a settlement figure yet) that any of the remaining award will have to be assigned to the trustee also?

Hi there Pazzer,

Sorry to take so long to get back to you, we've been a bit snowed under with all the requests recently so we're trying our best to catch up!

If you've gone BR and then recieve a sum of money through a refund of bank charges it will need to be notified with the trustee or your OR, and the money is likely to be shared between your creditors.

I'm guessing you had hoped to recieve your charges back before going BR, in order to avoid having to go down the route of BR, but the fact you've gone BR now anyway shouldn't really matter.

Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

mPazzer wrote: »

Here's something I don't quite get - am I being naive? It was the HMRC that petitioned for my bankruptcy - not me - and it went through on Thursday last week (as I previously mentioned I got the wrong date), but since then, I have not heard anything off anybody "official". It was only a lmailshot that I received from a company marketing it's services to BR's that alerted me the fact it happened last week (i cdhecked the register).

I have my jobseekers allowance paid into one of my accounts and have made a couple of debit card payments as recent as yesterday. I dont want to get into even more trouble, so do I have to make alternative arrangements NOW, even though I have not heard from the OR?

Just caught your second post.

I'm assuming that as you were made BR, that you didn't go the the BR hearing? This is when you would normally speak to the OR after you've seen the judge. With this in mind, you'll probably hear from the OR over the phone within a week or so. Having said that, with your post being a few days old you may have already heard by now...

Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

kduffy101 wrote: »

hi,im thing of going br,
i owe £15000 loans,£19000 credit cards+i might not be able to make my mortgage payment of £635 next month.
most of the credit card debt came from doing balance transfers to bank account to get cash to pay bills etc.
will they question me about my spending????
thanks

Hi there.

If you've been using credit to support your living costs, this isn't generally considered an issue by most OR's. It's when you've borrowed money deliberately knowing you weren't going to attempt to pay it back, or where you've gambled it away. In these cases you are likely to get a restriction order.

I would suggest that once you've made the decision to go to bankrupt you must stop using all forms of credit. If you were to still continue to use credit right up until your bankruptcy the OR may not look at this too kindly. The only exception really is if you've used credit to pay for the fee. Whilst we woul advise to try and avoid doing this if possible, feedback suggests that the OR doesn't consider this to be too much of an issue.

Hope this helps.
Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

olderandwiser64 wrote: »

Hi. My OH is going BR soon and has a car worth £250 and a motorbike worth about £2500.
He uses the bike to go to work and the car to go on fire calls and to collect his daughter from school etc.

He has been advised to transfer the ownership of the bike, ie sign it over to me prior to his BR.

Is this allowed?

Just to be clear he is a part time fire man on call when he is not at his primary employment. He often gets called in the middle of the night and has to be at the station within 4 mins. Not possible to get into bike gear, go to the garage where it is parked away from the house and get to station in 4 mins

I would avoid doing this at all costs. By signing over goods prior to BR it can be considered as disposal of goods. The OR would still be able to make a claim on those assets if it's seen that they've changed ownership prior to this and he could end up with a hefty BR restriction order.

Realistically, 2 vehicles is classed as a luxery so he would probably be able to keep the lowest value vehicle but the bike is likely to be taken, particularly as he could still use the car to get to work.

Reading your second post, he really needs to seek impatial advice rather than going to a commercial company. It costs £510 to go bankrupt so I've got no idea how they can justify the rest of the cost. If he wants to discuss bankrupcy he's more than welcome to book a telephone appointment with one of our counsellors on 0800 138 1111.

Alternatively, he could try using our online debt advice facility called Debt Remedy. Debt Remedy would assist him in completing a financial statement and you would be provided with tailored advice on the best way to deal with his situation. Click here to go directly to Debt Remedy.

Hope this helps,
Matthew

scorpiocat

I am a discharged bankrupt, (went BR in mid 2005) and a year over the point when I no longer have to let anyone know about any changes in income. I believe it may still be a while before I can get a debit card in the general run of things.

However, within the next few weeks I am due to inherit a reasonable amount of money from the estate of my mother. While I wish to invest a large portion of it, I will need to be able to access the rest of the money for general expenditure. Is there any bank likely to give me at least a debit card if I bank with them? If this is unlikely, or even impossible, would I be able to be put as a secondary card holder on an account in my partner's name? I'm not trying to be deceptive, or commit any kind of fraud, just want to be able to access what is or will be mine.

Hope you can give me some ideas on this. Also hope I've managed to post this query in the right way/place. Please accept my apologies if I've done it wrong.

Thanks.

David_Is_Right

Hi there,

Firstly, this is a great service that appears to be really helping people, so well done to all involved.

I'm hoping someone may be able to answer a quick question for me, please?

I am looking to go bankrupt in the next few weeks due to business debts. In the meantime I have got another job, which pays £24,000 a year. My question is, will a restriction be placed on this salary? If so, is there any way to avoid this?

I am living with my partner (unmarried without children) and renting a one bedroom flat. At present, she is unemployed but not claiming benefits.

Thank you very much in advance,

David

spacealiens

Hello,
I am thinking of declaring bankruptcy this thursday, I have filled in the forms and am ready but unsure. Some quick questions and answers might clear things up for me as i don't want to make the wrong decision. Very briefly, i live in France now, i rent a small flat as i share custody of a young child. I moved here permanently in March when i was made redundant but am still out of work. When i do secure some work it will be the minimum wage and will just manage to live.
My debt in UK is roughly 16000, all to one bank, split between an overdraft, a loan and a credit card. My questions are:
1/ do i need to give details in the form of my French bank account, i have no card or cheque book, its purely used to pay rent and bills, i am very worried that things could get messed up for me.
2/ Is it worth phoning my UK bank and telling them that i am on the brink of bankruptcy and trying to sort something out, like a one off payment (£500)? or should i not tell them anything at all, because i would have thought they would be happier to receive the costs of £500 rather than me go bankrupt and get nothing at all.
3/ I did take out about £1500 since losing my job on my credit card, just for general living expenses, is this ok?

any advice much appreciated