Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

Always-a-rain-cloud-above

Hello there

I'm new to these forums and I'll just explain our situation.... I am married and have £10k debt and my husband has £15k (so in total we have £25k) We have been with a debt management company for 2 years (William Goldberg ltd) and were paying £365 a month to them each month until my husband was made redundant over 6 months ago! We then reduced our payment to £100 a month. Obviously this has meant that we have hardly paid of anything and our balance is still way over £20k. My husband is now self employed due to having no luck finding a job but at present hasnt earnt anything in the month hes been self employed...basically I think we have no option other than bankruptcy but he wont even consider it saying we'll lose everything! the only asset we have is the car worth approx £1800. We are in a rented house and we do have basic furnishings but what exactly would they take from us? We have 2 children 8 and 2 . Help! I keep hearing rumours like 'they even take the blender' ..how true is this? What would they take...I dont want them taking my sons toys for example thank you in advance
L x

fermi

Always-a-rain-cloud-above wrote: »

Help! I keep hearing rumours like 'they even take the blender' ..how true is this?

Rumours like that are utter and complete bollox.

They won't take your furniture, kids toys, domestic items. In fact no-one will come round to look at anything.

The only things that they might consider are brand new luxury items (plasma TV's etc), expensive antiques, that sort of thing. Basically stuff that would make lot and lots at auction. In other words, for 99% of people, absolutely nothing.

If you can show that the car is essential rather than just convenient for employment etc or domestic needs, then that would most likely be safe as well.

Please talk to one of the free advice agencies in my signature to go over your options.

Starting you own on the main board might also be a goo idea.

debtinfo

Hi, first rule never ever listen to hearsay and what people in the pub say, it is generally a load of rubbish

secondly, give one of the debt charities a ring CCCS, National Debtline and CAB all give good advice for free. The general options you may have are bankruptcy, Debt Relief Orders and IVA's, make sure you understand them all before you make a choice.

on to your questions about bankruptcy. They will not take any normal reasonable household goods, usually items with a resale value of £1000 or less would be considered reasonable so unless you have antiques or a picasso on the wall then you shpuld be safe.

Cars are alittle more complicated. Generally if a car is worth less than £2,000 and you can show that you need (not merely want) the car for employment or basic domestic need then you will be allowed to keep it

CCCS_Sarah

Always-a-rain-cloud-above wrote: »

Hello there

I'm new to these forums and I'll just explain our situation.... I am married and have £10k debt and my husband has £15k (so in total we have £25k) We have been with a debt management company for 2 years (William Goldberg ltd) and were paying £365 a month to them each month until my husband was made redundant over 6 months ago! We then reduced our payment to £100 a month. Obviously this has meant that we have hardly paid of anything and our balance is still way over £20k. My husband is now self employed due to having no luck finding a job but at present hasnt earnt anything in the month hes been self employed...basically I think we have no option other than bankruptcy but he wont even consider it saying we'll lose everything! the only asset we have is the car worth approx £1800. We are in a rented house and we do have basic furnishings but what exactly would they take from us? We have 2 children 8 and 2 . Help! I keep hearing rumours like 'they even take the blender' ..how true is this? What would they take...I dont want them taking my sons toys for example thank you in advance
L x

Hello,

I would recommend that you have an appointment with the CCCS so we can have a look and see what your options are. If Bankruptcy is an option we would be able to talk through this in detail for you. There maybe other more suited options but these will all be looked into for you.

If you would like an appointment, please call 0800 138 1111.

Sarah

Sue1610

I was dreading it when we went bankrupt but we decided enough was enough when we had some arrogant bailiffs round, i was so upset i could have just drove my car straight through him, but anyway thats another story, he made the decision really for me cos i felt i could have walked away from my kids and family at that point. My husband and I had had a joint Business some debts occured through some companies ripping us off and we didnt believe we owed what they said our total debts totalled approx 27,000 my husband was out of work and i had given up due to back injuries. We pondered for hours and hours and thinking what a nightmare to go bankrupt I scoured the net looked at all the solutions. We rented our house, My BMW was on lease from BMW so that was going back anyway ( i know now my business failed because my staff were dippin into my tills and my stock was going through my back door - hey -ho A lesson learnt shall we say now ) My husband only had an old T reg vectra worth about 700 quid. So we decided Bankruptcy was the only option - On downloading all the forms and filling absolutely everything in as i have always done paperwork we went along to the court on the date we had made the appointment to find the downloaded forms were incorrect

