The Bankruptcy Club & Supporters Club

rog2

I have a couple of questions, which, hopefully someone may be able to help me with:

1. I am in dispute with two of my creditors, over the debt they claim. Can I still continue the dispute once I am declared bankrupt?

2. Similar question - can I continue to claim back bank charges, once I am declared bankrupt?

Thanks
Rog2

rog2

Just bumping the thread up because there are a lot of bankruptcy questions being asked today and you may find some answers here.
PS - New members welcome.
Rog2
(on behalf of Mike SH - who is sunning himself in Spain this week)

rog2

Just a quick word to all of you to say that I am off for my BR (tomorrow morning - High Court, London) so won't be about for a few days.
Thanks for all your help and advice.
I'll let you all know how I get on.

Cheers
Rog2

nillhouse

Good luck!

davethecue

Hi
Had my first visit to Official receiver today(wenr br 11.10.06)
Interview very basic about 1 hour. He said it will now get passed on to someone senior as lots of debt and no assets. Probably a B.R.U. which is some sort of voluntary submission not to get credit for 3-5 years as br will not be discharged for this period of time
Still breathing with my own liberty !

GrannyKnits_2

Will be thinking of you Rog2, i'm sure everything will be fine.

Thought I'd post a kind of diary of events to explain how my b.r. went in the hope it will reassure anyone who is about to go through it themselves. Apologies now for the length of post, if it's too long rog2, p.m. me and I'll delete it!!

• Way back in sept. last year I finally faced up to the fact that all my money was paying off credit cards/loans, leaving me to buy food on my cards - I acknowledged the vicious cycle I had got myself in.

• Phoned up all my creditors and told them I was having trouble paying due to my current circumstaces and asked for total owed.

• Worked out incomings and necessary amounts for food,fuel etc. Then with total amount left I worked out a pro-rata figure. Therefore those I owed the most to got a higher share of the money.

• Wrote a covering letter explaining why I was doing this and how I'd worked the figures out to each of the creditors along with the personal financial statement. TIP: I also stapled a cheque with the amount for the first instalement. This came in useful when certain creditors denied getting the letter - yes, I had proof that they had cashed the cheque. TIP: Keep photo copies of all papers sent.

• Then I cut up the credit cards!!

• Struggled through Christmas and New Year but creditors had started ringing asking for money. Esp. Halifax who took to ringing 2/3 times a day asking me to make extra payments on my card (yes, even after i told them i'd cut them up!! they do stick to their script)

• Finally I'd had enough and decided I would go B.R. I stopped paying the montly payments and saved the money i would need for the b.r.

• Phoned up local CAB and made an appoint. to see the debt specialist. He was brilliant, helped me fill in the nesessary forms. TIP: If you have a life insurance policy it may be counted as equity as it accrues money. Think about cancelling until after if you don't stand to lose too much money.

• Phoned up court and asked to be put through to b.r. clerk. Asked her if I could have an appointment at the b.r. court, got one a couple of days later.

• At court was shown to a waiting room which quickly filled up with about another 6/7 people. Each one was called up to the counter where you handed over your £310 and swore on the Bible you were who you said you were and the facts were right on the form. You had the opportunity to object to using the Bible.

• We were taken upstairs 2 by 2 (some link there!) and asked to wait in another room. The other person was called through first and came back within 2/3 minutes. Then my turn, went into a room and the Judge sat there (normal clothes!). He briefly leafed through the form, I started to say why I had done this but it wasn't necessary. He told me he was declaring me b.r. and to go back downstairs and wait for m declaration.

• 27 minutes after my appointment I had been declared b.r. I had a short wait then for my legal letter (due to the amount of people who also were going b.r.). I was asked if it would be convienient for the Official Receiver to ring me the next a.m.

