Few questions about my BR

smulx

Firstly, there's a couple of things that have me worried about the OR. I took out a 'buy now pay later' finance agreement just after I was made redundant in May. At the time, I thought I'd get a new job easily and BR wasn't even on my mind. I'm a bit worried that the OR might think I intentionally took out credit that I knew I couldn't pay back, which isn't the case. Also, I have a £3000 overdraft but I'm only actually using around £400 of it and I've been using my debit card for the odd thing if I forget to take cash out. Could this also be classed as incurring debt that I know I can't pay? I actually have about £7000 of available and unused credit, so hopefully they'll be able to see that I'm not taking the !!!!. I'm just a bit scared after reading about BRO's.


Due to me not working at the moment and being on JS, who do I contact to see if I can have the £510 fee reduced/waived?

Lastly, my court date in 12/08 and I'm hoping to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible. I haven't actually missed a mortgage payment yet so it will take the company a while to repossess the house (I actually want them to). So my question is, will it effect me if the mortgage company take a while to take the house and auction it? What If I get discharged 6 months from now, and after that the house gets auctioned and I incur the shortfall... will that still be included in my BR?

Sorry if I haven't explained any of that very well, just say if more info is required.

Thanks!

dvs

Quick reply to a couple of matters:

Debit card - small purchases won't be a problem. You need to live so everyday expenses would be fine.

Fees - If you have Income based Jobseeker's Allowance you can have the court fee waived (which is £150). There are other benefiits that entitle you to have the court fee waived. There is also the option of proving you are unable to pay/have low income. See here for more information.

You will have to pay £360 to the Insolvency Service regardless of what benefits you are on. You may be able to find a sponsor/charity who will pay for the Insolvency Service fee although there aren't many. A credit can file for your bankruptcy and pay the fees (although this is very unlikely). If you are not looking to keep your house and there is no equity, then you could use this money to pay the fees. Lots of people have taken money out from bank account or credit cards to pay fees. You need to find the fees from somewhere.

fiveyearplan

You could also use some of your unused credit for your BR fees and if you want your home to be repossessed stop paying the mortgage immediately and save for rental deposit etc.

fiveyearplan

Oh forgot to say - it doesn't matter when the property is repossessed any shortfall will still fall into your BR just don't sign any papers from your lender.

smulx

Cool, thanks for the advice. Anyone able to comment on the financial agreement? I've heard that a lot of OR's are nice and understanding so it probably shouldn't be a problem, I hope.

JCS1

smulx wrote: »

Cool, thanks for the advice. Anyone able to comment on the financial agreement? I've heard that a lot of OR's are nice and understanding so it probably shouldn't be a problem, I hope.

Did you put on the finance agreement you were out of work? I'd say it was a risk the finance company took, their decision to give you credit in those circumstances. How much was the item?

smulx

the date I signed it actually turned out to be my first day of unemployment, so when I submitted my details, I was technically still employed. It was for about £750.

JCS1

A harsh OR might ask why you didn't cancel the finance agreement (think there's a 14 day cooling off period?), it also depends if any complaint is made to the OR by the finance company. But they will also take into account the amount of the recent credit compared to overall debts.

smulx

That's good to know. I have a perfectly reasonable explanation, but I know they could be harsh about the matter if they wanted to because it will look suspicious without the full story.

dvs

It's a shame you didn't pay it off with your overdraft the moment you became aware of your unemployment as you could have explained this more easily to the OR.

I would probably say to the OR that you were considering cancelling agreement but thought you would be back in employment by the date payment was due. At the time you had no idea that you were facing bankruptcy and advice from CAB was not to move any money around at this stage as it might look like favouring one creditor over another.

dvs

Smulx, just thought:

Have you sought advice from one of the debt charities or the CAB?

Are your debts over £15,000?