Do you think bankruptcy wil become more accepted?

UnderPressure

OK just been reading a few other threads about property and one comment caught my eye something along the lines of:

"She should just go bankrupt, the consequences only last for a few years if at all"

This got me thinking, if this double dip does happen with the recession, which from the looks of things is very possible, then things are set to get an awful lot worst for most people, if the property market crashes and house prices take a serious 20-30% tumble, public sector job losses etc etc etc then bankruptcy rates quite rightly will probably shoot through the roof.

When the time comes for "recovery" do you think it is possible that the rules around bankruptcy may be relaxed? As in maybe it only affecting your credit files for say 3 years instead of 6? Do you think peoples general attitude towards bankruptcy will change? At the moment the very people who frown upon it may in fact find themselves applying for bankruptcy the more people that go down this route the more "acceptable" it will become??

Just a thought and would be interested to hear yours

I have managed to stave of bankruptcy so far, only through sheer luck than anything else, a lot of my creditors have now passed the bailiff stage and because the bailiff has had no joy (thanks to this forum ) they are more interested in coming to an arrangement with me, a lot of them have gone to "sleep" for the moment I am sure they will not stay that way but at the moment the breathing space has been hugely appreciated giving me a chance to think straight and try and sort things out so everyone is happy.

I dont have any negative thoughts about bankruptcy or people who become bankrupt, being in the same position I can fully understand the need to draw a line under things once and for all, I wonder if the "general" attitude towards bankruptcy will change over the next couple of years?

What do you think?

Paulgonnabedebtfree

UnderPressure wrote: »

OK just been reading a few other threads about property and one comment caught my eye something along the lines of:

"She should just go bankrupt, the consequences only last for a few years if at all"

This got me thinking, if this double dip does happen with the recession, which from the looks of things is very possible, then things are set to get an awful lot worst for most people, if the property market crashes and house prices take a serious 20-30% tumble, public sector job losses etc etc etc then bankruptcy rates quite rightly will probably shoot through the roof.

When the time comes for "recovery" do you think it is possible that the rules around bankruptcy may be relaxed? As in maybe it only affecting your credit files for say 3 years instead of 6? Do you think peoples general attitude towards bankruptcy will change? At the moment the very people who frown upon it may in fact find themselves applying for bankruptcy the more people that go down this route the more "acceptable" it will become??

Just a thought and would be interested to hear yours

I have managed to stave of bankruptcy so far, only through sheer luck than anything else, a lot of my creditors have now passed the bailiff stage and because the bailiff has had no joy (thanks to this forum ) they are more interested in coming to an arrangement with me, a lot of them have gone to "sleep" for the moment I am sure they will not stay that way but at the moment the breathing space has been hugely appreciated giving me a chance to think straight and try and sort things out so everyone is happy.

I dont have any negative thoughts about bankruptcy or people who become bankrupt, being in the same position I can fully understand the need to draw a line under things once and for all, I wonder if the "general" attitude towards bankruptcy will change over the next couple of years?

What do you think?

I think that process has already started in many ways. Some years ago bankruptcy seemed to be equated with moral deficiency in many peoples' eyes. Although some may still feel that way (including a few of the financial fascists on this forum), general attitudes do seem to be more relaxed than they once were. Yes it is annoying if someone else's BR means that they don't pay me but sometimes it just has to be that way. It's easier for me to live with if they have come across genuine hardship with an unexpected change in circumstances - rather than if it felt planned.
I may have to take that route myself at some point. At the moment my debt levels are dropping a few hundred pounds each month but it would only take a fairly lengthy illness, a sharp, sustained increase in interest rates, or a severe economic downturn where I lost many of my customers for my hand to be forced.
I have doubts about whether the length of time that a credit file is trashed will be reduced - and indeed, maybe that is right. I do feel that society's general attitude towards BR has softened though and will probably continue to do so.

dojoman

No, I think it will always have a stigma attached to it, that is unless you are unfortunate to have to go through the BR process.

ani_26

Unfortunately, though it may well be seen as the ' easy ' route for some, indeed, some may take advantage of bankruptcy. I have heard stories about shall we say ' unscrupulous ' individuals, and you think, how on earth do they do that, and seemingly 'get away ' with it.

