Newbie that needs advice-bankruptcy related

josie555

Hello all

Posted this in debt free wannabe & it was suggested I put this in here

I have only just joined the forum so please bear with me

I am currently in a situation & have no idea what to do & wondered if anyone had any advice or been in a similar situation.

5 years ago I became very ill & had to take a considerable amount of time off work. I was being cared for at home & had no money coming in except SSP. I had taken out numerous credit cards before coming ill & new I could rely on these to live off & then pay back once I was fully recovered. But I never did & I although better than I was I can now only work part time as I cannot cope.

I am in 35k worth of debt to credit cards. I have been being threatened since then with numreous court cases, I have had baliffs to my door etc.

I have absolutely no surplus as I am in rented accomodation & have to pay my rent. When the baliffs came they could not take anything as nothing in the flat is what I own & I have a letter from my landlord insisting this (he knows my situation) all I have is the clothes on my back & a car that is worth nothing more than scrap.

I have no immediate family to ask for help from & my friends wouldnt dare to lend to me as they know of my situation.

I went to CAB last month & they said the best thing for me to do is declare bankruptcy but I cannot afford the court fees.
I contacted Payplan but as I have no surplus they also recommended bankruptcy but again I have no way of paying the court fees for this.

Does anyone have any advice they can offer me??
I really dont know what I can do, I cannot even offer them a £1 a month as I owe 24 different companies money (lord knows why they gave me that many credit cards in the first place) & like I say I have absolutely no surplus whatsoever, in fact I really dont know how I am living.

TIA.

ETA I am not on any benefits as I was told by the DWP that I am not stressed enough to warrant these, so I am living totally off a part time wage.

Also if my creditors do end up taking me to court & filing for attachment of earnings I will lose my job indefinitly as I work in finance & we are not allowed to be in money difficulties (it was part of the contract I signed before I got ill, I have been here ever since but havent told them of my money difficulties)

JMV

Hi Josie,

I am so sorry to hear of your troubles....I'm not an expert but I wanted to offer my support to you...

I think you need some advice about your benefits entitlement and I think this might be a good place to start...

https://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/entitlementcalculator.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

It's not up to the DWP to tell you whether you aren't "stressed" enough to claim benefits - anyone and (almost) everyone is entitled to make a claim....if you can get a Dr's support for any claims that may help. Sometimes the staff at DWP will only tell you what you aren't entitled to and not what you are...and if you are on a low wage you should be able to claim Income Support, Housing & Council tax benefits...

Once you have those in place you may be able to do an IVA or a DMP and not have to go Bankrupt or you should get a fee remission on some of the court costs and you could then start saving for the rest of the BR fees...

HTH

Let us know the results on the Benefits calculator..

dojoman

Hi and welcome to the forum, have a look at the link below it maybe of some help.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1167839


If you do go BR will you not lose your job anyway?