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Bankruptcy - My story
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Littlepickle_3
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hello everyone...:wave:
I am a regular reader of Martin's site but I have never posted anything on the forum before. However, last week I finally found the courage to make myself Bankrupt and I thought I would share my (frank and honest) story with you and keep you updated with the progress.
If it helps just one person to make a decision (or not?!) then it will make me happy
So, how does my story start? Probably the same as the majority of people in debt! I met my husband in 1997 and only had 1 credit card with a small limit. After a few months of dating he informed me he had £15,000 of debt but we were in love and both working so we decided to get married 6 months later and deal with it together. We didn't have an expensive wedding, and with help from friends and family had a fantastic start to our new lives. I already had a house so I added his name to the mortgage and life was good. We took out a loan to pay off his credit cards and we had spare money for once! But things soon started to revert to how they were before - the odd pair of shoes on the card, then holidays, petrol.....if we saw something and didn't have the cash it went on a card saying 'we'll pay it off when we get paid'.....The 1st mistake was not cutting the cards up when we had the loan. After a few years of getting by, we sold the house and made a huge profit of £50,000. We found our dream house and even managed to pay a few debts off (by this time they were around £25,000) but we used some of the money on the deposit and kept some aside for renovating.
So new house new start? Kind of....but we wanted the house to look its very best and once we had done that we wouldn't need to spend any more money right? So out came the cards, new furniture, more decorating, gardening....of course it never ends. After being in the house for a few years things took a turn for the worse and I became depressed. My husband was using the cards for anything and as much as I tried to keep a reign on our expenses he was spending money without me knowing, he even had cards I didn't know about. Life at home was terrible and our debts were building up. When I found out he had been on internet dating sites it was the final straw and my depression escalated. I hated my job and my life so we put the house on the market to try and start again somewhere else. I handed in my notice and took the opportunity to train as a snowboard instructor which meant 3 months apart...By then we knew it was over. We were £40,000 in debt, with a mortage of £120,000 on top of that and we could barely afford to feed ourselves. The house market was taking a turn for the worse and we accepted an offer for £20,000 less than the house had originally been on the market for.
After 3 months apart we decided it would be best if we seperated. The house sale was going through, I rented a room from a friend, he rented a small house. We had a profit of £18,000 from the sale and we looked at what debts we could pay off. I wrote to my credit cards trying to make an offer of a final payment, splitting £9000 between them. Unfortunately they were all rejected. The money was in the joint account which my husband was 'looking after' and when I asked him to withdraw some of the money for repairs to my car, imagine my despair when he informed me there was only £1000 left.....yes he had spent it all. Looking back I know it was irresponsible of me to let him look after the money, his past record of spending wasn't the best. But my depression effected all my judgement and to be honest I didn't want any hassle at the time-I couldn't deal with it.
I had no money and was only making enough money to live on so my cards didn't get paid. I spoke to CCCS and they said they could only recommend bankruptcy as I couldn't afford to make any payment towards paying off my debts. This was the scariest thought ever as I work in finance and many companies won't touch you if you have a bad credit history. I found a job I loved, but being bankrupt would have meant instant dismissal so I was stuck in a loop. A job and debt, or no job and debt? For two years I avoided payment, giving them excuses. Then I lost my job due to the company being taken over. I decided that I could not put it off any longer and I had to declare myself bankrupt. I was renting with my new partner and I had no intention of ever having a loan or credit card again. After several lengthy phone calls to CCCs bankruptcy support line I found the courage to call the court and request a bankruptcy package. It was a godsend I was off work as it took me a week to gather all the information I needed. And thankfully I also found you could fill the form out online as I messed the paper one up so many times! The online insolvancy service was so easy to use, it guides you through the questions and there is a phone number to call in case of further queries. Total debt £45,000. Even though some of the debt is in joint names you still have to list the full amount. And then there's the cards in my name but my husband had the privilage of a card to use...what a big fat mess
DDay! I went to court last wednesday morning. I took the fee and 3 copies as stated and waited my turn with the interviewer. She was a lovely lady who made me feel at ease and she went through one of the forms and made any adjustments. She destroyed the other 2 copies and photocopies the one she had amended. Then she said they would be passed to a judge and to come back at 2pm to collect the paperwork. At 2pm I went back, was handed the forms and told an insolvancy person would call me soon. That was it! A few days later I received a letter asking to send further statements to the insolvancy office before my telephone interview next week. So here I am, trying to collate the information and awaiting my next step.......
I hope you have found the above interesting, please ask if you have any questions. I will write what happens next just as soon as something happens. I have to go and search for jobs now, wish me luck!........:hello:
I am a regular reader of Martin's site but I have never posted anything on the forum before. However, last week I finally found the courage to make myself Bankrupt and I thought I would share my (frank and honest) story with you and keep you updated with the progress.
