A few questions about impending BR

OneTrickPony1972

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here, but I'd like to say that I've been reading a lot of the posts, and this forum has been a huge source of reassurance and information for me, massive thanks go out to many posters here here who volunteer their time and energy to answering questions, etc.

There's a few things I'm still unsure on, and I was hoping someone might be able to help.....

I was made redundant nearly a year ago from a job I'd held for years, it was well paid and highly skilled, but some bright soul invented a high tech box of tricks that any fool can use and hence skilled veterans like myself were shown the door (despite prior promises that we'd be retained and retrained). Whilst in work I built up a substantial amount of debt, but it wasn't too troubling, and in fact I'd made hefty progress towards repaying it in any case. If I'd remained employed for two more years it would have gone, but ho-hum, lifes full of if's and but's........

Now I'm at the stage where my income insurance is due to expire, and there's no realistic prospect of any job on the horizon, never mind one with pay anything close to what I was on. Stupidly I never saved, I had a good job in a recession proof industry, so didn't really ever get round to it.

Anyway, those once easy to pay credit card debts are already really tricky to pay, I'm juggling money everywhere, and once the insurance stops I'm basically screwed, with increasingly dim employment prospects. Even a part time job with a fast food restaurant is proving impossible to find.

It seems my best prospect lies in declaring bankruptcy, so I can start afresh, hopefully learn new skills and gain some kind of employment and start working my way back up the ladder, without this burden of debt around my neck. Its not something I want to do, preferably I'd still be working hard and paying these bills, but its not like I had a choice (beyond my initial stupidity). I've been seeking advice with the CAB and this is the direction they seem to be gently pointing me towards.....

Anyway, if you've stuck with reading my gibberish so far - thanks -and I'm actually getting to the questions I wanted to raise now.....

I've got no 'valuable' assets at all, apart from a car which naturally will have to be sold, apart from that the most expensive thing I've ever bought is a computer at £800 some years ago. Some of my debt was run up buying largely tat from Ebay, I'm a sucker for the kind of stuff most people wouldn't give house room to, none of it valuable (one or two things might fetch £100 on Ebay on a good day, the vast majority would struggle to fetch £3). A lot of my better tat and stuff is being sold anyway on Ebay, but what about that I'd rather not sell, would the OR have any interest in piles of books, DVD's, magazines and Star Wars related stuff. Individual items are almost valueless but I guess cumulatively it might fetch a couple of grand on Ebay. A lot of this stuff cost perhaps £10-£30 to buy, but then I was often paying postage from the states, or buying several items in one go, or simply paying too much (the Ebay auction madness).

What happens after you've seen the OR? Do you then have to draw up a list of all your stuff regardless of value (don't have any antiques or Picasso's mind....)? Would they start looking through my credit card statements and saying 'you paid £xx for a non-essential item then, you need to hand it over'? I know in the grand scheme of things, my old tat is pretty unimportant, but it is to me, and its one source of pleasure in an otherwise pretty miserable existance - you can forget about other things for hours with a good book or DVD - and I'd hate to see it go.

Sorry for waffling on, and thanks in advance for any answers.

debtinfo

Ok there is no hard and fast answer, Most of the time the OR wont look at anything worth less than £500, (i would make the point that these are technicaly assets but are simply not worth the cost of realisation). Collections may be different if they could be sold in one go. The way i would go is to make a vaugeish comment on your SOA regarding several items that you have collected on your Forms and then when you have your interview you can discuss the ins and outs of it rather than making lists, (ie see if it necessary first). It is likely that the OR wont take anything but nethertheless if you think that there is a potential asset there or are not sure then the safest thing to do is to discuss it with the OR.

As regarding the expenditure, the OR may look at your statements in regards to your conduct (they can impose extra restrictions) but if you had a well paying job at the time then it is not likely to be problimatic, they wont demand the money for each item back

OneTrickPony1972

Hiya,

Thanks for the quick reply, thats quite reassuring. Looking back to when I spent the money, I had no reason to believe I couldn't repay it back, I should of course have left something in reserve, but never in my worst dreams did I think things would come to this stage. Unemployment never entered my head, and I was well insured in case of illness or accident (there wouldn't have been an issue if I'd been ill).

andyf1980

OneTrickPony1972 wrote: »

Hiya,

Thanks for the quick reply, thats quite reassuring. Looking back to when I spent the money, I had no reason to believe I couldn't repay it back, I should of course have left something in reserve, but never in my worst dreams did I think things would come to this stage. Unemployment never entered my head, and I was well insured in case of illness or accident (there wouldn't have been an issue if I'd been ill).

