Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

sulan

sulan wrote: »

Yesterday, after 12mths of burying my head in the sand, I called a debt helpline... they looked at my debts over £20,000 and pushed for bankruptcy, which i expected, and after an hour and a half on the phone came the biggy... £600 to go bankrupt (yes i expected that) and their charges came to £1,500... I fell silent and felt all the blood drain from my body... Its ok he said you can pay in installments for 6 mths and then go bankrupt... to be honest I cant remember much after that, im still shaking, and remembered Martins website and came right here... please, please help, its taken great courage to even face what mess ive gotten into and i truly want to live again.... thank you

I have just rang the CCCS helpline, they were fantastic, yes its bankruptcy for me but at least i know what to do now... and if you ring a debt line and they want a £1000 to help you, they are making money out of your misery, which is totally unacceptable! thank you all again, many thanks :T

Mackie211

Good Afternoon ,

I am trying to help out a friend of my partners and need a bit of advice ...

She has debts totalling £14,000 to various companies, largest being Lloyds which totals 6k, the next largest being Natwest which is £1205, the rest are all sub £500

She can no longer afford the payments she has been paying to debt line and is at the end of her tether.

I was wondering if it would be worth me sending a letter to the companies she owes money to offer a full and final settlement amount of 10 - 15% of the debt owed ?

Her only other option os going bankrupt and in that case surely the creditor receives nothing ?

I am prepared to lend her the money to pay them off if i can come to some arrangement with her creditors where she only pays 10 - 15% of the debt as she will be staying with us for the next 6 months to try and get herself sorted, this would mean i can recoup my outlay off of her within 3 months as she will no longer be renting a flat.

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated along with any sample / template letters for writing to her creditors ?

Many Thanks,

Darren

StepChange_Pavan

sulan wrote: »

I have just rang the CCCS helpline, they were fantastic, yes its bankruptcy for me but at least i know what to do now... and if you ring a debt line and they want a £1000 to help you, they are making money out of your misery, which is totally unacceptable! thank you all again, many thanks :T

Hi there!

You beat me to my answer, but I’m glad to hear that you’ve come to us for some free and impartial advice

If you need any further support or guidance along the way, our specialist bankruptcy team are on hand to help.

Hope all goes well.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Tamejoca

I have seen threads relating to this problem from 2 or 3 years ago but nothing recently.

We have lost housing benefit due to the nil tax coding of my husband. We have explained to the council that our income has not increased and they say they can do nothing, we have spoken to the OR and he says that it is nothing to do with him if the council decide we lose benefits. We are now being taking to court for not agreeing to an IPA - we have asked that the loss of benefits be taken into account before amount is agreed.

We cannot be the only people who have this problem? is there any information on what to do or is it just a loophole that exists and we have to accept we will lose the money/

CCCS_Sue

Mackie211 wrote: »

Good Afternoon ,

I am trying to help out a friend of my partners and need a bit of advice ...

She has debts totalling £14,000 to various companies, largest being Lloyds which totals 6k, the next largest being Natwest which is £1205, the rest are all sub £500

She can no longer afford the payments she has been paying to debt line and is at the end of her tether.

I was wondering if it would be worth me sending a letter to the companies she owes money to offer a full and final settlement amount of 10 - 15% of the debt owed ?

Her only other option os going bankrupt and in that case surely the creditor receives nothing ?

I am prepared to lend her the money to pay them off if i can come to some arrangement with her creditors where she only pays 10 - 15% of the debt as she will be staying with us for the next 6 months to try and get herself sorted, this would mean i can recoup my outlay off of her within 3 months as she will no longer be renting a flat.

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated along with any sample / template letters for writing to her creditors ?

Many Thanks,

Darren

Hi Darren and thank you for your message

If you send me a PM with your email address I will forward some further information regarding full and final settlements.

However, before she goes decides on this as a solution, she may benefit from some further advice on all her options.

In order for us to be able to provide her with advice on her financial situation she can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor. Our free helpline number is 0800 138 1111
Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

Tamejoca wrote: »

I have seen threads relating to this problem from 2 or 3 years ago but nothing recently.

We have lost housing benefit due to the nil tax coding of my husband. We have explained to the council that our income has not increased and they say they can do nothing, we have spoken to the OR and he says that it is nothing to do with him if the council decide we lose benefits. We are now being taking to court for not agreeing to an IPA - we have asked that the loss of benefits be taken into account before amount is agreed.

We cannot be the only people who have this problem? is there any information on what to do or is it just a loophole that exists and we have to accept we will lose the money/

Hi and thank you for your message

This is a difficult one. Normally, the OR would be the one to contact and discuss this with.

I have searched around and managed to find these threads here on MSE but as you say they are a bit out of date. Post 55 explains how someone won an appeal.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2698389

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/750075

I have attached a link to the Direct gov website which has a section on how to appeal against a housing benefit decision. They may also be able to give you more information on what your rights are.
http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/index.jsp?LGSL=72&LGIL=0& ServiceName=Appeal+against+a+housing+benefit+decision

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

Kind regards
Sue

clanger69

Hi

I would be grateful for any help regarding what will, and wont, be taken from me when i apply for bankruptcy?

