My Bankruptcy Log

WhoThrewThat

2 Days Pre BR

Ok nearly there. I took some money out of my bank today. Need to feed the wife and kids this month. I hope the OR wont mind but I'm sure they will understand.

Feeling quite anxious now. Went past the court today and just wanted to go in and get it done. Silly I know but I'm sure you understand the whole "anticipation of death is worse than death itself" thing. I hope this is one of them times.

I have also used the c/card to get most of the money for the fees. I can see that this might be judged a little naughty but I thought I had the money and I just didn’t have enough. I thought I could postpone but if I take a couple of months dodging creditors to save the money for fees wats the difference, still not paying with my money.

I think I may be waffling now.

Will update tomorrow night sorry in advance if it doesn’t make much sense the beer fairies may be comforting me. (Not too much of course need a clear head for my appointment 9:30am Monday)

Chao for now friends

Who

WhoThrewThat

1 Day Pre BR

AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!

Sorry bout that but feel better having had a good shout.

Well here we are D day tomorrow. Well I suppose technically it's B day but the obvious connotation dissuades me from describing it that way.

Nice Sunday roast with the family today. Things like that give you a chance to put things into perspective a little. Please don’t misunderstand that comment. I'm not taking this thing lightly I can just appreciate that even with the whole bankruptcy thing hanging over me there are still countless people in the world who would swap my tomorrow for theirs.

Some things at work have gone a bit Pete tong over the weekend. Nothing too serious just some system failure (I work in IT) but it's my job to sort it out so could do with being there tomorrow. Spoke with my boss on the phone earlier tho and he couldn’t have been better (he knows all about my little mess). I gave him some instructions of how to get things going again and he told me to forget about it for now he would deal with it and told me to concentrate on what I need to do tomorrow. A good boss is a god send at times like these and if one day I'm in the big chair I'll remember that.

I digress

When I stumbled across this amazing web site first piece of advice I was given (of course proceeding my lurking days) was to make sure I have taken advice from one of the debt charities (NDL,CCCS etc). If you are the me of a few weeks/months back and still at the lurking stage. Please understand how valuable that small piece of advice is. It’s only because I know exactly what I’m getting into that I am not going out of my mind right now. I suppose it would be fair to say I can be a little anal at times (no sniggers please you know what I mean) and it’s prob because of that I now feel clued up enough to go to court tomorrow without being a quivering mess.

Hummmm maybe sounding a little cocky again, and again not the intention.

Anyway watch this space things may be a little different this time tomorrow.

Who

confused76

good luck tomorrow whothrewthat (love your username by the way, always makes me smile)

wise words about taking advice, it is a necessity

let us know how you get on x

philnicandamy

tigerfeet2006

All ready done IF. He has been posting the same drivel over all the boards.

IF

Thanks Tiger all gone on here lol x

tigerfeet2006

No problem . The Tech guys were really on the ball :T. He had posted about 77 posts across the forums with the same thing in it roughly.

WhoThrewThat

Bankruptcy Day

Well is done. As from 10:05 this morning I am now Bankrupt and err……………….well I’m a little stuck for words really. I’ll give a brief account and try not to bore you too much. Yes bore you that’s how uneventful (thank god) the whole process was.

9:00am

Turned up ridiculously early, appointment wasn’t till 9:30 but wasn’t sure how traffic/parking etc would be so I had half an hour to wait for things to start.

9:30am

Was called up to the counter. The woman behind the desk was very nice. She spoke to me very softly and to proceeded to check my documents, show me where to sign and count the fees to make sure all was in order. To be honest this was no more a stressful experience than going to the post office to have your passport application checked or……..well you get the idea. She then asked me to take a seat and someone would be along in a few minutes to take me to see the judge.

A few minutes later:00am

A chap came over (I’m sure he had a more official sounding title than “a chap” alas I didn’t catch it) and asked me to follow him. We lead me up a couple of flights of stairs and asked me to take a seat in a small waiting room.

