Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

midnghtaction

Foolishdebt Thank you so much for your post and your reassurance, quite a few things you have said have made me have a few good points to go back to my dad with and maybe try and reassure him.

The one major concern is that my Dad does actually have an asset and that's his home. It is a static caravan and not highly desirable but it is probably worth around £40K-£50K. If my parents lived in a big house somewhere valued about £150K-£200K my advice to them would be to downsize to something smaller and cheaper, but they really are already at the lowest end of the market, and if they are forced to sell this property to pay the debt they are not gonna have enough money to buy anywhere else.

I don't really care about anything else, everything else is just material possesions that I know at a push they could live without, but I am just desperately scared that they are going to loose their house, and at their age I just don't know where that would leave them.

Thanks once again for your help

Sarah xx

fiveyearplan

foolishdebt wrote: »

I hope a CCCS counsellor will answer all our questions properly, but I sympathise with your dad and will have a go at trying to make you feel better.

I would advise each of you to start a new thread on the bankruptcy board as it sometimes take a while for a CCCS counselor to answer these posts. Most everyone on the board has been through bankruptcy and are very knowledgable. In any event you would still be advised to ring one of the debt charities like CCCS, CAB or National Debtline.

foolishdebt

midnghtaction

I doubt if elderly and vulnerable people, let alone an even more vulnerable child would be put out on the street for a debt of only 10k that arose due to a genuine error - and from a home that could not possibly be cheaper (that is not meant in a rude way) but even then could not be replaced if lost.

A debt of 10k is really small anyway, but especially when weighed against all the above and the OR will see this.
The OR will not want it on his/her conscience that 3 very vulnerable people might come to some harm or have their lives ruined because of a really small debt that came about so suddenly and by complete accident.

The OR would look at the circumstances of the debt, the amount owed, how and why it came about, how paying it pack would affect the persons concerned, all the circumstances of the persons concerned, and whether they had made any attempts to pay something back.
Your dad is safe on all of these points.

Asking for a letter from your mum's doctor would add weight to all this too, to say your mum would be at risk because of her ill health. Maybe there is some child services official who would stand in support the welfare of the child and not making the child homeless - if your dad even needs to go that far on top of everything else being in his favour. He has not done a thing wrong.

I owed almost 50k and did not pay back a single penny, plus I kept my asset of 2k value. I don't want to say that I know everything because I don't, but based on my own experience I am 99.9% sure your dad would be ok.

You should phone CCCS asap. Do it tomorrow please.

CCCS_Sarah

Choppa2k wrote: »

I was declared bankrupt in may 2008 and i have just recently received a letter considering me for early discharge and then to my suprise i received a letter back the other day advising me that i have been setup on an IPA for £70 per month for 36 months, even though when i filled in my income and expenditure form it showed i had £30 disposable income a month, i am wondering how can they arise at this figure and does anyone have any advice for me as this is very concerning for me as my original agreement was setup to be taken from my tax code as i couldn affored an IPA when declared bankrupt originally

Hi Choppa,

Sorry for the delay I believe Sue answered this via a PM. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

foolishdebt wrote: »

I have just been discharged from bankruptcy:

• Does this mean if I win the lottery or something I can keep all the money?
• Can I apply for a CDL (career development loan) after bankruptcy?
• Where does my name appear as an ex bankrupt? (Before I was discharged I found myself listed as bankrupt on internet search, now search shows nothing.)

Thanks for your answers.

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply. If you did come into any money after your bankruptcy has ended, you would be able to keep this. You would also be able to apply for credit but creditors would do a credit search and Bankruptcy would remain on your file for six years. As far as I am aware once you have been discharged then your name does come of the register, however if you were ever asked if you have been bankrupt you would have to disclose this.

Hope this helps
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

woppo26 wrote: »

can anyone advise me on something???
Myself and my wife are seriously considering bankruptcy. we have jointly around 18k of dept,not including mortgage arears (around 4k). we have court orders that we cant afford to pay plus we have creditors sending us threating letters. the house has negative equity of around 15k. basicaly what im asking is, if we both file for bankruptcy can/will they take our home? at the minute we are paying an extra £70 a month to get the arears down but with paying the mortgage and arears we are coping but with all the other dept we cant even afford to buy a regular weekly shop..it getting us both realy down and its affecting our marrage, it not helping the kids either. i trying my best to find a job but there just isnt any work avalible so is our only option bankrupcy?????

thanks

Hi woppo,

Thank you for your message.

I would recommend that you have an appointment with the CCCS as soon as possible. We will be able to help you complete a detailed financial statement and look at all your options. If creditors have already taken you to court over debts and the amounts set are unaffordable, we need to see what you can afford to pay and discuss reducing these as soon as possible as if you don’t keep up with CCJs then a court could sent bailiffs etc.

If bankruptcy was an option for you, the ultimate decision with the house would be the official receivers however as a general rule, if there is no equity in the house then technically it is not an asset so there is a possibility that you would be able to keep it. Bankruptcy is always a last resort once other options have been ruled out.

If you would like an appointment, please call 0800 138 1111.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

October-rev101 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on here and can I just say I have been reading the forum with great interest. It has answered many questions for me on BR but also raised many others – I was wondering if anyone can help.

Here is my situation:

I am currently living at home with my elderly mother for whom I am caring for and receive Carers Allowance at £53 per week and Income Support at £40. This is my only income. My debts have grown out of control and I'm desperate to know what I can do/what options are available to me. I was made redundant 3 years ago and I've been using credit card cheques/credit cards to pay other card minimum payments with, and general cost of living, and I'm now at the end of my tether worrying how I can now meet the payments. I owe tens of thousands of pounds spread over 8 creditors with some creditors I have more than one account.

