Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

littleblackbook

Hi there,

I was sequestrated back at the start of November 2011 so looking to the future now I've made the big step.

I know that things become a lot more difficult but I would really like to maximize my chances for when the time comes to buy a home of new own.

Can you offer any tips as to what I can be doing now or any plans to put in place come early November 2012 when discharged?

Thanks,
LBB x

PlainJayne13

Sorry I know this has been asked before but not sure quite how to apply it to my circumstances.

I have my court appearance this week. I opened a while ago a basic bank account with Barclays, it is not associated with any of my debts only my normal DDs that I am completely up to date on. Is it still likely my account will get frozen? I am due to get paid next week with most DDs coming out just after and ideally I would prefer not to get them messed up. Can't really pay them upfront as being the end of the month and already having paid my bills this month I do not have the spare cash to cover.

Thank you!!

Sandwich

CCCS_Mat wrote: »

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

Thanks Matt, that is very helpful advice indeed.

It sounds like what I'll need to do is to declare just after my monthly rent payment goes out of my account and then hopefully by the time my next payment is due I will have a basic bank account with Barclays or whoever open, with my pay and housing benefit being paid into that.

dazedandconfusticated

hi,please could someone advise me of what my next steps should be ,in Aug 2010 i took out a cccs advised iva as long story marital breakdown ,spouse left and bills mounting ,my position was untenable ,so cccs got me on the path ,had agreed to voluntary surrender of keys to property with ex wife and mortgage company ,then ex renaiged when i had left property ,and moved her brother in ,and renogotiated the mortgage with lender etc ,i had also been denied access to my daughter from nov 2010,so i had a costly court action (thank heavens for family :-) )as i couldnt have done it otherwise,as a backlash to me winning access to my daughter in aug 2011, ex then unleashed csa on me wiping out my available contribution to my iva ,(government agencies get first dibs on anything apparently :-( )cccs explained that my iva would be voided and i would be at the mercy of my debtors ,till i could register for bankruptcy (which i am currently trying to scrape together the necessary £600/£700to start proceedings )my questions are as follows :-
1,what happens to the property when i register for bankruptcy as i apparently am still the prime mortgagee?
2,my life has moved on i have a new partner,and we are thinking of moving in together howeever this financial quandary hangs heavy ,and i dont want to burden her with or saddle her with my past financial problems ,plus she has her own as i think everybody does now ,would or will the bankruptcy affect the chances of us moving in together ,and will it create problems for her,
hoping you can shed some light on an otherwise hazy condition ,any and all help wou;d be gratefully recieved ,cheers :-)

System

littleblackbook wrote: »

Hi there,

I was sequestrated back at the start of November 2011 so looking to the future now I've made the big step.

I know that things become a lot more difficult but I would really like to maximize my chances for when the time comes to buy a home of new own.

Can you offer any tips as to what I can be doing now or any plans to put in place come early November 2012 when discharged?

Thanks,
LBB x

Hi and thanks for your message.

There is an excellent article on this site about how credit ratings work and how to improve them, you can find it here.

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

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

PlainJayne13 wrote: »

Sorry I know this has been asked before but not sure quite how to apply it to my circumstances.

I have my court appearance this week. I opened a while ago a basic bank account with Barclays, it is not associated with any of my debts only my normal DDs that I am completely up to date on. Is it still likely my account will get frozen? I am due to get paid next week with most DDs coming out just after and ideally I would prefer not to get them messed up. Can't really pay them upfront as being the end of the month and already having paid my bills this month I do not have the spare cash to cover.

Thank you!!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

All your accounts will be frozen when you petition for your bankruptcy. Money can be paid into accounts but not taken out, all standing orders and direct debits will not be paid.

If you become short of money during this period the Official Receiver can get access to your account on your behalf.

I’d recommend either timing the bankruptcy petition around your direct debits or cancelling the direct debits and paying them cash prior to going bankrupt.

Accounts are usually frozen for around 5 days.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

dazedandconfusticated wrote: »

hi,please could someone advise me of what my next steps should be ,in Aug 2010 i took out a cccs advised iva as long story marital breakdown ,spouse left and bills mounting ,my position was untenable ,so cccs got me on the path ,had agreed to voluntary surrender of keys to property with ex wife and mortgage company ,then ex renaiged when i had left property ,and moved her brother in ,and renogotiated the mortgage with lender etc ,i had also been denied access to my daughter from nov 2010,so i had a costly court action (thank heavens for family :-) )as i couldnt have done it otherwise,as a backlash to me winning access to my daughter in aug 2011, ex then unleashed csa on me wiping out my available contribution to my iva ,(government agencies get first dibs on anything apparently :-( )cccs explained that my iva would be voided and i would be at the mercy of my debtors ,till i could register for bankruptcy (which i am currently trying to scrape together the necessary £600/£700to start proceedings )my questions are as follows :-
1,what happens to the property when i register for bankruptcy as i apparently am still the prime mortgagee?
2,my life has moved on i have a new partner,and we are thinking of moving in together howeever this financial quandary hangs heavy ,and i dont want to burden her with or saddle her with my past financial problems ,plus she has her own as i think everybody does now ,would or will the bankruptcy affect the chances of us moving in together ,and will it create problems for her,
hoping you can shed some light on an otherwise hazy condition ,any and all help wou;d be gratefully recieved ,cheers :-)

Hi and thanks for your message.

If you are still named on the mortgage this will most likely be looked at as an asset in bankruptcy. It would depend on whether there is any current equity in the property and if you had a claim to this.

Bankruptcy shouldn’t affect your new partner as none of your debts are joint. Bankruptcy will only affect your own credit rating.

I’d recommend that you give us a call; we have a dedicated bankruptcy team that could talk you through the process.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

tigerfeet2006

PlainJayne13 wrote: »

Sorry I know this has been asked before but not sure quite how to apply it to my circumstances.

I have my court appearance this week. I opened a while ago a basic bank account with Barclays, it is not associated with any of my debts only my normal DDs that I am completely up to date on. Is it still likely my account will get frozen? I am due to get paid next week with most DDs coming out just after and ideally I would prefer not to get them messed up. Can't really pay them upfront as being the end of the month and already having paid my bills this month I do not have the spare cash to cover.

Thank you!!

CCCS_Mat wrote: »

Hi and welcome to the forum.

All your accounts will be frozen when you petition for your bankruptcy. Money can be paid into accounts but not taken out, all standing orders and direct debits will not be paid.

If you become short of money during this period the Official Receiver can get access to your account on your behalf.

I’d recommend either timing the bankruptcy petition around your direct debits or cancelling the direct debits and paying them cash prior to going bankrupt.

Accounts are usually frozen for around 5 days.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

Please can you clarify this advice for me. I have always said that if you have a BR friendly account ie: a Co-op Cashminder or a Barclays Cash account then the BANK will not freeze the account (it is NOT the OR who freezes the account. You just tell the OR this is your main day to day account and he will tell the bank he has no interest in the account.) You can carry on using this account as per normal with no problems. This has certainly been out experiance on the main board.

System

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Please can you clarify this advice for me. I have always said that if you have a BR friendly account ie: a Co-op Cashminder or a Barclays Cash account then the BANK will not freeze the account (it is NOT the OR who freezes the account. You just tell the OR this is your main day to day account and he will tell the bank he has no interest in the account.) You can carry on using this account as per normal with no problems. This has certainly been out experiance on the main board.

Hi Tigerfeet2006 and thanks for your post.

We are finding more and more people are not having their account frozen when using the accounts you mentioned. However, there are no hard and fast rules on this and there is no guarantee that the accounts will not be frozen.

We still get calls from clients with the two accounts who find they can’t access them after petitioning for Bankruptcy.

We find at present it’s best to prepare clients that the accounts may be frozen.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

tigerfeet2006

CCCS_Mat wrote: »

Hi Tigerfeet2006 and thanks for your post.

We are finding more and more people are not having their account frozen when using the accounts you mentioned. However, there are no hard and fast rules on this and there is no guarantee that the accounts will not be frozen.

We still get calls from clients with the two accounts who find they can’t access them after petitioning for Bankruptcy.

We find at present it’s best to prepare clients that the accounts may be frozen.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

Hmm!! that is interesting. We usually say that when you open the account you let them know you will most likely be petitioning for BR and to lat them know when you have. I wonder if that makes a difference as I honestly can't remember the last time we had a frozen account on the board :think:

Thanks for the quick reply.