You certainly aren't alone in that otp :eek:. I never dreamed of leaving my job and whilst I was in it I had no real problems servicing my debts.

It took illness and a lot of soul-searching for me to leave my job and decide to go br.

There's no easy answer but in the right situation br can provide a way forward and the chance to get life back on track.

bluehills123

Don't be disheartened onetrickpony1972. I am sure it won't be as bad as you think. I think we all look at the things we've bought and worry about how it would look to others. As you say at the time you bought them it was not a problem paying off your debts. Life is full of unexpected issues and it looks like you are on the right track regarding your future plans. My bankruptcy is coming up on Feb 3rd and I've been stressing over tins of paint I bought six months ago wondering about whether I 'm going to be grilled about them. I am sure it is a completely natural feeling, all to do with the guilt of becoming bankrupt. Good luck and I hope everything turns out well for you.

OneTrickPony1972

andyf1980 wrote: »

You certainly aren't alone in that otp :eek:. I never dreamed of leaving my job and whilst I was in it I had no real problems servicing my debts.

It took illness and a lot of soul-searching for me to leave my job and decide to go br.

There's no easy answer but in the right situation br can provide a way forward and the chance to get life back on track.

I'm not glad to not be the only one, but its kind of a relief to know that others know where I'm coming from. Its been an almighty shock to be truthful, you go from 'indispensible' link in a major company to a nobody in no time at all, frankly my skills are now worth less to most employers than those of a 17 year old, I'm even too old to get paid the reduced rate NMW (which is what most employers in my area seem to look for).

If I could go back, I'd have saved for a rainy day, and not run up debts spending on non-essential tat, but then it seemed pretty easy, buy what you want now, pay later, only I left the paying bit too late, given that I couldn't see what was round the corner......:(

andyf1980

At least you're not an ex banker like me mind you at least I can say ex now :rotfl:

OneTrickPony1972

Thanks for the replies everyone, and the moral support. Having thought it over I've pretty much decided to sell as much of my remaining tat as possible. In that case, if and when I end up talking with the OR I genuinely won't have anything 'valuable', either as individual items or as potential collections and can genuinely leave the 'assets' box on the form blank.

confused76

OneTrickPony1972 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone, and the moral support. Having thought it over I've pretty much decided to sell as much of my remaining tat as possible. In that case, if and when I end up talking with the OR I genuinely won't have anything 'valuable', either as individual items or as potential collections and can genuinely leave the 'assets' box on the form blank.

hi there
what sort of value items are you talking about? you need to be careful that you aren't disposing of assets pre-br. if you sell something the OR will be interested in where the proceeds goes.

OneTrickPony1972

confused76 wrote: »

hi there
what sort of value items are you talking about? you need to be careful that you aren't disposing of assets pre-br. if you sell something the OR will be interested in where the proceeds goes.

No worries there, it'll all go on Ebay and the proceeds straight into the bank account, my understanding is that everything will reach its market value and its all visible and traceable...... I hope:huh: There's nothing there that would go for more than £75 on a good day, about 95% of it will struggle to reach £5 on a good day, probably £2k worth of stuff altogether. I don't think its even worth bothering to try to sell my CD's or DVD's there's nothing there beyond your common stuff that doesn't sell on Ebay.

I should have said, its all tat I've bought over the years, DVD's, books, Star Wars stuff, never paid more than £100 for anything, 99% of it cost £15 or under when I bought it. There's nothing 'valuable' there in the sense of antiques, etc. Its just theres quite a lot and cumulatively it could be worth a couple of grand on Ebay, and could be seen as a 'collection'.

OneTrickPony1972

To put it all into context, I was the sort of person who could never pass an HMV, Forbidden Planet, or Waterstones without popping in and usually buying something, or cruising around on Ebay buying cheap stuff where the postage was offten as much as the actual item. All well and good when you have a good job and can meet your commitments easily, not so good when you find yourself unexpectedly unemployed without much prospect of a job in the near future.....