• Phone call next a.m. very brief exchnge from a very nice lady. Told me she would contact all my creditors and inform them of my b.r. The amount they gave her then would be the amount dis-regarded. TIP: Legally the creditors are not supposed to call once you have been declared b.r. but it can take a month for all official notification to go through. If they ring, tell them you have been declared b.r. and give them your number. They should not ring again. TIP: If you cancel your bank account whilst going through b.r. NOW is the time to open a basic one. O.R. said she would send me some forms to sign which I must return to her so the process can commence. TIP: Make sure you check the date it has to be back for because I sat on it for a couple of days and then had to hand deliver it, I only had a week to turn it around! She told me I could legally open a basic bank account if I wanted. Also if I wanted to obtain credit over £500 then I had to inform them that I was an undischarged b.r. The mind boggles! I told her I didn't ever want to be in this situation again!

• 5 months later I had a letter from O.R. saying she was going to apply to the courts for early discharge This means the O.R. writes to all creditors informing them of her intentions, they can appeal against this but need a very good reason. Just wanting their money is not enough, but they must do this within 1 month.

• Just over 6 months later I had a letter stating I was now Discharged from b.r.

Downfall - Bank won't give me back a debit card, can't shop online (i'm disabled and can't always get out). Even though I have letter saying I'm discharged it remains on record for 1 year.
Upside - able to use cash for food! -have to save up for things but at least I find out whether I really need them and it cuts down on impulse buying. I now spend ages reading MSE for tips and OS is great! Many thanks to Martin and Team for all this help and support.

If you have managed to plough through all this and still feel uncertain, the guy at CAB told me when i sat in his office crying buckets with guilt that one of the major banks had made several Billion £'s profit last year. He also blamed the banks/building societies for making it tooo easy to borrow. What a great guy, :T need I say more

I have copies of The Insolvency Service leaflets : 'What will happen to my home'? 'What happens when you are interviewed by the Official Receiver'? and 'The Charter if anyone wants anything looking up.

bizzylizzy

I hope this is the right place to ask a few questions as I'm not a member of the club and don't have a number.
CCCS have advised that BR is the way to go, for me and OH. My head is spinning and I need to get a few things clear.
If we decide to do this should we stop payments to creditors now? Payments go by DD, mostly at start of the month. Should I tell them or just cancel the DDs at the bank? Would this tip off the bank that something is going on?
I am halfway through opening a new basic bank account, if I start proceedings should I tell the new bank?
Sorry for all the questions.

Mike_St_Helens

rog2 wrote:

I have a couple of questions, which, hopefully someone may be able to help me with:

1. I am in dispute with two of my creditors, over the debt they claim. Can I still continue the dispute once I am declared bankrupt?

2. Similar question - can I continue to claim back bank charges, once I am declared bankrupt?

Thanks
Rog2

Hiya Rog2 !!

yeah you can still dispute, I know it sounds like throwing in the towel, but whats the point if your B... It all goes in the same messy pt and they get very little.

Your other Q about charges... I claimed a few back before B, they just reduced the balances. I think again as you will be B then the charges were on the balance you gave when you went B so to get them back would make tyou in profit... if you get what i mean....

Hope all is well... Its taken me all day to get our papers ready, luckily called the court today, they said out B day is now Mon 6/11/06 and not the friday... All done, money ready and raring to go !

Mike_St_Helens

rog2 wrote:

Just a quick word to all of you to say that I am off for my BR (tomorrow morning - High Court, London) so won't be about for a few days.
Thanks for all your help and advice.
I'll let you all know how I get on.

Cheers
Rog2

How did you get on... Im just reading down .......

Mike_St_Helens

GrannyKnits wrote:

Will be thinking of you Rog2, i'm sure everything will be fine.

Thought I'd post a kind of diary of events to explain how my b.r. went in the hope it will reassure anyone who is about to go through it themselves. Apologies now for the length of post, if it's too long rog2, p.m. me and I'll delete it!!

• Way back in sept. last year I finally faced up to the fact that all my money was paying off credit cards/loans, leaving me to buy food on my cards - I acknowledged the vicious cycle I had got myself in.

• Phoned up all my creditors and told them I was having trouble paying due to my current circumstaces and asked for total owed.

• Worked out incomings and necessary amounts for food,fuel etc. Then with total amount left I worked out a pro-rata figure. Therefore those I owed the most to got a higher share of the money.

