Bankrupt and stressed out with OR

delightfuldior

well I had my OR interview yesterday and it went on for 50 mins. She was quite abrupt with me and the conversation really stressed me out, my head is banging.

I have to pay 74 quid a month for 36 months. I disputed this because she says my outgoings are over estimated by £100 a month but when I filled out the petition form CAB said I was left with £95 a month and wouldnt qualify for the payment.

Anyhow she says I have to make allowances somewhere and have to pay £74 a month then later on said it was up to me if I wanted to pay it and it was only voluntary. She wasnt helpful at all and put me on the spot loads of times with unexpected questions about debt over 5 years ago which I wasnt prepared for. I am a bit slow when it comes to maths and I got all worked up and upset with her because I just couldnt answer and work out what she was on about

2 hours later the lady rang me back saying there were contradictions in my debt history and started questionning the market value etc of my old house that I signed over to my ex. her questions didnt make sense to me and I got all uptight and funny. CAB were meant to help me with this and they have put loads of stuff on my form that I cant make sense of :-(

I am so stressed out. Has anyone else had follow up calls from the OR after interview?

skylight

They are supposed to dig into your history to ensure that they understand it all. We cannot go BR and assume that they will accept it. Your OR having a bad day does not justify them being abrupt with you though.

Just answer what you can as truthfully as possible even if that means that you really don't know the answer. They need to ensure that the old house wasn't passed over with loads of equity and it has been done to avoid your financial obligations - lots of people actually do this! ORs have to weed them out so don't feel that this is only you.

As to the IPA payments, if they are voluntary (glad you questioned that!) then don't pay them. They cannot make you.

ani_26

I really don't know what to say to your post delightfuldior, other than just keep strong xx

I reiterate what skylight has said above, and yes, going bankrupt is not always straightforward, unfortunately.

Hugs Nohope xx

JMV

I am sorry you had a difficult experience...it's unfortunate that, when someone is suffering from stress it's hard to concentrate, think and answer...and that this can be translated into someone being evasive...I suppose OR's sometimes come across evasive people and it makes them wary...

Maybe you could ask her to write some of the questions down as you are having a hard time understanding what information she needs?

Good Luck

delightfuldior

Thanks for your replies. I think the OR had holiday blues TBH bcause it was her first day back after two weeks off!! Still, its no excuse to be sharp with me. I had waited nearly 3 weeks from my court date for the interview and I was a nervous wreck.

I thought there was some comeback if ya didnt wanna pay the IPA??? Basically she says I have about £148 a month disposable income so is taking 50% of that.. BUT I owe my Mum £3,200 and have to pay her back at £50 a minumum a month. My dog has bowel disease so I have to change his diet to a more expensive and natural one but she said I should only have £20 a month for that. I also have to pay more on my car insurance as of next month to accommodate my role at work and she didnt take that into account.

I underdstand they havre to delve deep but I didnt know what to expect and I am now confused and stressed out because my SOA on my petition form doesnt reflect anything on her list so I have asked for a copy to compare and see whats different.

She was questioning me alot on the house with the ex. I handed it over because it was in negative equity and if we sold it wouldnt have gained anything but maybe owed the mortgager money. The house was valued but I didnt see the valuation as I didnt want to communicate much with my ex at the time but I looked up similar properties online in the area and got a good idea of what the house was worth. She wouldnt accept this and kept asking me the same question over and over again 'why hand it over if you hadnt seen the valuation????!!!'

STRESS!!!!! I have had manic attacks since going BR. :-(

skylight

There are circumstances you HAVE to pay an IPA in (you are employed or have useable income plus have a disposable income after outgoings and the OR takes it to court for an IPO. Then you are forced to pay).

You said that the OR said it would be voluntary - you need to find out why. Are you employed? How is your income made up? If you are not working and relying on OH for income or claiming certain meanstested benefits, then you are not obliged to pay an IPA. If you were working though with that amount of surplus then you would have to.

There is no come back if you do not have to pay and IPA and you refuse to pay a voluntary one.

skylight

Also, your Mums "debt" is not actually payable anymore. She should have gone into your BR as a creditor. However, I know that paying relatives back is based more on morals than those pesky banks (!) so what you do with your surplus is entirely up to you - you just cannot allow the expense in your SOA/Income and Expenditure.

As to the dog, you should have added those costs to your SOA but there is a limit the OR can accept. Car insurance though she cannot apply the extra cost right now as at this point in time you are not paying it right now; ORs work on the here and now; not what if's. If you were to pay an IPA though, you can resubmit an SOA at each point your income and expenditure changes.

Gemlou26

I think alot of them get the hump when you can not give them the answers strait away, not of course your fault however, sometimes people in those sorts of jobs can forget after interviewing as many as they do that they are dealing with human beings that forget and that BR is a stressful experience.