10:05am

The “chap” returned handed me a folder with my name written on it and asked me to go back downstairs and hand this to the very polite and kind woman who I had seen earlier. (He never said “polite and kind” I added that bit but I thought it was worth mentioning). I should also say at this point that the afore mentioned woman had advised me that it would not be likely that I would actually see the judge as they normally just check through the forms and if they are happy they just make the order. No Judge?? No stocks with rotten fruit projected towards my head???. No. Just some very professional people carrying out their job’s with no preconception of me and, with the exception of the judge of course no judgment at all and I didn’t even meet him.

10:10am

I handed the folder back to the lady and she advised me that she would have to type it up and get the OR on the phone. This would take her about half an hour so she very kindly directed me to their tea room (yes they even have a quaint little tea room) where I could wait if I liked.

10:11am

Tea room. Not much to say there. A room where you can get a cup of tea. They also had bacon and egg sandwiches and the like but I decided agenised splashing out at least while still in the court building. Not really in the spirit of things I figured.

10:40am

Back in the room with the pleasant lady. She clocked me when I entered so I just took a seat and waited. After a few minutes I was advised to go in a private little room adjacent to the waiting room where I would be able to speak with the OR.
The OR was again a very pleasant lady. She basically wanted to make sure I had a bank where I could get my wages paid in and explain what she would be doing and how I can get hold of her if I have any questions. I half joked by apologising in advance for hounding her over the next few weeks but she responded by telling me I could call any time I had a question and if she couldn’t take the call personally there was a colleague of hers that would. This was very reassuring. I don’t know what I expected but from this first 10 minute ish chat I really got the impression that her interest in me is not only to find out where I have gone wrong but also to make sure me and my family are going to be ok going forward. She advised me that I would get some paperwork through the post and I would have an interview in a week or two which would be conducted over the phone. I told her I have already set up a cashminder account and asked if I could start using it. She said she doesn’t have a problem with that as they understand the requirement people have for basic banking. As long as the co-op are ok with it (which we know they are) she has no interest in it.

10:50am

That was it. Time to go home.

You will read on these threads all the time that the day in court isn’t something you need to get in a state about as it’s never as bad as you expect. You will still worry about it and you will still think its going to be a horrible day. That was me just over 12 hours ago. The truth is that the process of going bankrupt in 2010 is not the public humiliation it may once have been and after going through it today it really is more like a paper exercise. Please don’t think I am trying to say its an easy option. Its really not. My aim here is not to persuade people to go for bankruptcy as an easy cure for debt problems but to reassure people who find it’s the only option that its not going to be as bad as you might be worrying. As I have said before there are other options and I’m sure in most cases Bankruptcy is not the answer so again get a professional opinion……. scratch that get two or three.

Please also understand that for me it’s day zero. Ok the daunting court bit is dealt with but there is plenty ahead that I have not yet experienced. I have just read back the above and it may look like I am trying to say that its all over and I know what the whole experience of BR is like. I can only report back here what my experience has been like up to this point. As the next steps take place I will update accordingly and maybe a year from now there will be a full log of what the a full experience of BR is like.

Jesus did I say at the top of this that I was going to write a brief account?? Sorry about that…….I lied!!!

DippyDog

Thank you for that account, WTT. I hope that when I get my date booked it will run as smoothly.

Strangely enough the actual day does not bother me as much as living through the following year.

I am really worried about the house - (one estate agent has confirmed it is in negitive equity but will this be accepted by the creditors?) and wonder whether there will be enough money to live on etc?

I hope you do keep this diary updated because it is really helpful to others such as myself.

DD

WhoThrewThat

Thanks for that DD
I'm much in the saim position as you in that it was the next bit I have been worrying about not the court bit as much.
I am no expert in these matters but from what I have read on other posts if the house is in negative equity then there will be no money in it for your creditors and the OR may will leave it alone as long as they are happy you can pay the mortgage. As far as I'm aware bankruptcy does not include secured debt (a mortgage) and as there is no equity its not an asset either.
The purpose of BR is to remove hardship not to create it. Your OR will allow you enough of your wages (if you work) to live comfortably (ie not in hardship) or if you are on benifits only they will not take any.
Again i am no expert in these matters and as I said its my day zero so have not lived through BR yet so please get my advise varified by others who do have more experience/knowladge than I.
Thanks again for your pose

who