• Wrote a covering letter explaining why I was doing this and how I'd worked the figures out to each of the creditors along with the personal financial statement. TIP: I also stapled a cheque with the amount for the first instalement. This came in useful when certain creditors denied getting the letter - yes, I had proof that they had cashed the cheque. TIP: Keep photo copies of all papers sent.

• Then I cut up the credit cards!!

• Struggled through Christmas and New Year but creditors had started ringing asking for money. Esp. Halifax who took to ringing 2/3 times a day asking me to make extra payments on my card (yes, even after i told them i'd cut them up!! they do stick to their script)

• Finally I'd had enough and decided I would go B.R. I stopped paying the montly payments and saved the money i would need for the b.r.

• Phoned up local CAB and made an appoint. to see the debt specialist. He was brilliant, helped me fill in the nesessary forms. TIP: If you have a life insurance policy it may be counted as equity as it accrues money. Think about cancelling until after if you don't stand to lose too much money.

• Phoned up court and asked to be put through to b.r. clerk. Asked her if I could have an appointment at the b.r. court, got one a couple of days later.

• At court was shown to a waiting room which quickly filled up with about another 6/7 people. Each one was called up to the counter where you handed over your £310 and swore on the Bible you were who you said you were and the facts were right on the form. You had the opportunity to object to using the Bible.

• We were taken upstairs 2 by 2 (some link there!) and asked to wait in another room. The other person was called through first and came back within 2/3 minutes. Then my turn, went into a room and the Judge sat there (normal clothes!). He briefly leafed through the form, I started to say why I had done this but it wasn't necessary. He told me he was declaring me b.r. and to go back downstairs and wait for m declaration.

• 27 minutes after my appointment I had been declared b.r. I had a short wait then for my legal letter (due to the amount of people who also were going b.r.). I was asked if it would be convienient for the Official Receiver to ring me the next a.m.

• Phone call next a.m. very brief exchnge from a very nice lady. Told me she would contact all my creditors and inform them of my b.r. The amount they gave her then would be the amount dis-regarded. TIP: Legally the creditors are not supposed to call once you have been declared b.r. but it can take a month for all official notification to go through. If they ring, tell them you have been declared b.r. and give them your number. They should not ring again. TIP: If you cancel your bank account whilst going through b.r. NOW is the time to open a basic one. O.R. said she would send me some forms to sign which I must return to her so the process can commence. TIP: Make sure you check the date it has to be back for because I sat on it for a couple of days and then had to hand deliver it, I only had a week to turn it around! She told me I could legally open a basic bank account if I wanted. Also if I wanted to obtain credit over £500 then I had to inform them that I was an undischarged b.r. The mind boggles! I told her I didn't ever want to be in this situation again!

• 5 months later I had a letter from O.R. saying she was going to apply to the courts for early discharge This means the O.R. writes to all creditors informing them of her intentions, they can appeal against this but need a very good reason. Just wanting their money is not enough, but they must do this within 1 month.

• Just over 6 months later I had a letter stating I was now Discharged from b.r.

Downfall - Bank won't give me back a debit card, can't shop online (i'm disabled and can't always get out). Even though I have letter saying I'm discharged it remains on record for 1 year.
Upside - able to use cash for food! -have to save up for things but at least I find out whether I really need them and it cuts down on impulse buying. I now spend ages reading MSE for tips and OS is great! Many thanks to Martin and Team for all this help and support.

If you have managed to plough through all this and still feel uncertain, the guy at CAB told me when i sat in his office crying buckets with guilt that one of the major banks had made several Billion £'s profit last year. He also blamed the banks/building societies for making it tooo easy to borrow. What a great guy, :T need I say more

I have copies of The Insolvency Service leaflets : 'What will happen to my home'? 'What happens when you are interviewed by the Official Receiver'? and 'The Charter if anyone wants anything looking up.

Thanks for this... Its really thoughtful and makes you think. I hope mine is as stress free as it can be.

Thanks again.

Mike x