Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

StepChange_Pavan

Marie_Bayliss wrote: »

Hi, I need some advice please on Active Kapital.
I had a Dorothey Perkins store card in 2005 paid the bill in full & on time, i have the original bill with bank stamp & date as evidence of payment. Five years ticket by & in 2011 Active Kapital sent me a letter saying my debt has been passed on to them of £310. The original bill was only £91.50 ? I have sent 4 letters with photo copies of the bill to know avail.. Please if someone could advice me i'm at the end of my tether... They will not get a penny out of me because the bill was paid !

Hi Marie Bayliss and thanks for your question.

If you have proof that you paid the debt it should be unenforceable. I’d recommend that you follow their complaints procedure and if they don’t deal with it you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman and they will look into this for you: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/default.htm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

niku2

CCCS_Mat wrote: »

Hi and thanks for your reply.

As you already have an appointment tomorrow I’d wait and see what our bankruptcy counsellor says when they have your full details.

We will be able to offer best advice best on a more detailed look at your situation.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

Just an update on my situation and a plea for any further guidance...

We applied to NRAM for permission to let our house and switch to interest-only payments on the mortgage; both requests were denied yesterday.

I immediately rang back the CCCS & National Debtline advice lines and have been told that it is very unlikely that we would be granted bankruptcy as we are not in arrears on any payments at present and we are able to pay back all of our debts at the moment.

We are very literally stuck. We have to be out of the UK no later than August, as that's when my husband's US visa will expire. We had very much wanted to be back in the States by April for family reasons.

The only thing we can think to do is to write letters to NRAM and Nationwide stating that we are no longer able to pay the debts we owe but that we fully intend to repay them once we are in a position to do so after we get jobs in the US.

Where do we go? My husband and I are so stressed over this that it is having very real, physical ramifications. We are so scared.

Sandwich

Can I ask a question about the actual procedure of bankruptcy?

What I'd like to know is, once you file, I take it all of your bank accounts are frozen, but how soon after you file can you open a new bank account (I believe Barclays are the only ones who allow bankrupts to open an account) and get things going again?

The reason why I ask is because I don't want to miss any rent payments, and also because I would want to switch payment of my housing benefit over to my new account ASAP.

System

don240 wrote: »

Hi
I was declared bankrupt late last year, so far everything has been going ok, no IPO (as yet) kept my old car etc.
I seperated from my wife in 2010 & she has now started divorce procedings, she is divorcing me on the grounds of adultry (I started seeing my new girlfriend 1 year after we seperated & she is not named) I cannot afford legal advice, my ex partner qualfies for legal aid as she lost her job (she was working 16 hours per week up to late summer 2010) we have one child (under 10) who lives with mum. I am paying a fair amount of voluntary Maintenance (the OR agread it).
I recently had a court letter about the divorce with a standard questionnaire. on the form her solicitor had ticked the box asking me to pay the divorce costs.
My question is:
Being an undischarged bankrupt, can I be ordered to pay costs? & if so do they take my bankruptcy into account, & allow me to pay costs by installments? also could the court force me to increase maintenance payments whilst I am an undischarged bankrupt?

Thanks in advance

Hi and thanks for your post

I’d recommend that you contact the Official Receiver who is dealing with your bankruptcy for some advice regarding this.

You might also want obtain some free legal advice in regards to the divorce costs. The following could be useful.

http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/public/community_legal_advice.asp

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

niku2 wrote: »

Just an update on my situation and a plea for any further guidance...

We applied to NRAM for permission to let our house and switch to interest-only payments on the mortgage; both requests were denied yesterday.

I immediately rang back the CCCS & National Debtline advice lines and have been told that it is very unlikely that we would be granted bankruptcy as we are not in arrears on any payments at present and we are able to pay back all of our debts at the moment.

We are very literally stuck. We have to be out of the UK no later than August, as that's when my husband's US visa will expire. We had very much wanted to be back in the States by April for family reasons.

The only thing we can think to do is to write letters to NRAM and Nationwide stating that we are no longer able to pay the debts we owe but that we fully intend to repay them once we are in a position to do so after we get jobs in the US.

Where do we go? My husband and I are so stressed over this that it is having very real, physical ramifications. We are so scared.

Hi and thanks for the update.

It’s good that you took actual advice now rather than petition for your bankruptcy before leaving the country as the consequences could have been graver for you that way around.

The most you can do now is keep creditors up to date with your circumstances and intentions.

If we can offer any more support or help please drop us a line.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

niku2

CCCS_Mat wrote: »

Hi and thanks for the update.

It’s good that you took actual advice now rather than petition for your bankruptcy before leaving the country as the consequences could have been graver for you that way around.

The most you can do now is keep creditors up to date with your circumstances and intentions.

If we can offer any more support or help please drop us a line.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

A turn of events and three questions:

We've just had an offer of £88,000 cash for our house (it's listed at £109,00, we owe £127,000--£110,00 mortgage/£17,000 unsecured loan).

Question 1) If we accepted that offer, could we then take part of that money and pay off our credit card (appx £9,500) and loan (appx £4,500), and then give the remainder to NRAM?

We'd then have to find a way to make up the shortfall.

NRAM mentioned that we could apply for a loan for the amout of the shortfall and, if we were denied a loan, we could then try to negotiate with them.

Question 2) Is it likely that NRAM would decrease the amount we'd owe them?

