What's life after Bankruptcy actually like ?

PixiePie

gforster wrote: »

Right just spoke to him and he has been approved by the Halifax, the home buy scheme here pays 30% deposit for First Time Buyers but because he has been BR in the past they asked for a small deposit (5% I think) from him as well meaning that the mortgage is 65% LTV (65% is £83k).

He did say that he had to go to a second broker for the homebuy mortgage as the first they put him in touch with didn't seem to understand or care particularly, the second one was very helpful and sorted it all fairly easily.

Thank you *so* much for being so very helpful and sharing so much personal information, it really is a huge help to myself so I'm sure to others as well, to find out that there is the possibility of being a home owner after BR still. Thank you

gemma7wayne

gforster your reply has been very interesting and made me have a bit more hope as the advisor i have been in touch with put us thru rbs even tho they have changed policy and wont take anyone that has ever been bankrupt i informd her of this after calling them, she then advised me halifax wont take Discharged BRs so i called them and they said it wont stop them giving u a mortgage but odviously they look into it. so think we will wait until jan let our credit file clean itself up then try with halifax.

Our homebuy scheme also lends 30% did he have to pay 5% deposit off the whole amount or just the 70% he would be borrowing from halifax?

gforster

gemma7wayne wrote: »

gforster your reply has been very interesting and made me have a bit more hope as the advisor i have been in touch with put us thru rbs even tho they have changed policy and wont take anyone that has ever been bankrupt i informd her of this after calling them, she then advised me halifax wont take Discharged BRs so i called them and they said it wont stop them giving u a mortgage but odviously they look into it. so think we will wait until jan let our credit file clean itself up then try with halifax.

Our homebuy scheme also lends 30% did he have to pay 5% deposit off the whole amount or just the 70% he would be borrowing from halifax?

That is a good point, he did make sure that his credit file was spotless post BR, contact anyone that shows you still have a default and get them to remove it and put the date of satisfaction to be NO LATER than the date of BR. There is a very good sticky thread regarding this and it is essential if you are looking at mortgages.

He was also told that they look at the number of searches on your credit file in the last twelve months and obviously if there are any on there for credit cards you may well be declined so best to make sure the searches section of your credit file is clean also.

It was 5% of the whole house value meaning a total deposit of 35%. He was told that if he could get 10% together it would be much easier still and the interest rate would be pretty much the same as anyone else.

gforster

PixiePie wrote: »

Thank you *so* much for being so very helpful and sharing so much personal information, it really is a huge help to myself so I'm sure to others as well, to find out that there is the possibility of being a home owner after BR still. Thank you

No problem PixiePie, nice to be of help, I have been put down once before on here for giving people "false hope".

It's not right for everyone and you do have to make sure that circumstances and affordability are right etc but I just wanted to make the point that it CAN be done and all hope is NOT lost.

FACEDUPTOITATLAST

Best thing that could have happened for me, I was forced into it by a creditor, did everything possible to get out of BR - I wanted to repay every penny! but it happened. To be honest, I have had no problems whatsoever....I even have a next directory account which I rarely use ( to try and go someway to attempt to rebuild credit) I pay up straight away once I have recieved item and am happy with it, also T-mobile gave me a contract with them 4 months after BR. I am not discharged yet, due for discharge in just under 6 weeks. Natwest let me keep my step account open, andat the moment I am speaking to them to see if i can upgrade to a normal account - with NO overdraft, but a cheque book, so far so good, they have done a credit check and haven't said no yet, just had to sign paperwork and some final checks to go through ( still think they may decline, but who knows) - they know I am BR.

GettingHopeful

Just wanted to add that after a while, I adjusted to the different circumstances, cash only basis, no cheque book, being concerned about what people think... and forgot - yes forgot - that I was BR and simply carried on with my life. I have enough to live on = can earn a bit more without declaring now I am AD,and it seems to me that everyone around me is worrying about money all the time. Oddly, I am not. I put away £100 a month now for a big holiday we are going on in October 2010, and also money each month towards my dd wedding next year, and there was a bit of car problems, producing a £220 bill, but I have paid it, cash, and am rejigging my finances around that without too much trouble.

There is very little in my purse these days, for day to day things, but I have got used to that too, and I don't think about that much either.

I think what I am saying is that we adapt and do live more comfortably than before BR with all the aggro that the debts caused.

alastairq

To be honest, my life [style] hasn't changed at all, post BR.

Once I realised that I'd never have a hope of re-paying the CC debts, it was a case of preparation [bank account changes, etc].

For my lifestyle, I really have no use for any kind of credit.

After the family home actually sold, last year, and the proceeds divvied up 'tween myself and left-wife, I spent the money purchasing all the basic essentials needed for a modest home....the old car got a thorough overhaul, and the kids got treated somewhat. Even bought a new computer...to replace the borrowed one....essential for managing finances these days??

Once BR, little has changed..I got to keep the car, my expenditure, officially, just about equals my income...
I still purchase off the net, the electron card proving more than adequate for my needs.


In fact I consider myself better off now, than beforehand.

I don't see much change, post-discharge..whenever that will be.

[some seem to be achieving discharge after a very short timespan....what seems to be the key to encouraging an early discharge?]

FinancesOfAFiveYearOld

A BIG hello to everyone and a THANK YOU for producing a great forum for the likes of me to lurk around - I only wish that I had found this place earlier!

Potted bio: reasonably high-flying job with blue-chip company; redundancy; started (another) business since I'm in late forties and not willing to beg for work; crashed and burned; signing on for Job-Snuffler's Allowance at Her Majesty's pleasure.

