Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

Nutter2soxs_2

I would be grateful for any help you can give. My situation is that both my husband and I have poor health, started about 5 years ago, and we got into financial problems (spending more than we were bringing in). We are 53 & 52. My husband is employed and brings home £1850 a month, I am self employed and bring home around £1000 a month, we live near London.
I have had a flat for about 12 years that we remortgaged in 2007 to buy a house. The flat is on interest only mortgage and the rent brings in an additional £350 a month less tax. It is probably about £10,000 in negative equity now.

Our house is on interest only mortgage and we have an additional secured loan on it. It probably has about £15,000 equity.

My 23 year old daughter has moved back temporarily as she is in a lot of debt that she is keeping up to date with the payments. She has no excess income.

I have an IVA and pay £300 pm, my husband has a debt management plan and pays £100 pm. I am behind on my payments with the IVA as I just don't have enough left over despite living on the minimum.

We have 2 cars, one worth about £3500 and one that is worth £300 ... we both use them for work.

I am just wondering if we would be better to go bankrupt and what impact it would have on our properties, we have no pension and hoped that one day the flat would provide that.

Many thanks

StepChange_Pavan

Nutter2soxs wrote: »

I would be grateful for any help you can give. My situation is that both my husband and I have poor health, started about 5 years ago, and we got into financial problems (spending more than we were bringing in). We are 53 & 52. My husband is employed and brings home £1850 a month, I am self employed and bring home around £1000 a month, we live near London.
I have had a flat for about 12 years that we remortgaged in 2007 to buy a house. The flat is on interest only mortgage and the rent brings in an additional £350 a month less tax. It is probably about £10,000 in negative equity now.

Our house is on interest only mortgage and we have an additional secured loan on it. It probably has about £15,000 equity.

My 23 year old daughter has moved back temporarily as she is in a lot of debt that she is keeping up to date with the payments. She has no excess income.

I have an IVA and pay £300 pm, my husband has a debt management plan and pays £100 pm. I am behind on my payments with the IVA as I just don't have enough left over despite living on the minimum.

We have 2 cars, one worth about £3500 and one that is worth £300 ... we both use them for work.

I am just wondering if we would be better to go bankrupt and what impact it would have on our properties, we have no pension and hoped that one day the flat would provide that.

Many thanks

Hi Nutter2soxs and thanks for your post.

As you’re in an IVA you would need to discuss your options with your Insolvency Practitioner because it is a legally binding solution.

They may be able to vary the terms of your IVA. If you decide to fail your IVA, you could come back to us advice. As it’s quite a complex situation, we would need to look at your circumstances in more detail first.

Kind regards,
Pavan

kezxx22

I am getting myself into a state about bank accounts. I have one bank account in which my income & tax credits go & all my bills come out of. It is with Barclays (who I owe money to). So I know this will be frozen. People on the forum are saying it is ok to open a basic account before BR but CCCS advise not to. Am really confused...

Should I

a) open a Co op basic account now & arrange for my tax credits & income to be paid into there and then arrange for my gas, electric etc to come out

b)wait until after BR.

Option b fills me with dread because all my essential bills come out of the account thats frozen so I may end up missing payments as I will need to change all the direct debitswhich may take time. Also if they stop my wages I have no income unless they let me keep my tax credits....

PLEASE HELP :eek:

don240

Hi
I opened a basic bank account (Co Op cashminder) about a year ago, I will be filing for bankrupcy in early october (after my wages have gone in & all my Direct debits have gone out) with hindsite I should have waited to open this account, I have been told that I will be able to keep this account after bankrupcy. I know that the account will be frozen, so my question is, is it correct that I will be able to keep the account (I have no debt with any Co Op company) & if so, how long is it likely to be frozen for? I will be going bankrupt on the 7th October, my wages are paid in on the 28th October & the first direct debit is due out on the 1st November, does this allow enough time. (I am, I believe unable to open a barclays basic account, as I have a Visa card debt with them).