I used to to be the same when I was a mortgage advisor I couldn't get why someone didn't know what their gross annual income was, having said that I realised after all the corporate bull that I wasn't turning into a very nice person and started being more understanding, the customers liked me more but my bonus didn't! Anyway what I am trying to say is it isn't your fault, we wouldn't be having the damn conversation with them if we were perfect with money!

I worked at the same company during the recession and spoke to many bankrupts and like to think I helped them as much as possible, I am glad I did being a BR now.

If your not happy with what was discussed I would go through it all once the copy is received and write it down and call her back and ask to go through that part again, you will probably find she is in a better mood second time round. The OR is there to help you. I called mine back a few times to change details etc.

If you still are not 'getting' each other I would ask for a face to face meeting to go through it.

Remember it is your future and you need to make sure you get the fresh start you deserve, Don't let stress and nerves let you down at the last hurdle.

Good luck

delightfuldior

Gemlou26 wrote: »

I think alot of them get the hump when you can not give them the answers strait away, not of course your fault however, sometimes people in those sorts of jobs can forget after interviewing as many as they do that they are dealing with human beings that forget and that BR is a stressful experience.

I used to to be the same when I was a mortgage advisor I couldn't get why someone didn't know what their gross annual income was, having said that I realised after all the corporate bull that I wasn't turning into a very nice person and started being more understanding, the customers liked me more but my bonus didn't! Anyway what I am trying to say is it isn't your fault, we wouldn't be having the damn conversation with them if we were perfect with money!

I worked at the same company during the recession and spoke to many bankrupts and like to think I helped them as much as possible, I am glad I did being a BR now.

If your not happy with what was discussed I would go through it all once the copy is received and write it down and call her back and ask to go through that part again, you will probably find she is in a better mood second time round. The OR is there to help you. I called mine back a few times to change details etc.

If you still are not 'getting' each other I would ask for a face to face meeting to go through it.

Remember it is your future and you need to make sure you get the fresh start you deserve, Don't let stress and nerves let you down at the last hurdle.

Good luck

Thats what I felt like 'just another Bankrupt with no feelings ' "!!

I completed the SOA with a CAB lady, she was telling me there were limits to things I could spend on and moved costs around around etc and said I was unde the threshold for having to pay an IPA. BUT the OR said I being unrealistic with my costs and reduced them... so who is wrong? the CAB or OR? I have asked for a copy of her list of my SOA to see whats different and if there is something missing or that has been significantly changed I will try and dispute it. All my dog costs are included but she said I was spending too much despite the CAB saying I was within reason. Someone's ballsed up somewhere!

Anyhow she said it takes a couple of months for the IPA to be put into place so I am going to try and dispute it if her version of my SOA is unreasonable, see if I can reduce the IPA payment and if not let her make an application for an IPO!

This should take me past Christmas hopefully and I can relax knowing I can at least go to the pub with my family for a bottle of wine!

kepar

I am sorry but your last post makes me angry. I get upset with a lot of posters on here who seem to think they are immune from paying an IPA. (Lillibet will be on my case soon). The CAB can only advise what costs to put down, BUT it is the OR who has the final say. They have guidelines but I feel that some impose tighter limits on some than others. Perhaps the OR feels overall you are trying to get a way with too much and has looked at ways to cut you back in some areas.
My main gripe though with posters like you is you are complaining about having to pay less than £3000 back. I do not know your circumstances, but you have probably had at least £20000 written off. You are in a far better position than you were before br, so basically I am saying stop moaning and change your way of life. This what others on this site have done, if you were better off before br why did you do it.
Before you ask , both me and my wife are br and she has got an IPA around the £400 mark. Okay we would be better off if we didn't have to pay it, but we do and with £150000 written off between us it is small change (12000 ) in comparison. Well over half way through now, and am looking forward to that increase. It cannot come soon enough.
You can dispute it and they go for an IPO, but remember you cannot dispute an IPO . If the judge gives you an even higher figure thats what you have to pay. Find out what figures have been changed and dispute, but the OR doesn't have to change his mind.

If the OR's worked to limits then there would be no problems, but they each have their own limits.The CAB can only advise.

Be thankful that you have been made br and have had a huge burden lifted from you.

dancingfairy

Kepar I totally disagree with you - I personally didn't read the OP's post as 'trying to get away with' not paying an IPA - I agree that people aren't exactly going to be jumping up and down at the thought but at the same time it seems reasonable to me for the OP to see what the OR's basing their figures on and to reach an understanding with the OR. The OP is obviously highly stressed with everything at the moment.
And as to your comment that the OP is better off now they are bankrupt and had 20000 written off - that's really judgemental. People don't suddenly put years of trauma behind them.
Perhaps a bit more compassion would be helpful?
df