Life after bankruptcy? I went to the big court building fifty weeks and one day ago ... Judge was a tweed twin-set and pearls sweetie-pie who virtually gave me a hug and told me to go home and get a good night's sleep and not worry about anything. Payments were up to date with everything but reason for bankruptcy was that they wouldn't have been a month later and I could hear the Spitfire scream of my life crashing. Only hassle to date has been from The Coop who developed a habit of ringing 08:00hrs and 21:00hrs plus a couple of times in-between despite polite explanations and court references being given. They stopped when I made an official complaint that it constituted harrassment.

OR interview was the longest three-hour telephone call I have ever made, I've never been so knac... so pooped. Laptop and car taken leaving me living in the middle of Norfolk on a bus route with two buses a day (07:20hrs and a return in the afternoon). Nearest shop was the village post office at a seven mile round-trip walk (did my waistlne a power of good!). Rented house had to go (after five years of living there) because the housing benefit shortfall was almost more than the JSA.

Friends and colleagues very gently - but very quickly - melted away. Landlady would have been a b*tch had I not kept waving cash for the rent under her nose once a month until I left (she took two months to refund my deposit too when I left and required a bit of "encouraging" to release it). Thank you eBay for the cash coversions. The most frustrating thing was no-one to talk to about it! All relatives apart from my sister and her family melted away. Well, they sort of ran screaming actually with their fingers in their ears! In contrast sister and family immediately lent me a replacement car to use, accommodation and even food parcels of the sort of stuff you just don't buy when you're a single bloke on JSA.

Best part? I don't have huge business debts (from non-payers) around my neck any more. It's almost unbelievably a whole new start.

Weirdest part? The lack of independence, the finances. Had a ten day period in February when I literally had 40p in my pocket - and the bit people find hard to identify with, no cards to fall back on. Current benefits @ 250 a month total, £110 of which disappears in storage for my remaining goods and much-loved chattels. My finances consist entirely of cash, a post office benefits account and a Tuxedo card. You can eat healthily and well so long as you shop from the ends of aisles and choose from buy-one-get-one-frees and special offers. Since I've got no chance of a mortgage any more my best chance of respectable independent accommodation is probably a boat so I'm aiming with savings at a very old, very short, narrowboat and will work "up" from there. When I get it it will be mine, all mine, as they say.

And know what? It's brilliant! I am waiting with great antici..........pation for automatic discharge in two weeks time. Being a single bankrupt with no house, current job etc has one distinct advantage - I'm starting up as a self-employed writer/photographer and I can cheerily undercut the competition. I don't have to instantly come up wth the same sort of income that I used to need in the good old bad old days.

There truly is a light at the end of the tunnel, it isn't a train coming towards you and life can (and is and will) get better.

All I need now is to re-stock with a few mates, preferably ones of a less "fair weather" persuasion this time. Fingers crossed I'll soon be back in a position, should the need ever unfortunatelyarise, to afford someone else the same practical and immediate help that Big Sis and her family gave me. It was a life saver.

Says thanks again for a great forum and exits stage left to go back to lurking... and re-starting with a big grin on his face.

kew63

Originally started this thread because hoped it would help dispell some of the fear that looming BR brings. Read your replies mostly with a big smile, your stories have been inspirational and think can say the general consensus is there most definately is life after BR - and in many cases it's a better one.

We've lived a total nightmare for the last few months, worried sick about how on earth we could pay back the debts, trying every which way for a solution, and finally after a chat with our CAB counsellor a couple of weeks ago, the previously dismissed option of BR was put forward.

We saw Insolvcancy Practionioner yesterday, and hubbie is going for BR. SOA to fill in and then we can get cracking. Do feel relieved after months of wondering how we were going to tackle this debt, but still apprehensive about how SOA will be taken and what will happen with regards to IPA etc..

We had a couple of threatening letters from creditors when we got home last night, and instead of blind panic got a slight warm fuzzy feeling that in a few weeks they can go stick their threats ............. doesnt shine !!!!

Once concern now is the SOA, the IP said we would have to add my salary to it even though BR is hubbie only and I need to expand my figures to more realistic amounts. I've been supporting him for so many months and been living very meagrely it's hard to think we can allow for such things as holidays & entertainment.

Really hope more people will add their stories to this thread, and hope to all of you that have already replied that you lives will continue to improve & prosper -and not just in the money sense :-)

tigerfeet2006

kew63 wrote: »

Originally started this thread because hoped it would help dispell some of the fear that looming BR brings. Read your replies mostly with a big smile, your stories have been inspirational and think can say the general consensus is there most definately is life after BR - and in many cases it's a better one.

We've lived a total nightmare for the last few months, worried sick about how on earth we could pay back the debts, trying every which way for a solution, and finally after a chat with our CAB counsellor a couple of weeks ago, the previously dismissed option of BR was put forward.

We saw Insolvcancy Practionioner yesterday, and hubbie is going for BR. SOA to fill in and then we can get cracking. Do feel relieved after months of wondering how we were going to tackle this debt, but still apprehensive about how SOA will be taken and what will happen with regards to IPA etc..

We had a couple of threatening letters from creditors when we got home last night, and instead of blind panic got a slight warm fuzzy feeling that in a few weeks they can go stick their threats ............. doesnt shine !!!!

Once concern now is the SOA, the IP said we would have to add my salary to it even though BR is hubbie only and I need to expand my figures to more realistic amounts. I've been supporting him for so many months and been living very meagrely it's hard to think we can allow for such things as holidays & entertainment.

Really hope more people will add their stories to this thread, and hope to all of you that have already replied that you lives will continue to improve & prosper -and not just in the money sense :-)

You don't need to put your full income, just your contribution to the joint household bills.