If it helps just one person to make a decision (or not?!) then it will make me happy
So, how does my story start? Probably the same as the majority of people in debt! I met my husband in 1997 and only had 1 credit card with a small limit. After a few months of dating he informed me he had £15,000 of debt but we were in love and both working so we decided to get married 6 months later and deal with it together. We didn't have an expensive wedding, and with help from friends and family had a fantastic start to our new lives. I already had a house so I added his name to the mortgage and life was good. We took out a loan to pay off his credit cards and we had spare money for once! But things soon started to revert to how they were before - the odd pair of shoes on the card, then holidays, petrol.....if we saw something and didn't have the cash it went on a card saying 'we'll pay it off when we get paid'.....The 1st mistake was not cutting the cards up when we had the loan. After a few years of getting by, we sold the house and made a huge profit of £50,000. We found our dream house and even managed to pay a few debts off (by this time they were around £25,000) but we used some of the money on the deposit and kept some aside for renovating.
So new house new start? Kind of....but we wanted the house to look its very best and once we had done that we wouldn't need to spend any more money right? So out came the cards, new furniture, more decorating, gardening....of course it never ends. After being in the house for a few years things took a turn for the worse and I became depressed. My husband was using the cards for anything and as much as I tried to keep a reign on our expenses he was spending money without me knowing, he even had cards I didn't know about. Life at home was terrible and our debts were building up. When I found out he had been on internet dating sites it was the final straw and my depression escalated. I hated my job and my life so we put the house on the market to try and start again somewhere else. I handed in my notice and took the opportunity to train as a snowboard instructor which meant 3 months apart...By then we knew it was over. We were £40,000 in debt, with a mortage of £120,000 on top of that and we could barely afford to feed ourselves. The house market was taking a turn for the worse and we accepted an offer for £20,000 less than the house had originally been on the market for.
After 3 months apart we decided it would be best if we seperated. The house sale was going through, I rented a room from a friend, he rented a small house. We had a profit of £18,000 from the sale and we looked at what debts we could pay off. I wrote to my credit cards trying to make an offer of a final payment, splitting £9000 between them. Unfortunately they were all rejected. The money was in the joint account which my husband was 'looking after' and when I asked him to withdraw some of the money for repairs to my car, imagine my despair when he informed me there was only £1000 left.....yes he had spent it all. Looking back I know it was irresponsible of me to let him look after the money, his past record of spending wasn't the best. But my depression effected all my judgement and to be honest I didn't want any hassle at the time-I couldn't deal with it.
I had no money and was only making enough money to live on so my cards didn't get paid. I spoke to CCCS and they said they could only recommend bankruptcy as I couldn't afford to make any payment towards paying off my debts. This was the scariest thought ever as I work in finance and many companies won't touch you if you have a bad credit history. I found a job I loved, but being bankrupt would have meant instant dismissal so I was stuck in a loop. A job and debt, or no job and debt? For two years I avoided payment, giving them excuses. Then I lost my job due to the company being taken over. I decided that I could not put it off any longer and I had to declare myself bankrupt. I was renting with my new partner and I had no intention of ever having a loan or credit card again. After several lengthy phone calls to CCCs bankruptcy support line I found the courage to call the court and request a bankruptcy package. It was a godsend I was off work as it took me a week to gather all the information I needed. And thankfully I also found you could fill the form out online as I messed the paper one up so many times! The online insolvancy service was so easy to use, it guides you through the questions and there is a phone number to call in case of further queries. Total debt £45,000. Even though some of the debt is in joint names you still have to list the full amount. And then there's the cards in my name but my husband had the privilage of a card to use...what a big fat mess
DDay! I went to court last wednesday morning. I took the fee and 3 copies as stated and waited my turn with the interviewer. She was a lovely lady who made me feel at ease and she went through one of the forms and made any adjustments. She destroyed the other 2 copies and photocopies the one she had amended. Then she said they would be passed to a judge and to come back at 2pm to collect the paperwork. At 2pm I went back, was handed the forms and told an insolvancy person would call me soon. That was it! A few days later I received a letter asking to send further statements to the insolvancy office before my telephone interview next week. So here I am, trying to collate the information and awaiting my next step.......
I hope you have found the above interesting, please ask if you have any questions. I will write what happens next just as soon as something happens. I have to go and search for jobs now, wish me luck!........:hello:
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Comments
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Thank you for sharing your story, I hope you can now look forwrad to a brighter future!!0
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Welcome, and well done for facing your problems. Your story is again a way for people to see that we can all make mistakes, but facing upto reality is often the hardest part. Well Done0
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Hello Littlepickle....love the name. Thankyou for sharing your story.
