Advice Needed Please

up_the_creek_5

Hello

As i have mentioned previously i am in serious un-secured debt (around £84k) over several credit cards & loans. To make things worse i foolishly lied on some of the application forms re salary & housing status to get the credit.

I have swithed my bank a/c to one not connected with my creditors & i am going to change my home number to X directory. I intially conacted my union debt helpline who recommended Payplan & i have just spoke to one of their advisors.

After reviewing my debts & income/expenditure details the advisor told me i would not qualify for an IVA as i only have £196pm left over for debts which is the equalivent of only 14p in the pound. He also pointed out thatin my case the problem with an IVA is that although i live with my elderley mother & the house is hers. If anything happened to her the house would be treated as a windfall & i would have to turn over 75% of the equity to my creditors.

He has re-jigged my budget& taken out things like: socialising, xmas/birthdays, life insurance/endowment & reduced my transport budget. This gives a figure of £300.93 to be put forward as a DMP payable over 23 years (i think i am still taking all this in). Apparnetly the advantage of this is that their is no need to get the law involved & safeguard any future housing windfall. He added that although this is a long time, after a while the debts would be classed as "old" & the creditors might then do deal.

Normally the obvious option would be bankruptcy as i do not have my own home & have no real assets (my car is 12years old & only worth around £2k at best). However, i am a Civil Servant in the MOD & i don't think i can.

I have contacted my union to clarify this but they just told me to contact my local rep. I donot want to do this as my local rep is a personal friend & i do not want him to know my situaton. I have thought of ringing my HR dept annonymously but they are useless at the best of times.

The Payplan advisor also said that with IVA & bankruptcy being legal processes they may find out that i lied on some of the original credit applications & i may be prosecuted for fraud. Which would cost me my job.

up_the_creek_5

Sorry i pressed the wrong button & posted too soon.

What i also wanted to say was that although i want to pay as much back as i can. The thought of what could be the rest of my life with no social life, holidays, hardly any money etc. Well i might as well be dead.

Thanks

sanfrancisco

If I were you I would go bankrupt, but I understand your apprehensions. You basically need more information. Ring the Union back and say you have not been able to get the info from your local rep and could they give you someone elses number/send you some information. You need to find out if bankruptcy will threaten your job. If it will you can then rule it out and we can find a plan B for you. Ring them back.

lynzpower

A couple of things dont sit right here for me

He has taken out the birthdays etc, well what happens to your budget when Xmas comes around then if he has not given a budget for you to live on - this sounds like a crazy idea to me, certainly wont help you budget in the future ??

You need to let the union helpline know that you want someone else from another branch to help you with this, i believe thats possible.

Hello

Hello Up

You certainly are in a difficult position however I think you are very brave in facing up to your situation. There are some on this board who have the similar debts and have managed to reduce them significantly quicker - how about increasing your earnings to help? Matched betting seems to be popular and useful, surveys generate cash, shopping by cash back sites etc, part time job, home working. It may be tough to begin with, however I am sure it will get eaiser after a while - you are still in the shock stage, every little helps.

Any chance of finding another job that doesn't have such restrictions on your financial status?

Good luck

Hello
x

ALWAYS_POOR

I never read the Debt-Free Wannabe threads but decided to today.

My heart goes out to you as you feel you are in such a mess and think life is not worth living. I also understand.

I can't say anything to make things better and am not knowledgable enough to give you advice, but please remember that what seems unthinkable now will improve even if you don't think it can at the moment. Go along with the advice you have been given for the foreseeable future and, as I usually find, things don't always seem so bad, as your advisor said, some of the debts may be reduced or written off eventually, you will get pay rises. I have always tried to earn more money by doing a second job. Give it all some thought before you starting thinking that you might as well be dead.

sultry33

hello upthecreek and welcome.

i understand where you are coming from as my bf is in the police and he cannot go bankrupt either.
i think maybe another job pt is big step but it would help you get an IVA and would only be over your head for 5yrs or so, certainly better than 23!

my bf is a great guy and he too felt like you and today was told he might have sell his dream car, i really hope he doesnt have to as its all he does now.

things will look up for you im sure,

Mike_St_Helens

I agree with them all...

Speak with your union again, or possibly call your HR dept anon. Sometimes they are Ok with these issues if they are informed rather than them finding out themselves. 'Once you are in you are in' I was told. But I work for a different area of the Civil Service.

My HR Director was informed about the situation, my manager was told by him, just to keep an eye ot that alls OK.

Mike

Rallya

I worked for the Civil Service a couple of years ago for the Official Receiver dealing with personal bankruptcies and liquidation of companies.

At the time there was a guy in another office working for an Official Receiver and he had to declare himself bankrupt. It was frowned upon and he was basically told he would not progress any further up the ladder promotion wise but he would not lose his job. He was an Administrative Officer at the time which deal with all the paperwork of the Official Receiver with no management of people involved so if you are at at a similar position I would think you wouldnt lose your job. So long as you let your HR know beforehand.

One thing though, if you have lied about anything concerning your creditors, your Official Receiver WILL find out and contact said creditors concerning this. My experience concerning this was that the companies concerned didnt take it any futher as they didnt want the bad publicity, BUT if you work for the Civil Service you would probably lose your job because of fraud/lying.

When I needed to speak to a union rep (i think youd be in the same union as I was) I just said I didnt get on with my local rep and didnt want to tell them my problem and I got a call from a different union rep at the union headquarters and he sorted my problem.

HTH

up_the_creek_5

Thanks for all the advice.

I have managed to calm down a bit now. Anway, i've recd an e-mail from my union, they are going to contact one of the reps in Defence Vetting to see if Bankuptcy is allowesd in the MOD. In the meantime i am going to go along with the DMP while i find out more about bankruptcy.

Also i was wondering, if i stayed on the DMP would this mean my credit record would not be clear until 6 years after the plan finished. While if i went bankrupt would my record be clear 6 years after the date i was made bankrupt.

Thanks