Thanks in advance

philnicandamy

don240 wrote: »

Hi
I opened a basic bank account (Co Op cashminder) about a year ago, I will be filing for bankrupcy in early october (after my wages have gone in & all my Direct debits have gone out) with hindsite I should have waited to open this account, I have been told that I will be able to keep this account after bankrupcy. I know that the account will be frozen, so my question is, is it correct that I will be able to keep the account (I have no debt with any Co Op company) & if so, how long is it likely to be frozen for? I will be going bankrupt on the 7th October, my wages are paid in on the 28th October & the first direct debit is due out on the 1st November, does this allow enough time. (I am, I believe unable to open a barclays basic account, as I have a Visa card debt with them).

Thanks in advance

Shouldnt be frozen as its a basic account usually they're left alone..BUT if and its a big if the account is frozen a quick call to the OR can sort in usually within 24hrs or so

Barclays do offer a basic account BUT open one of those after you declare BR as if you opened before they could use any money in the account to cover your credit card debts with them....barclays were one of my largest creditors and they offered me an account

don240

philnicandamy wrote: »

Shouldnt be frozen as its a basic account usually they're left alone..BUT if and its a big if the account is frozen a quick call to the OR can sort in usually within 24hrs or so

Barclays do offer a basic account BUT open one of those after you declare BR as if you opened before they could use any money in the account to cover your credit card debts with them....barclays were one of my largest creditors and they offered me an account

Thankyou for the quick reply. I think I have got most things sorted, but the bank account was my biggest worry. need to get some help filling my Petition forms in (will call CCCS to help me) & then just wait till 7/10/2011. my debts have been causing worry for a long time & it will be a relief to get them sorted

philnicandamy

Good luck with it all don it's really not half as bad as your imagining it could be, if you need a hand with the forms post a new question on the bankrupt and living with it forum and someone's always happy to help!

some VERY good example forms filled in here

http://www.ned-cab.org.uk/debtselfhelp/bankruptcy.shtml

don240

thanks for the replies, it is a still a worry, but I will be glad to get it over with

System

kezxx22 wrote: »

I am getting myself into a state about bank accounts. I have one bank account in which my income & tax credits go & all my bills come out of. It is with Barclays (who I owe money to). So I know this will be frozen. People on the forum are saying it is ok to open a basic account before BR but CCCS advise not to. Am really confused...

Should I

a) open a Co op basic account now & arrange for my tax credits & income to be paid into there and then arrange for my gas, electric etc to come out

b)wait until after BR.

Option b fills me with dread because all my essential bills come out of the account thats frozen so I may end up missing payments as I will need to change all the direct debitswhich may take time. Also if they stop my wages I have no income unless they let me keep my tax credits....

PLEASE HELP :eek:

Hi Kezxx22 and thanks for your post.

If you open an account prior to petitioning it’s possible that the account could be frozen when you petition. However, as you owe money to Barclays and are banking with them it might be a good idea to open a new bank account now.

In the event that the account is frozen after you petition for bankruptcy the Official Receiver could get any money released from the account that you needed until the time the account is un-frozen.

You could time the bankruptcy so that you petition after all your Direct Debits are taken from the account for the month, and draw from the account any cash you need.

As you have already spoken to us, please call if you’re unsure.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

thehappybutterfly

Good evening everyone,

I'm looking for some basic advice for my MIL. btw - she's 70, registered blind and also has hearing problems so she really needs someone to sort things out for her. But that's another story. She's got herself into debt (about £16k) and was struggling to meet the minimum repayments and recently contacted an Insolvency Practitioner about how to deal with this. She got a pack from them which she couldn't understand so she took it to her local CAB. They couldn't understand it so advised her to go to see a Solicitor about sorting our her debt. She's now set up a debt repayment plan with a firm who is sorting things out for her. However, I just found out 2nite that she's being charged £2500 for their services. I'm convinced she could get this for less if not free of charge from a debt specialist. I may be wrong but I would appreciate some advice. I asked her if she had contacted CCCS but she hasn't. Tsk tsk.

Should she expect to pay someone a large fee for this service? I'd really appreciate some advice.