Bankruptcy Advice

Jaks

Hi, I am looking for some bankruptcy advice for my father.

He is 62 years old and is around £42,000 in debt with minimum payments being £1057 a month. He doesn't work and his income is Pension Credit £174 a week (joint with my mum who doesn't need to go bankrupt), carer's allowance £53.10 a week and a monthly private pension of £141 a month (Co-op Canning Factory).

He doesn't have any assets or own a house and doesn't drive. We have done a CCCS debt remedy based on his income:

His half of Pension Credit - £87.42 a week
Carer's Allowance - £53.10 a week
Pension - £141.48 a month.

The CCCS debt remedy suggested bankruptcy as an option (1st) and a low start dmp (2nd) as the other option (start with low payments and increase payments when his income changes, minimum term 16 years). We have tried doing a dmp our selves but have had several refusals to our offers.

I doubt his income will go up enough as he doesn't work and is the main carer for his wife who is wheelchair bound.

I would like to do a SOA, but I am unsure how to do it, do I put the full household bills down and my mums contribution?

Another issue is that he would be able to afford bankruptcy until January/ February next year. Any ideas to keep the wolves at bay until then?

markbass

Hi jaks

Sorry to hear about your dads plight but it sounds like he needs to go BR ASAP...i think he can get a bit of help with part of the BR fee or atleast the court fee if he's not working (there is a special form for it, i think it,s in the BR pack from the court!)...the cccs should keep the wolves at bay until he can afford to go BR..or the CAB..they can make a nominal payment of what you feel you can afford to each of the creditors...as little as a £1 some will accept and they freeze the interest aswell...somone else on here will more than likely be more qualified to advise on this but he needs to go BR like yesterday!! he's out of work, no assets!!...just do it!!...cant family whip round and get the money for him?..sell somethin?..but the poor man!!! at that age looking after your mum in a wheelchair aswell, with all the stress of debt...na..he needs to go Bankrupt right now!!

Oh and your local CAB should be able to help with the SOA aswell, even the court clerk when you take your BR in with the money should work through it with you, the SOA that is, they did me but i'd already completed it, it's not as daunting as it looks just be honest on the form!

Jaks

My father has only 2 daughters - me and my sister. I have only just come out of bankruptcy myself and can answer some of his concerns and my sister has no spare money and neither have I.

My sister and I have been helping him to sort out this mess - I don't think he realised how bad it was and he was prepared to come to some sort of arrangement with his creditors - but they are playing hardball.

I will look at the templete letters on National Debtline to see if there is anything that we can sent to the creditors.

Jaks

So far we have opened a basic bank account in my mums name (Barclays) with no overdraft or cheque book. We are going to arrange for their benefits to be paid in to the new account after they get paid next week.

My mum had no idea about whats been going on until recently as nearly all the debts are in his name. My mum has Provident and Greenwood loans that are currently being paid off and these are not really worth going bankrupt for and she can pay these out of her half of the Pension Credit and she also gets full DLA which also helps.

tigerfeet2006

Hi Jaks, sorry to hear about the creditors. As you know it is not a good idea to let them know you are going BR. Send them the 'no communication by telephone' letter, can get you a template if you need it. If he has caller ID tell him not to answer numbers he does not recognise. If he does answer tell him to tell them that he is seeking advice from NDL, cccs,cab and someone will be in touch soon. If he still gets hassled by phone, tell him to play hardball. If they ring tell them there is someone at the door/he will just go and fetch himself , put the phone down, go and do something pleasent for half an hour, go back to the phone and they will most likely have hung up and he will have caused them to spend their money on the call, tied up an operator and phone line so they have to pay for those and also they couldn't ring anyone else.

Get him to phone NDL and have a chat with them.

If he is on benefits/low income then he has to fill in form EX160A (link to it in the Bankruptcy Help sticky, so will get the court fee remission (£150)

For the SoA you need to put full household bills and his personal stuff. His full income and your mum's contribution.

What did he do before retiring? Was he ever in the forces?

Jaks

Another query I have is that what do I put on the SOA for my dads income as the Joint Pension Credit is in my mums name? I am not sure how to work it out. He gets 2 payments in his name :

Carers Allowance - £53.10 weekly.
Co-op Canning Factory Pension - £141.48 monthly.

Nearly all the household bills are in his name, but they get paid for out of the joint Pension Credit they get.