A quick history of my problems.............loads of c/card debts over 5 years ago so sought legal advise and was wrongly advised to enter an IVA!!! Discovered that, as i had no assets such as property, shares, valuable car etc i would have been better off going bankrupt as the 3 years of paying into an IVA didn't clear ANY of my debts, only lined the pockets of the IVA provider (Clearstart for the records!!)

Stopped paying into the IVA last January but ashamed to say managed to get into more debt since (now totalling £25k) which includes a loan, payday loans and the previous c/cards.

What i would like to know is, i am in full time employment and have been paying £100 a month into a company pension scheme for the last 5 years. I also have been paying into a share save scheme through my wages (£51 a month) since January 2009 which ends in January 2012.

When i am interviewed by the OR will i lose all of this? If so, is there any loop hole that i may be able to use to get around this?

Also, will i have to provide a wageslip as proof of income or will the entry on my bank account showing my wages and employers details be sufficient?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i intend on going to the Court on Monday (payday so the only time i will have the £600 to pay for it!!)

Thanks

uptomyneckinit123

Hi

Am new to this forum but desperately need some help and advice. I will briefly outline to you guys my circumstances. I am a single parent with three children 16, 7 and 3 and am self employed hairdresser and on Tax credits. I own my own property which has a mortgage of approx £187,000 and there is approx £20k in equity.

I have a whole load of credit card debt and have spent the last 3/4 years trying to write to my creditors to agree a repayment scheme. Most have settled for pro-rata payments which I pay by SO from my bank account but some are causing real hassle and grief. Last year I was signed off work with depression due to the stress and worry over all of this. I would imagine I have in the region of £50k of debt and I can't ever see it getting better. Alot of my debt has been brought off by other companies and this week I have received 2 claim forms for Northampton County Court and worried that other creditors may follow suit. The first was for £1762 from Hillesden Securities acting for MBNA even though I have been paying them £2 per month for the last 4 years - I filled in the paperwork and sent it back - They have rejected my offer of repayment and are seeking an Order from Court for payment so that they can apply for a Charging Order. They have said in their letter that they have no intention to seek to enforce this order but so that they can secure their debt.

Then yesterday, I have had another one from same Court - this time from Nelson Guest & Partners acting for Westcott for Lloyds TSB for the sum of £6,423. I have yet to fill in the paperwork as am now in despair.

Please can someone help me, I would willingly go bankrupt as this debt is only going to chase me my whole life but worry greatly for my children. I so don't want to loose my home which at present, although one month behind my mortgage has no Charges attached to it. Is there anyway I can go bankrupt and somehow keep my home?

Every day more letters come through the door and I worry that I will become ill again with the stress of it all. Can bailiffs come and take our possessions?

Please help me.

barloo69

Hello, hope I can be put in the right direction here as getting sick of it all.

Ive been u/e for 1 year now and considering going it alone and setting up my own business.

However my problem is I have about 20k worth of unsecured debt and mortgage arrears. Im considering about going bankrupt in the future to try and sort out my personal finance.

If I set up the sole trader small business say tomorrow and months later went BR, will the business be affected by the BR ?

Or is it best to go BR say tomorrow and register the business after the BR ?

CCCS_Sue

clanger69 wrote: »

Hi

I would be grateful for any help regarding what will, and wont, be taken from me when i apply for bankruptcy?

A quick history of my problems.............loads of c/card debts over 5 years ago so sought legal advise and was wrongly advised to enter an IVA!!! Discovered that, as i had no assets such as property, shares, valuable car etc i would have been better off going bankrupt as the 3 years of paying into an IVA didn't clear ANY of my debts, only lined the pockets of the IVA provider (Clearstart for the records!!)

Stopped paying into the IVA last January but ashamed to say managed to get into more debt since (now totalling £25k) which includes a loan, payday loans and the previous c/cards.

What i would like to know is, i am in full time employment and have been paying £100 a month into a company pension scheme for the last 5 years. I also have been paying into a share save scheme through my wages (£51 a month) since January 2009 which ends in January 2012.

When i am interviewed by the OR will i lose all of this? If so, is there any loop hole that i may be able to use to get around this?

Also, will i have to provide a wageslip as proof of income or will the entry on my bank account showing my wages and employers details be sufficient?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i intend on going to the Court on Monday (payday so the only time i will have the £600 to pay for it!!)

Thanks

Hi clanger69 and thank you for your message

I have attached a link to a booklet from the Insolvency Services website which explains all about what happens to the different types of pensions in bankruptcy and what the Official Receiver will need to know.

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/guidanceleafletspdf/pension.pdf

If you can provide wage slips, then I presume the OR will want to see these.

Bankruptcy is a big step to take and it is always advisable to get some professional advice before going bankrupt.

If you do need any further advice, you can call us free on 0800 138 1111. We do have a specialist bankruptcy team who may be able to help you further.

Kind regards
Sue