Losing everything and how best to cope with it

LJY25

Hi All,

I posted this in the debt advise forum and have been advised to contact this forum for some help.... an update on the story below, i have spoken to a solicitor who has basically said there is no point in us taking in legal representation as if we cant prove our income will increase and we havent been able to sell the house the court are likley to grant a repocession order (i cant believe we have to pay all the court costs - talk about kick you when you are down!) My husband is now considering goign bankrupt which is destroying him, the though of no job, losing our home and business that he has worked so hard on....can people advise please, have you been in a similar situation - is there light at the end of this ??? How do you get through it ???

Well last week we received our date for court 4th Jan 2011 along with paper to be completed within the next 14 days. Leading up to this point i have been asking questions on the forum and trying to find ways out of the situation but there is nothing we can do ! The situation (in brief) is we discovered we couldnt pay our mortgage, wrote to the company and explained (our mortgage is huge £3000 interest only per month) We asked them to explore other options and put the house up for sale knowing we would pay off the mortgage if we sold it, our house flooded twice in 2007 and although it is a beautiful property no-one will touch it because of the flooding. We have letters from the two agencies we have been with to support this.

When we received the letter from the court i was so shocked/scared guess you dont expect things to get this bad! I rang Shelter for some advise who basically said there is a two year agreement that mortgage company could consider as an option but it would mean interest back to normal in two years so doesn't really help our situation. My husband is self employed and the business is breaking even so he wants to continue with that. We have doen all we can to maximise our income but we cannot pay our mortgage at the current agreement.

Anyway now we have a court date there is no going back, please help has anyone been to court, what happens, what should we do. I have enquired about legal support but we are no eligible, my husband doesnt think we should pay for legal support when in reality if we can pay the mortgage we are not going to be able to keep the house so no point in paying more on top for solicitor fees which part of me agrees with. Should we just fill in the paperwork and add a covering letter - i have already sent another letter asking Santander to prove how they have met the pre-action protocol so waiting for that information back. Shelter implied they would probably serve a repossession order, then try and sell the property (if we cant i have no idea how they will unless by dropping price below mortgage which means we will still have debt) If this is the case worst total case what happens if my husband goes bankrupt ? He is already worrying about having to fold the business and make people unemployed as he works from home. Stress levels are awful, both of us in panic mode and trying to sell furniture etc to make some money.Please can some one help. What happens at court, what shpuld we do, what happens with bankruptcy ???

alastairq

hi, and welcome....

You don't mention any other debts your OH has?

Is the business a Limited company?

Is the mortgage in both your names?

BR only impacts on work, if the BR person is in a job which precludes anyone who is, or was BR

[mainly, some areas of the Financial industry, etc...see stickies at top of page].

BR really holds no devils....if you have an income, you will be 'allowed' a reasonable standard of living, via your SOA.

keep posting...

now

Try not to worry it is just something you have to deal with, really nothing to be ashamed of you tried your best and that is all that matters big cyber hug xx We lost our business and it was like the bigest clouds in the sky gathered around us in on e go, but it was really the best thing that ever happened as I got my husband back and with the love of my family and freinds we pulled through, not easy but I no longer take things granted and I no longer buy cxxp I do not need

LJY25

Hi,

Thansk for all the support and advise, we have been going through this for about 2 years, my husband built up credit card debt to continue paying the mortgage, as far as i am aware he has an £18,000 business loan, and Egg credit card and a MBNA card with i would imagine about 10,000 on and then a tesco cerdit card with about 10,000 on. We also owe our electricity company and a payment for the re turn of a HP vehicle. The plan was that the business would pay this off but in order to grow the additional staff just cost more and more and then covering sickness ect its a nightmare !I seriousley believe bankrupsy is the best route - we have been in touch with a company called Piggybankrupt who offer to take on the whole process - has anyone used them - is this the best route to go ? We cant do anything until we have a decision from the court so just waiting for that now !

PasturesNew

What sort of business is it? Can he rent somewhere to run it from?
How many staff work from your home in his home office?

LJY25

He works from home, there are 14 members of staff, the company isnt limited and if we are repocessed we wont have the money to pay for offices to rent so he wont have anywhere to work from, also with all the debt i dont see how he can make any money....

miss_spooky

Hi LJY25,

Hope you are well. Please don't panic. I know from exp how awful things can appear.

Few things. Firstly I take it the court date is a repo hearing? You need to contact one of the debt charities for advise with regards to your house. IF you are both deciding to go Bankrupt (TBH if you have large joint debts, then it's probably better - but again take advise as I don't know your full financial history), then by not signing a Deed of Acknowledgements means that any shortfall can go into your br. Until you've rung them,try not to send anymore letters to the mtg company.

National Debtline - http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/ - if you ring them they will go through everything for you then you can come back here for help thru your br journey. Be prepared to hold as they are busy.
Business Debtline - http://www.bdl.org.uk/englandandwales.asp 0800 197 6026

Both NDL & BDL will give you a quicker response.

CCCS - http://www.cccs.co.uk/ - you can do an online debt remedy and request a ring back. They will go through most stuff but may make an appt for a later date.
CAB - http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ - a drop in where you'll first see an advisor who will make an appt with a money advisor. Most CAB are booking approx 8 week ahead as really busy.


With regards to piggybankrupt, you don't need to go with any of these people. They make a charge for things that you can do yourself & that the above agencies do for free. Most of us on here have gone through BR, inc business & repo's with no help and we've all come out the other side.

Just something to think about the house. I know it's your home, but an outside point of view sometimes puts things into perspective. Though it won't seem like that at the mo. You say it's flooded twice & your mtg is really high. Would it be so bad to walk away? Find a rental property, where you have no worries about maintenance, etc, and make a fresh start?

Sometime bricks & mortar are not worth the cost to your health & happiness.

You could post up a Statement of Affairs so we can get an idea - you will have to go thru this with charities anyway.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

When completed, press the MSE button to format it for here. A new window will open, copy & past into yr thread.


Post back here with your updates & we will give you all the help you need.x

out_of_cash

"Sometime bricks & mortar are not worth the cost to your health & happiness." Bang on!!!

Mr.Mulla

I am sorry to hear about your situation. I can imagine how stressful it is. But the best way to deal with the situation, in my opinion, is by starting to move on and think of it as a new beginning and not wallow in pain because that will not make the situation any better than it is. I know it is easier said than done but I do hope you get the strength to overcome your current situation.