Worse possible outcome

dojoman

What is the worst thing that cann happen when you become BR? by that I mean what is the worst punishment that can be handed out.

skylight

Imprisionment for fraud. Okay, extreme, but its a consequence of BR if they discover fraud has taken place and your BR is a result of that fraud and they then pass the matter over to the police; because fraud is a criminal thing.

But this is a bit like saying that the worst outcome from driving a car is death (if you can see the comparision; highly unlikley).


The worst as a direct result of BR is a 15 year BRO - Bankruptcy Restriction Order, where your BR restrictions are continued past your BR. So no being an MP or getting credit over £500 without telling the creditor you are under a BRO. Its unlikely you will get one of these too. Only really naughty people get these, such as taking out credit with no means of paying it back (which surprisingly is not regarded as fraud!) or not co-operating with the OR. BR is not a criminal thing; its a civil matter so there are no prision threats with debt. Being BR or debt is not cause for sending you to prison at all.

kew63

BRO/BRU but you have to have done something pretty bad to get one. They extend the BR restrictions for 3-15 years

dojoman

The raeson I asked is becuse of this. On the SOA it asks whether you have sold a property below its value. In January we sold our house to a rent back firm for cash, we had 4 serperate valuations from different firms and they were all approx the same value. With the cash we paid off the mortgage and were going to set up a small business, BR had never entered our heads, however due to illness, this never materialised and we used the cash to service our debts, now we are in the situation of declaring ourselves BR. I am worried that the OR will think we have done something underhand but we have not, and we can prove where the money went on servicing our existing debt.

skylight

That was a legitimate business deal and you have the paperwork to follow that up. It wont be the first time the OR will have come across these types of deals. As you have said, nothing was underhand, but just be upfront about it.

The OR is unlikely to care to much.

dojoman

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes I have all the paperwork, solicitors letters etc, plus proof of payment to service our exisisting debts to show where the surplus plus more went.

Darnit_2

Dojo I am also worried, but only because our cirs are a little complicated to explain. I intend to just be brutally honest and hope for the best. When I sought professioanl advice prior to BR, I was told it was all very understandable, and we aren't the first to get caught out on business deals, but I think we beat ourselves up for making decisions that we now realise weren't the best ones. But we don't have a crystal ball do we?