I have received advice from a debt charity and have just begun to send out letters with my budget offering a token £1 as this is all I have available. So far 1 creditor has accepted and 1 has not, and I’m still waiting for the remainder.
I’m thinking of declaring myself BR but want to know a few answers:

• Should I just try and continue offering my£1 token payments to my creditors for as long as I can?
• How long can I continue the above and what would the procedure be?
• I'm currently living and caring for my elderly mother. I pay her “board and lodgings” and although she owns the house outright and I am not mentioned on the title deeds I've been informed that if I did file for bankruptcy they could take a share in the house (beneficial interest)? Is this correct?
• How far back into my accounts will the official receiver need to look?
• I do have some gambling transactions on my account what affect would this have on my BR?
• I also ran a Premium Bond “syndicate” – although a syndicate is not recognised as Premium Bonds can only be bought in a single name - for friends and family who invested £5 a week. When I cashed them in we had £15,000 invested which was paid into my bank account. I then shared this amongst the “syndicate” members either by cheque or bank transfer. Would the OR have any claim on this money? Would he see it has removing assets? And would he need to contact my friends and family?

Sorry for such a long post, but I have many questions buzzing around in my head and I’m unsure what to do.

Any help/answers would greatly be appreciated.

Hello,

Sue has answered this in the PMs, let me know if you have any other questions.

CCCS_Sarah

Quandry1 wrote: »

Hi, am new here so hope am posting correctly,
I am in around £30.000 of debt which i have accumulated over the past 7 years, this is spread out over 5 cc and 2 loans, up untill now i have never missed a payment but due to being self employed and the current climate in the building trade i am struggling to live and seem to be getting further in debt after carefull consideration and advice i am 99% sure i want to declare myself, bankrupt,
my questions are :-

1. I have been bankrupt before and have been discharged for over 10 years, will this affect my bankruptcy now?
2. Some of my debt can be attributed to gambling throughout the last few years, how will this affect my bankruptcy and the chances of me getting a BRO, and also does the OR make you close any online gambling accounts you have online. I only now use 1 site which i like to play poker on as a hobbie and have not deposited any money on it for about 9 months, i have a small amount in the account which i just use.

The reason i am in this mess is not due to gambling it is due to the lack of work i have and the inconsistancy of any sort of regular income and i have had a gamble because i enjoy it and have had some very good wins, with which i have cleared cc's with but will the OR look at it like this.

Ty for any help

Hello,

Thank you for your post.

As you have been made bankrupt in the past and have a history of gambling then it is likely that the OR will give you a BRO so this means they could extend the term up to fifteen years.

I’m not too sure if the OR would make you close down your accounts, you could contact the Insolvency Service for more details on this. If you do play as a hobby, you could maybe look at using the free sites so that no money exchanges hands.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

confused.com555 wrote: »

Hi,

I hope I have posted in right place????...much help needed please..

I have recently been going through the process of an IVA, however my creditors wanted to up my repayments from £260 a month to £460 per month (due to my reciept of student fininace) this seemed a complete unmanagable amount???

Due to other problems, along with my huge money worries...I have been signed off work (I work part time)....I am now even contemplating giving up work...due to ill factors and child minder issues...( my mother in law can no longer look after children due to ill health too)

I am married, but all debts are in my name, I owe over £25,000. I dont know what to do? I know I cant caryy on with the stress of it all...but I dont know where I stand about going BR, if an Iva is still going? my superviser says we will have to re-draft my proposal..

can I leave an on-going IVA to go BR?

would I still be able to apply for student loans/bursary (I'm a first year full time uni student) and would they look at what I recieve as surplus income-even if its a loan?

My husband had a car worth £2000- in his name-would they look at that for an asset?

Any help/advice would be really gratefully recieved!!

You need to contact your IP and discuss this with them as soon as possible; they understand that people do have changes to their situation.

If you are in an IVA then it is still possible to go bankrupt, however you do need to discuss this with your IP and let them know your current circumstances as they maybe able to just review your IVA.

CCCS_Sarah

kurgan wrote: »

I earn 25k, with overtime I earn approx 34k a year pre tax. My wife earns about 24k. I have debts over 15k on cc's, my mortgage is for 120k, yet my flat that I own is only worth about 85k. I live in a housing executive house with my wife, which she had before we were married. Should I go bankrupt? I cannot repay everything, I am struggling to pay my bills, and my wife has increased her cc debt to 5k while we have been trying to stay afloat!
I personally want to go bankrupt on my own to clear my debts and re start my financial life... I am happy to have my flat repossessed as I can't get it sold anyway!! I have not yet gone into arrears as I took a payment holiday for 6 months with my mortgage, however the six months is up on the 18th and I need to start the £720 a month mortgage repayments, which are too much for me to afford on top of the cc bills, I have spoken to 2 of my 5 cc companies to put arrangements in place, but they too finish this month.
What repercussions are there to bankruptcy? Would I even be able to do it with my salary?
Also, can I do it on my own, I don't want my wifes credit rating to be affected. We have 3 kids, 15yr old and 16 yr old, which are my step kids, and a one year old who we had together. So I want everthing to be as painless as possible for them too.

ps should I go into arrears with my mortgage this month?

Please help
Phil.

Hi Phil,

It’s difficult to give you detailed advice on your options as we don’t have your full financial details. You can visit our online debt advice facility called Debt Remedy. Debt Remedy would assist you in completing a financial statement and you would be provided with tailored advice on the best way to deal with your situation. Click here to go directly to Debt Remedy.

If you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00. It would be helpful that when you call you have details ready regarding your income, expenditure and creditors, as this can help speed up the referral process. If you have this information ready it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor if one is available, otherwise we will arrange a time that is convenient for you to be called back for an appointment.