My, you have been through it... and come out the otherside well done.
I wish you this best of luck.
Ifwishes...x"If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride"
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Welcome to the forum and for taking the time to share your experience of the BR process.:T:T:T:pB&SC No. 298
Life`s Tragedy is that we get OLD too soon
and WISE too late!0 -
Good luck to you, sounds like you could do with some.
I went bankrupt back in 2001 when it was still a three year duration. I'm glad I did, but must admit that I'd love to have given the judge a mouthful! I'd gotten into difficulties as a result of the foot and mouth outbreak, which effectively wiped out my work as a dairy farm relief milker for several months. Part of the bankruptcy process was standing before a judge, so that he could lecture me on spendthrift ect :mad:
As someone who'd previously never claimed benefits of any sort, worked between 50-100 hours per week for 20 years and certainly wasn't a big spender; I found him arrogant and far far removed from reality!
Bankruptcy wasn't an easy thing for me to accept, but with a large family to support on a low income, it was the only option available at the time. It did help us get back on our feet, and certainly took the weight off our shoulders, but it's taken a long time to shake off the implications (last year I finally managed to get a proper bank account again).
It's nice now to be in a position where I owe no money to anyone (except for a £3000 work van that I couldn't do without), but feel sad that a home of our own is now something we're never likely to own (I'm 45).
Ivan0 -
Thank you all for your kind comments. It wasn't an easy decision, but it was my only option in the end. Not being able to have credit doesn't seem too bad to me - i've managed the last 2 years without a credit card and I don't ever want to be in a situation as bad as I was ever again.
I must admit I'm worried I won't ever be able to get a mortgage, but you never know I might find a rich man one day!!:rotfl:0 -
hi there littlepickle
thanks for sharing your situation, it just shows how it can happen to anyone. i took my eye off the ball for a short while and then i got ill, it soon creeps up on you.
i hope you can draw a line in the sand and move on to a happier future!! all the best0 -
So I have received my interview date with the Insolvancy man - next Tuesday morning via phone. They sent me a rather confusing package asking me to sign and return forms using the checklist (2 forms weren't on there....) and requesting all my statements and loan agreements for the last year.....GULP!!:eek:
I quickly emailed my estranged husband asking if he had kept any old statements from when we sold the marital home...he didn't think so but would look! I haven't been receiving bank or credit card statements for over a year - they all gave up on me and closed my accounts and only sent threatening letters. The loan was taken out so long ago does anyone keep these things?? So I call up the insolvancy interviewer and he was sooooo nice. He asked me why I didn't have them and said to just send whatever I could find, and that the interview might take an extra 10 minutes to go through things.......phew. I go through stages of really worrying if I have done the right thing or not, then thinking everything will be ok......so I have managed to compile a huge envelope of stuff that I am about to post.
So good news today too - I had a random call from the letting agency I use saying they knew I was currently out of work, would I like to go for an interview with them regarding a vacancy at the branch! It went really well and I was quite hopeful until this afternoon the guys who owns it phones me.....he has received a letter from the insolvancy office about my bankrupty:( I don't know why I didn't mention it to them. I honestly forgot as I was excited about the role.
Anyway he said it wouldn't affect my application/interview (apart from all the girls in the office knowing I was bankrupt) but it may affect what properties we can rent when our lease comes up for renewal!! How unfair! If we have always paid our rent on time why should it matter? He said it doesn't always change anything, but they are required to tell the landlord. Oooohhh I don't want to loose the house we live in. I asked if there was anything we could do like remove me from the tenancy agreement and he told me not to worry, we would deal with any issues as they arose. Now i'm nervous. Not only might I have blown a really good job, but I may loose my home too soon.:( I suppose I'll just have to wait and see.0 -
I can't believe it! I was offered the job even though I didn't tell my new employers about going bankrupt in the interview! Really thought I'd blown it, but my new boss to be wasn't bothered at all! Start work Monday yippeeeeee:T
Also had my OR phone interview today.....I was very scared but he was lovely. He told me I didn't have to tell my employer anyway (they don't), I can keep my car and as it seems to be a straight forward case I should hopefully be cleared from bankruptcy withing 6 months! So happy today. I didn't even know that the courts don't bother listing bankruptcies in local papers any more. Apparantly the government are trying to make it easier and less of a taboo for people. That's great news-been feeling like the worlds biggest criminal since I went to court. You never know I might even be able to get a mortgage again one day!:rotfl:0 -
hey littlepickle
brilliant news on the job!!!! you must be over the moon!
i'm glad the OR interview went well, time to try and put it behind you and concentrate on your new job
yeay!!! :dance:0
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