Bankruptcy nightmare

PennyLane37

Hi all,

I know bankruptcy is not supposed to be a walk in the park, it is a very serious process and the decision to go down that route should not be taken lightly... however I have taken that route and keep reading that the court date is the worst bit.... I can only say the more that time goes on the worse it gets.

I was declared bankrupt mid november 2010 and yesterday had my first correspondance with the OR since my interview telling me

"Following your interview and the information supplied regarding the property, please note that the policy has changed with regard to properties in negative equity. The low cost transfer scheme has ceased and the Official Receiver will be looking at the value of your property again within the next 3 years"

thank god for this website as nothing has been updated on the insolvency service website.

I am still waiting to find out if I will have an IPA and have just been told by the national debtline ( why did I not speak to them first!)
that my car ( that currently is on hp and the OR said its not being included as has no arrears and the equity in the car in minimal and therefore not of interest as I require it for work and school runs)
may be at risk.. as in April the HP ends with a balloon payment (which was going to be paid by a third party) and then there WILL be equity in the car and they could take it away from me.... should I just give the car back?

Why am I telling you all this ( sorry rather long winded) because I took advice from a company who contacted me and told me that my IVA was a waste of time and money and banruptcy would ensure I kept my property.. with heinseight more than a little naive, but I was at a very low point and vunerable I am single and have 3 children and this company ( which I am not sure I can name) took advantage of that and charged £1200 for the pleasure..... is there anything I can do as they have mislead me and now funnily enough dont want to talk to me!

Please help... if you are still awake after all that!

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

dojoman

Hi and welcome to the forum.


Sorry you have been "duped" by this firm, unfortunately there are a lot of them about. As for bring able to do anything about it I would very much doubt it, unless you you have something in writing and can prove that you have been defrauded.

tigerfeet2006

Since the OR has exempted the car he will probably sell it and give you lump sum to buy yourself another car.

Another option could be to stop payments on the car and save the money for a new car and let them repo the HP car and put the arrears and shortfall into the BR. BUT I would get advice on that from National Debtline before doing that as I am not 100%.

fermi

Out of curiosity, could you PM me with who this company was please?

tigerfeet2006

Fermi, would it be worth her making a complaint to Trading Standards about the way she was advised and approached? I know they will not look at individual complaints but if they get a lot of complaints about a firm they will look into the working practices.

I was wandering if it was the same firm mentioned the other day by another poster that sounds like a famous consumer website.

BB&B

OK Sit down, grab a coffee and breath in (in a nice way!)

I can pretty much guess which group of companies you are referring to, and I just hope they didn't sting you to much for what you caould have done for nothing!

Now on to your main fears:

House - as the property is in negative equity the OR will look at its value again after 2 years 3 months, and even if it is up in value and you have to buy back Beneficial Interest, it will still work out less than the re-mortgage required in the IVA. (If it is still in negative equity it will only cost you £1 plus nominal costs).

IPA - Even if the OR puts an IPA in place it will be for less than the IVA payments and will only last a maximum of 36 months. Plus if yo have sudden costs come up, or have changes in your I&E it can be changed or suspended as easy as anything.

Car - If the balloon payment is made by a THIRD PARTY, then the third party will technically own that portion of the car. It will then be classed as a joint asset, so it is HIGHLY unlikely the OR will touch it (or even look at it) as before it can be looked at as an asset the OR would need to ensure it would be sold for enough at auction to FULLY compensate the third party first. Believe me very few ORs will take that risk!!! NJow if YOU paid the balloon payment then this would be a completely different story (HINT - DO NOT PAY IT YOURSELF!)

OK in this instance the 'company' was right bankruptcy was the better option, and yes a LOT of people are in IVAs who were 'conned' into them, but this is not the case every time. BUT NO COMPANY SHOULD COLD CONTACT ANYONE TOUTING FOR BUSINESS.

Fell a bit better now

Tim

fermi

BB&B wrote: »

I just hope they didn't sting you to much for what you caould have done for nothing!

Presumably includes BR fees, but "Ouch!" all the same.

PennyLane37 wrote: »

I am single and have 3 children and this company ( which I am not sure I can name) took advantage of that and charged £1200 for the pleasure

BB&B

Quote:

Originally Posted by PennyLane37
I am single and have 3 children and this company ( which I am not sure I can name) took advantage of that and charged £1200 for the pleasure

OK they stung you, and I do feel for you in that respect.

But (Oh Heck I sound like a sales man) In this case the IVA was wrong for you, but there is NO justification for ripping people off.

Tim

PennyLane37

Thank you people....

But no... £1200 + £600 court fees... yes I know they saw me coming.... and it was horrific trying to afford to pay them... but I did as I believed them....

And Tim thank you, but I have just spoken to the OR and my IPA is £496.00 .................. gulp!! My IVA payment was £206.00......... I have just pulled myself together after sitting on my kitchen floor crying.... ( probably a bit too much information sorry!)

The OR said according to their allowances I have a disposable income of £709.00 per month.. which clearly if I did I would not be in this mess in the first place!

Devasted sums it up quite well right now!

ontheroad_2

with such a huge discrepancy in what the OR considers to be your surplus, you need to get back in touch with them and ask for their figures on how they worked out your IPA. Don't agree to anything until you've seen them - they may well have made a mistake.

tigerfeet2006

Yep! I agree with Ontheroad, ask them to write to you with a break down of what they have allowed and pop it up and someone will look at it for you.