But for many people, there is a long, hard lesson, to be learned from bankruptcy, maybe, with far reaching consequences, of different natures.There is a lesson to be learned, and for some, it really can affect your whole future.


And, yes, i think it will always have a stigma attached to it, probably for the majority of the masses.

UnderPressure

It will be interesting to see, after all if quite a big percentage of people end up having to use the bankruptcy route surely it will be more in the country's interest to have these people with a clean slate as soon as possible in order hopefully for everyone to "move on" and claw our way back from recession.

There are far too many if's and but's at the moment, nobody knows truly what is going to happen, interest rates at the all time low they are I dont think are a great thing at all, I dont own property never managed to get on the property ladder, I do now a few people however that do own property and they are struggling like mad to pay their mortgages at the moment, interest rates have to rise at some stage.

One of my closest friends seems to think that an interest rate rise of 1.5% would put him in a position with his 250k mortgage that he could not meet the monthly payments and still stay solvent with everything else, Im sure he is not the only 1 in this position, I wonder how many people out there are literally only just holding on because interest rates are so low?

Interesting times ahead for all of us, the forthcoming so called budget will be interesting, I wonder where we are all going to be this time next year?

I have never looked "down" on bankruptcy, 5h*t happens thats life, my debt is all down to a failed business not an extravagant lifestyle, better to have tried and failed than not tried at all is the way I think, after everything I have been through over the last 2 years with CCJ's and bailiff's knocking on the door virtually every day for almost 3 momths I am amazed I did not go down this route, it would not take much now for me to think about it I wonder just how many hundreds if not thousands of people are in a similar position.........

Anyway thanks for your thoughts guys keep em coming

debtinfo

Bankruptcy has become more accepted over the years, and although there is still a stigma attached to it, it is not as bad as it was years ago, also i believe there is more of a faux stigma now days. What i mean is that most of the modern generation of average people dont seem to have a great problem with it, (there will always be exceptions) but alot of the financial institutions do, not i believe for any moral reasons but simply so they can but bankrupts in a box and so can charge them more for certain services, so it is more a commercial thing rather than a moral one.

As to relaxing the rules, i think it will go the other way, we in the UK are already on the very lenient side compared to the rest of europe and if in the future are laws get more integrated i believe our rules will get stricter rather than the other way round. In one way (and i know this wont be popular) i think that tougher rules would be better for bankrupts and the way they are seen by the general populas. whether it is or not some people see it as being to easy. consider if the bankruptcy period was longer say 3 years. it would not affect the bankrupt massively, you still find it difficult to get credit for a long time anyway and if you have an IPA you still pay for 3 years and only if you can afford to do so. so the actual rules wouldnt affect bankrupts that much more but they would appear to be tougher and so feel more appropriate for the general populas.

That is just my opinion and im sure that others will have opposite opinions

ani_26

Thats a scary thought. I can remember when interest rates were what? 11% ? 12%. I would'nt now like to be in the position of relying on interest rates staying as low as they are at the moment. It may happen one day, but not for a long, long time. But i'm not an economist, so i could'nt predict.

Hence i'm bankrupt.

confuzzled7

I realise this is a really, really mean thought (on a Sunday, as well!!!) but there's more than a few people in the financial industry I'd like to see go bankrupt themselves. People who, when I was going through the process, spoke to me like I was worse than the dirt on the sole of their shoes and on many occasions reduced me to tears. Their smug superiority, downright condescending attitude and outright rudeness might turn round and bite them in the bum one day - perhaps they'd then learn a little more compassion and understanding.

Mr.Mulla

Unfortunately, there has always been a stigma attached to bankruptcy. But I wouldn't mind them if I were you and instead focus on your new beginning. That is should you decide to apply for one.