Tying up loose ends before BR

hunt85

Well I realised a few months ago the inevitable is BR (with help from CCCS and other recommended advice helplines) I am only 25 and I owe £42k (scary, I know)

I live with my partner in a flat he owns with his brother (his brother doesn't live here with us though) I pay half the mortgage as rent and half the bills (which are only essential bills, other half pays for Virgin tv/phone/internet which is good) The gas and electric are in my name, which we are changing to his ASAP so they can't refuse us paying by monthly direct debit after my BR. We've closed the one joint account we did have, and i've written letters to the top three credit agencies to say he is no longer financially associated to me (as it says on Experian that he is due to a joint account, which is now closed) and I sold my car last week and got a new one for £1900. I can account for where the money I got from my previous car sale has gone, which I know is important as it asks about it on the BR forms. I am making reduced payments to my creditors now, instead of struggling on to make full payments, so I can save the £600 needed to pay for BR. Once i've got this i'll make my appointment with the court.

Is there anything i'm forgetting? I feel awful for "planning" my BR as the creditors etc have no idea what is happening, I am blaming it on reduction on income (which is true, i'm on half the money I was as of when i started my new job in March this year) but really, I think I was destined for BR before then, I just didn't realise it!

So any advice people? what am I forgetting? what else should I be preparing for?

Thanks!

confused76

hi there
you sound very well organised.
tip - if you've got any online access to credit cards etc try and remove your phone number, saves hassle further down the line. print any bank statements from online access before access gets removed.

you will need to open a basic bank account - the coop and barclays are br friendly. a lot of people open these pre-br with no trouble.

might be worth booking your br appointment now, even if it takes a while to save up, as there can sometimes be a bit of a wait - ring your local court and see what kind of system they operate. ask them to send you the br forms if you haven't already got them.

can't think of anything else....but will come back if i do
x

hunt85

Thanks, I opened the co-op cashminder account last saturday, just waiting for my card etc now seems I am quite organised haha its terrible I know, but I didn't want to just end up BR with no choices etc, I wanted things to be the way I wanted them to be, like selling my car and getting a cheaper one, but with time to look and a choice I wanted etc. I see what you're saying about phone numbers but i've always just given my mobile number rather than any home numbers out and I can just keep that on silent. I did want to find out if it was easy through Virgin to make sure my phone number is ex directory etc and how easy it is to change the home number if necessary.

confused76

hunt85 wrote: »

Thanks, I opened the co-op cashminder account last saturday, just waiting for my card etc now seems I am quite organised haha its terrible I know, but I didn't want to just end up BR with no choices etc, I wanted things to be the way I wanted them to be, like selling my car and getting a cheaper one, but with time to look and a choice I wanted etc. I see what you're saying about phone numbers but i've always just given my mobile number rather than any home numbers out and I can just keep that on silent. I did want to find out if it was easy through Virgin to make sure my phone number is ex directory etc and how easy it is to change the home number if necessary.

you seem very organised...
i'd given virgin my work number about 4 years ago (didn't see any harm as i never missed a payment) :mad: they hounded me after 1 missed payment and left messages with my colleagues :eek: i'll never make that mistake again....i don't give out the landline now, just the mobile :cool: