credit cards whats the worst that could happen

bevbex67

Hi

Need a bit of advice hope someone can help:)

My husband has a credit card with a balance of around £11,500, and we can no longer afford to pay the minimum payments on. We already have an agreement with them that no interest will be added. We have asked them if we could possibly pay less than the minimum payment , until things improve financially which they have refused to do, as they say by government guidelines this debt has to be paid off in 5 years.

We are considering not paying anything else and were wondering what is the worst that could happen as we are both already bankrupts in a house with negative equity.

Just on the subject of bankruptcy , how could my husband obtain credit if he was on the credit reference records as bankrupt, and who is at fault ...my husband for getting the credit or the credit card for letting him obtain it??

DarkConvict

Actually as undischarged bankrupt, it is the bankrupts responsibility to tell lenders they are bankrupt if trying to obtain credit of more than £500.

I assume running up £11.5K of debt has not been done whilst still bankrupt.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/CourtClaimsAndBankruptcy/DG_10023215

Your obligations when you're bankrupt
You must:
give the Official Receiver details of your finances, assets and creditors
look after your assets and hand them over to the Official Receiver with the relevant paperwork, such as bank statements and insurance policies
tell your trustee (either the Official Receiver or insolvency practitioner) about any new assets or income during your bankruptcy
stop using credit cards and bank or building society accounts
not obtain credit over £500 without telling the creditor that you're bankrupt
not make payments direct to your creditors (there are exceptions to this, such as mortgage arrears and outstanding child support payments)

You can pay less than the minimum, basically its called a DMP. You pay what you can afford, it is a stage to attempt before bankruptcy. I would ask national debtline, CCCS, CAB, CAP or PayPlan to run the DMP for you.

Tixy

hi bev

Are you stil undischarged bankrupts? or do you mean you have been bankrupt in the past but are not discharged?

Or do you mean that this debt was incurred before the date you were made bankrupt (though it doesn't sound like it).

Depending on which 3 of these is the case will affect what you need to do and what they can do.

LilacPixie

Bev - by you saying your husbnds credit file reads bankrupt i presume he was bankrupt already prior to obtaining this line of credit.

I think, and I hope others will agree people have to accept responsibiity for their own actions, Your Husband applied for and obtined a line of credit despite being bankrupt in the past, he then racked up 11.5K of debt on that card nd now cannot pay. Your husband i presume becme bankrupt because of a past financial error so to then go and obtain even more credit I find highly irresponsible. I really cannot see how anyone other than your husband is to blame.

DarkConvict

We certainly need more details to be able to help.

When was the £11,500 taken out?
Whos name was it taken out in?

When did he/you go bankcrupt?
If you went BR after this debt, why did you not list it in the BR paperwork? (If its not listed its not covered and you will have to pay it)

If it was taken out after the bankruptcy, was it whilst still undischarged? (This would probably be the worrying one)

Britwife

From the wording it sounds like it was taken out after filing bankruptcy. I'm really confused as to how and why a company would loan money to someone with a bad financial history

It's also frustrating that you think it's ok to file bankruptcy to get out of debt, then borrow again and just think it's ok not to pay. So to answer your question, both YOU and YOUR husband are to blame.

What's the worst that can happen? They can still pursue you to try and get their money back....it will probably earn a default on your file......get passed to differenent DCA's, maybe a ccj?......But does any of that matter to you, you don't seem to care about your financial future. You should at least pay what you can to show them that you care about paying it back.

At some point you will have equity in your house, so you can't hide in the protection of no equity forever.

Tixy

DarkConvict wrote: »

If you went BR after this debt, why did you not list it in the BR paperwork? (If its not listed its not covered and you will have to pay it)

Actually I'm don't think thats the case with bankruptcy, it would still be covered. (On a DRO you have to list each debt for it to be included but in bankruptcy I don't think you do - hopefully someone else can confirm?).

But I agree it sounds like that this debt was after being made bankrupt, so if the credit was obtained whilst undischarged basically you will be in a lot of bother (with the OR and the creditor).
If it was after you were discharged then the bankruptcy is not relevant and exactly the same could happen as to anyone else, ie court action, CCJ, baliffs, attachment of earnings, wrecking your credit file all over again, charging order, or the creditor could apply to make your husband bankrupt again. As Britwife says though - it sounds like you do not care.

If you really cannot afford minimum payments then the responsible thing to do would be to cut out all luxuries, work out what you can afford and come to a reduced repayment arrangement with the creditor.