will credit card company make me bankrupt

Michelle32

Hi everyone I owe £20,000 in credit cards and I have not been able to pay these for months now I have had a reduction of hours at work will credit card company make me bankrupt I have a joint mortgage any advice both credit card companies have closed my accounts and they are being dealt with by in house DCA.

Thanks

Tixy

You need to negotaite with your creditors to explain you financial postion and make sure you are at least making token payments each month.

The best way to prevent any court action being taken against you will be to keep in touch with them and to ensure you pay something every month.

Bankruptcy is a last resort, it is more likely you would end up with CCJs (county court judgements) if you do not pay.

You are likely to have been given defaults on your credit file by the card companies. If you have these will stay on for 6years and will affect your chances of getting anymore credit or moving your mortgage. They will also make it harder for whoever you are financiall assoicated with (though the joint mortgage) to get credit.

Have you prepared a budget/statement of affairs to show how much you can afford to pay each month? how does this compare to your minimum payments?

If you haven't done a budget then that is probably the next step so you can see how far short you fall each month. Help for First Time Posters & SOA Calculator

bottleofred

Hi Michelle32,

As Tixy has said, you probably will end up with defaults and possible ccjs. However, they probably won't go for Bankruptcy as it'll cost them money and they generally don't like to spend more money if they can get away with it.

PNPSUKNET

I tend to disagree, if their is a chance they can get the money from a house they would for £20k

Tixy

If the £20k debt was all to one card then I would agree with that Pnps.

I did just assume it was likely to be a number of smaller debts but that isn't clear from the OP.

That said they would still likely to go for CCJs or maybe a charging order first, but if it was one debt of £20k, or one creditor was a substantial part of that if you ignore them altogether there is a chance that they may consider petitioning for bankruptcy.

DarkConvict

CCJs and CO will be much more likely. You need to owe over £1500 (£3000 in Scotland) to a single credit creditor.

Unless the amount owed is very high, i doubt they would do it, as it costs them about £1500 to force you bankrupt, and they obviously need to know that they will get their money back.

Generally they will prefer even with higher amounts to go for a charging order, and if needed a force sale (although it is rarely granted)