---

nightmare i thought - The court stafff are absolutely brilliant ( well nottingham are ) they gave us the right forms and said if you can get them filled in 30mins we can still do it - Luckily i had all the information on the other forms - so do fill as much information as possible. We passed them over went for a coffee while they were passed to the judge - Came back into the office and that was it - Granted DECLARED BANKRUPT - yes some peopel were in tears but i did console one lady and say its not that bad as i believe we all think we are alone in the situation. We did however get constant letters from debt companies who have tried selling the debts over I simply wrote Delared bankrupt and returned them - if they continued i would send a letter saying it is illegal for you to contact me as i am declared bankrupt and if you continue i will report you to the OR ( Official Reciever ). OK yes it makes it harder for credit afterwards but at least you have a clean slate. I am glad i made the decision. I mean if Alan Sugar can be bankrupt 3 times once isnt gonna hurt is it ????? Good luck to you -

leanne6539

Hello there, i am hoping you will be able to give me some advice. Im in a joint IVA with my now ex partner and am living in the house we have a joint mortgage on with my three year old. I have advised the IVA company of the separation and i must say they have been very understanding, we have kept it in joint names and submitted an I&E to reflect the fact we are living apart. Recently the amicable split has turned nasty and he is telling me he wants everything split and is cutting down on the money he was providing for my daughter (he was paying £50 per week). I am now going to have to go back to the IVA company and advice this which i am not very happy about as i have done all the paperwork for the review and will no doubt have to do more work. I wont go on about how i have two jobs and he gets to go out drinking three times a week - but i am concerned about the house which i want to keep and the mortgage. He did agree that I could keep the house but i have not had this formalised by taking his name off the mortgage - will i be able to do that as my credit rating is obviously shot with being in the IVA?? I just want this sorted incase this nastyness continues and he tries to make me move out. Also, would i be able to keep the house if i were to go bankrupt? There is no equity in the property. Greatful for any advice please!!

Dicanio3

We have been in a IVA since December 2008, myself and my wife. Total debt £53,743. I am starting to realise that an IVA was probably not the best option for us. We do not own our own home, I drive a company car, my wife's car has very little value, we have no other assets.

Is it too late to do anything about my situation?

My parents have a policy maturing in September and have offered to give us £10,000 to make a F&F settelment. In September we will have 38 payments left (£18151), so don't think this is enough to satisfy creditors.

I am seriously considering Bankruptcy as an alternative. Which is the best option for my creditors/ IP, taking my parents £10,000 or Bankruptcy for myself and my wife? I would prefer to offer the £10,000 and settle things very soon but am prepared to take the Bankruptcy option.

shinobi101

I work for a large (FTSE100) Public Limited Company. I have read that an undischarged bankrupt cannot be a director of a limited company.

Question is if I were to be promoted from engineer to manager would bankruptcy be a problem? (it would be the bottom level of management for a least a few years)

debtinfo

That would be fine (providing of course that they dont have any internal rules)

CCCS_Sue

Sue1610 wrote: »

I was dreading it when we went bankrupt but we decided enough was enough when we had some arrogant bailiffs round, i was so upset i could have just drove my car straight through him, but anyway thats another story, he made the decision really for me cos i felt i could have walked away from my kids and family at that point. My husband and I had had a joint Business some debts occured through some companies ripping us off and we didnt believe we owed what they said our total debts totalled approx 27,000 my husband was out of work and i had given up due to back injuries. We pondered for hours and hours and thinking what a nightmare to go bankrupt I scoured the net looked at all the solutions. We rented our house, My BMW was on lease from BMW so that was going back anyway ( i know now my business failed because my staff were dippin into my tills and my stock was going through my back door - hey -ho A lesson learnt shall we say now ) My husband only had an old T reg vectra worth about 700 quid. So we decided Bankruptcy was the only option - On downloading all the forms and filling absolutely everything in as i have always done paperwork we went along to the court on the date we had made the appointment to find the downloaded forms were incorrect

---

nightmare i thought - The court stafff are absolutely brilliant ( well nottingham are ) they gave us the right forms and said if you can get them filled in 30mins we can still do it - Luckily i had all the information on the other forms - so do fill as much information as possible. We passed them over went for a coffee while they were passed to the judge - Came back into the office and that was it - Granted DECLARED BANKRUPT - yes some peopel were in tears but i did console one lady and say its not that bad as i believe we all think we are alone in the situation. We did however get constant letters from debt companies who have tried selling the debts over I simply wrote Delared bankrupt and returned them - if they continued i would send a letter saying it is illegal for you to contact me as i am declared bankrupt and if you continue i will report you to the OR ( Official Reciever ). OK yes it makes it harder for credit afterwards but at least you have a clean slate. I am glad i made the decision. I mean if Alan Sugar can be bankrupt 3 times once isnt gonna hurt is it ????? Good luck to you -

Hi Sue1610

Thank you for your message and your feedback about your experience of bankruptcy.
I am sure this will help people who are currently struggling with crippling debts but cannot make their minds up whether to take the plunge and go bankrupt.
So many people are in this situation, and there is still the old stigma about going bankrupt.

Obviously, bankruptcy is not the best option for everyone, especially if there are assets such as property or investments.
If anyone wants further advice on going bankrupt and would like to discuss their options with one of our debt counsellors, then our free helpline number is 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sue