Question 3) Would the shortfall then qualify us for bankruptcy?

Many thanks in advance.

System

Sandwich wrote: »

Can I ask a question about the actual procedure of bankruptcy?

What I'd like to know is, once you file, I take it all of your bank accounts are frozen, but how soon after you file can you open a new bank account (I believe Barclays are the only ones who allow bankrupts to open an account) and get things going again?

The reason why I ask is because I don't want to miss any rent payments, and also because I would want to switch payment of my housing benefit over to my new account ASAP.

Hi and thanks for your post.

We’d usually recommend opening a new bank account prior to going bankrupt, although it can vary from client to client.

If you open a new bank account prior to going bankrupt and swap all your benefit payments over as well as your priority bills, then most of the hard work is already done. However, when you petition for your bankruptcy this new account will be frozen for a length of time.

Whether you have opened a new bank account or not some banks are now being more understanding and are allowing a period of time before accounts are frozen.

A lot of this is a question of timing when you petition, it’s important that you have paid all priority bills and have drawn as much cash out as you think you will need until any account is unfrozen, however if you get stuck for money after you have petitioned the Official Receiver can get access to any funds held in frozen accounts for you.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

niku2 wrote: »

A turn of events and three questions:

We've just had an offer of £88,000 cash for our house (it's listed at £109,00, we owe £127,000--£110,00 mortgage/£17,000 unsecured loan).

Question 1) If we accepted that offer, could we then take part of that money and pay off our credit card (appx £9,500) and loan (appx £4,500), and then give the remainder to NRAM?

We'd then have to find a way to make up the shortfall.

NRAM mentioned that we could apply for a loan for the amout of the shortfall and, if we were denied a loan, we could then try to negotiate with them.

Question 2) Is it likely that NRAM would decrease the amount we'd owe them?

Question 3) Would the shortfall then qualify us for bankruptcy?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi and thanks for your reply.

You’d need to take independent financial advice regards the offer on the house, and you’d also need to speak to NRAM about what they would expect and whether they would allow you to have an unsecured loan for the shortfall.

You’d also need to check with NRAM about accepting reduced amounts. I think it would be unlikely that they would accept this.

The shortfall wouldn’t qualify you for bankruptcy due to the same issues we have discussed in other posts.

We can’t really advise when it comes to financial transactions such as selling your home at a loss. I’d recommend you seek some independent financial advice.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

dinkydecor

Hi, I need some advice before my partner files for bankruptcy.

He has been self employed for the last 10 years and has debts of approx £40k both personal and business on credit cards and overdrafts. He was advised 6 months ago that his best option is to go bankrupt, but he has been stalling and just continued to pay £1 each creditor. I'm on a DMP.

A few months ago he found some work that is due to end in a couple of weeks time. It has meant that he has been able to contribute more towards our household bills and put him in a position to be able to replace his car at a cost of £1000. He needs a car for his work and his current car will be scrapped at the end of this month.

He's now ready to file for bankruptcy, but I'm concerned that:

1. The money he's earned over the past few months will give the impression that his income is on the 'up', but in reality if you take the whole year average it's still very low, could he be asked to delay filing just in case he gets more work?

2. Would it be frowned upon to buy a car and then ask to go bankrupt?

Once this work ends in a couple of weeks time he is planning contact the organisation that he spoke to 6 months ago and I know they'll go through this with him, but I'm starting to worry and a couple of weeks seems a long time.

Thank you.

StepChange_Pavan

dinkydecor wrote: »

Hi, I need some advice before my partner files for bankruptcy.

He has been self employed for the last 10 years and has debts of approx £40k both personal and business on credit cards and overdrafts. He was advised 6 months ago that his best option is to go bankrupt, but he has been stalling and just continued to pay £1 each creditor. I'm on a DMP.

A few months ago he found some work that is due to end in a couple of weeks time. It has meant that he has been able to contribute more towards our household bills and put him in a position to be able to replace his car at a cost of £1000. He needs a car for his work and his current car will be scrapped at the end of this month.

He's now ready to file for bankruptcy, but I'm concerned that:

1. The money he's earned over the past few months will give the impression that his income is on the 'up', but in reality if you take the whole year average it's still very low, could he be asked to delay filing just in case he gets more work?

2. Would it be frowned upon to buy a car and then ask to go bankrupt?

Once this work ends in a couple of weeks time he is planning contact the organisation that he spoke to 6 months ago and I know they'll go through this with him, but I'm starting to worry and a couple of weeks seems a long time.

Thank you.

Hi dinkydecor and thanks for your post.

It’s important that your partner gets some detailed and free advice to make sure that bankruptcy is still his best option. It does sound like it will be, but he will also get the opportunity to ask more questions like these.

As he’s self employed, it’s understandable that his income will fluctuate. However, if bankruptcy is still his best solution this shouldn’t be a problem. If he continues to earn extra, he may have to pay something towards his bankruptcy called an Income Payment Arrangement (IPA). Depending on how much he was earning, it cold be questioned why he didn’t pay a little extra towards his debts, but if it enabled him to pay towards the household costs this shouldn’t be a problem either.

If he needs his car for work he should be able to keep it. The fact that the old car is getting scrapped is reason enough to have changed it.

Like I mentioned, it’s really important that he gets some independent advice. We have a specialist bankruptcy team so if he gives us a call we can help and support him throughout the process.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan