Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

titch392000

I'm a disabled single mum of 1.

I rely entirely on benefits and when my marriage broke down 3 years ago I entered into a debt management plan with Gregory Penningtons.

My ex has been problematic with my maintenance in recent months and I got CSA involved 6 weeks ago. Since then I've received a couple of payments for about £20 and a couple for less than £1

They're meant to be asssessing him and getting it sorted but I can no longer afford my debt management plan. I rang CCS and they advised a DRO as I only have £42 disposable income.

I don't have the money to pay the full bankruptcy fee so the DRO would be perfect.

My anxiety comes from not knowing what may happen in the future. The CSA are having no joy getting anything set up with my ex, he's refusing to set up a DD and they are having to chase him for payments off his debit card.

What happens if I enter the DRO and in a couple of months he starts giving me regular payments (£22 weekly) ? This would take me above the £50 disposable income bracket, but then there is no guaranteee that a couple of months later he won't start messing about again

I just don't know what do to for the best.

moneymoan

Please could anyone advise me what I can do in my situation.
1) I have a mortgage with Northern Rock - no equity I owe more than the property is worth.
2) I have a secured loand with Welcome Finance ( I believe they should never have offered me it (It was not affordable to me and would have failed any basic affordability check)
3) Having failed at trying to keep up the debts on the remaining unsecured debt which Welcome Finance did not cover. I now have an IVA.
Obviously I realise now that I'd have been better off taking an IVA for the whole of the unsecured debt instead of taking the secured loan with Welcome, but in my defence, I had been ill advised by Citizens Advice Bureau (they told me if I wanted apply for an IVA that I need £5k to pay upfront fees) so I should apply for Bankruptcy.
I would not consider Bankruptcy as an option for me because I did not want to lose my job and because despite the fact that most of my unsecured debt was due to my head being in the sand and me using credit cards to pay may way and paying unreasonable costs and interest rates to keep going, I wanted to be responsible and pay off my debts if I could.
I am now in a position since my husbands income has reduced that I cannot make ends meet. If I were able to choose what not to pay it would be Welcome Finance since their payments are so high and because I would be in a very different position if the debt they supplied the loan for had been included in the IVA.
When I started to struggle with Welcome payments, they temporarily reduced they payments allowing me to pay interest only for a while and stopped interest being applied to my loan, but after time they said they would have to start adding interest back on to the account. I still pay interest only...I can't manage to pay the full amount.
I am currently being allowed to pay interest only on my mortgage with northern rock for a 1 yr period and when I asked if Welcome would be willing to reduce my payments any further they responded with "Ah well if you are paying less to Rock you could pay more to us!!!!"
I don't suppose anyone out there has any advice to offer me??? I don't know what to do next eg
If I sold my home I would owe more to the Northern Rock, and still owe Welcome Finance and still have the IVA and would find it difficult to rent.
If I stay and go bankrupt for the unsecured debt I'd only be £250 per mont better off and so would still struggle with Welcome Finance
.........what other options do I have.........at the moment I survive by borrowing money from my mum for food and repaying her when I can then borrowing again and again. Life is a bit sad to say the least and truthfully I have never had a lavish lifestyle..........this is honestly all just down to bad money management!

kepar

To be honest reading your position, you may not like it but I would go bankrupt and go for voluntary repossession. The state of your finances mean that you are never be in a position to clear any debt. The mortgage and loan you are only paying interest and not any capital. You can keep battling but for what, you are going further and further under.
Take a long term view, okay you will have to rent for a few years , you will probably get an IPA for three years, but then you can start rebuilding your life.

We were in a similar situation, I got ill and could not hold a job down we had a mortgage , secured loan and massive credit cards debt and loans. I had been the main earner and we tried to borrow while I recovered but the situation kept getting worse.
I had to find a job at £30k the £40k it proved impossible.

We both went br, my wife got an IPA, we tried to keep the house but after three months realised we were living in a prison. There would be no escape. We found somewhere to rent, handed the keys in and have never looked back. Now three years since going br and looking back it was the best thing we could have done. The IPA is all but finished, we have found credit, to build up our history and hope to get back on the housing ladder in the next four years.

The short term view is that you do not want to go br and lose your house. but I suggest you sit down with a piece of paper and work up a plan as to what you need and how would achieve it. Can it be done, apart from winning the lottery where will the money come from. Be honest it is not going to happen, I feel sorry for you, you are trying hard and can see no results.

I am not trying to insult you, but having been there I know what you are going through. You may find another way, but the sooner you go br and give your house the sooner you can start to relive your life.

Good luck to you , what ever you choose to do.

moneymoan

Thank you for taking the time and effort to respond. Thank you for sharing your situation. I wish you both well for your future too. I appreciate what you have said, I'm trying to keep the house going for as long as I possibly can because my youngest daughter is in her last year of A levels. I wanted to keep the family home until she leaves for university.......only a few more months....... If I could have got rid of the unsecured debt and the secured loan, we could keep the house and be "just" comfortable until the equity grows..........do you still think it's hopeless and we should give up?

kepar

That is what I am trying to say, the big question is if I could get rid of this and that.

But logically is it possible without a lottery win?
Can you raise the money?
I know it is only a few months bur realistically it is the best part of a year, I know that because my son will be going next year.

Can you survive this long.
The pressures you are under must be immense. Your daughter must be feeling it as well, I can understand that you do not want to threaten her education by moving.
But she is old enough to understand, you may be lucky and find somewhere decent to rent near to where you live .
We were lucky in that OR allowed us a reasonable amount for rent and we ended up in a better area and house to what we owned.

moneymoan

It's scary, I guess I was hoping for someone to say Welcome Finance were wrong and I should fight them.....My eldest daughter professed about a year ago that she felt as though she had lost her mother to debt. She's a bit of a drama queen so I took no notice. I do know that if the weight were lifted off I'd be a different person but my fear is that I would only be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. This end of the tunnel frightens me more than being in this situation.

kepar

We had a secure loan through Ocean and as interest rates were coming down ,but their rates were going up. We felt that they would keep going up and there was nothing we could do. Funny though because of the br, when the house was sold there wasn't one penny left to give them. We had asked them for help but they refused. Their loss.

moneymoan

I'm not ready to give up until I have investigated the possiblity of challenging the Welcome Finance secured loan. I don't think it should ever have been passed and I suspect they realise that. They have gone quiet on me and I supsect this is because they know they are on dodgy ground. If I were to manage twipe that debt out in a few years time my IVA would be finished and I could then look at either selling my house or increasing my mortgage payments bearing mind I'd be £600 pmth better off.
If I don't try to challenge it I'd always be wondering what if.......
If I can't do anything about it I've lost nothing more.....It's so hard at present but I know I can keep going for a while longer as long as Im focussed on a possibility of saving things.
In some ways I wish I could just give up......unfortunately I work in a place where my bankruptcy would be known to my colleagues......it would be very humiliating. My colleagues have little respect for bankrupts and are very "bankrupt racist" it's awful to hear......they are completely ignorant about peoples situations and how people find themselves bankrupt. No sympathy whatsoever. I would need to become very thick skinned to survive mentally around them.

System

kittywitty wrote: »

Im seriously thinking bankrupsy. my question is:- I married my husband 17 years ago. My name is not on the morgage. When I met my husband he already owned the house as I did have my own house and have sold it some 12 years ago. Since then I have had loans to inprove the house. Does this mean I have a interest in the house and would it affect the bankrupsy i.e. could the advisor make us sell the house.

Hi Kittywitty and welcome to the forum.

It does sound like you could possibly have some beneficial interest in the property, however this doesn't always mean that you will be forced to sell the house.

For more detailed advice I recommend that you speak to our specialist bankruptcy team on 0800 138 1111.

Please gather all details of your income, expenditure and any assets before calling.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

gavlish wrote: »

I want my old creditors to update my credit files now that I am discharged from bankruptsy. I have my certificate and would like to know where I can find addresses and or email addresses to send a copy of this to.

I need:halifax, lloyds tsb, GE capital, RBS, Natwest

Thanks
Gavin

Hi Gavin and welcome to the forum.

You will be able to find the creditors contact details on your credit reference file.

The following link should help.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat