£60 for discharge letter??

ladylumps45

hi all,
found out that things changed at some point and now you have to pay for a discharge from bankruptcy letter.

does anyone know if you have to pay if you are on certain benefits? thankyou in advance.

fermi

It's £60 for the issue of a discharge certificate from the court.

You can be exempt that if you are in receipt of certain benefits or are on a low income. In exactly the same way as you can be exempt the £150 court fee for petitioning your bankruptcy in the first place.

fermi

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex160a_web_1010.pdf

Full remission based on receipt of one of the benefits listed below (specified means- tested benefit).

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Pension Credit guarantee credit
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Working Tax Credit but not also receiving Child Tax Credit

The court will need to see evidence that you are in receipt of one of these benefits.

If you don't get one of those, then fee remission based on household income is more complicated. But it's also explained in that link.

ladylumps45

thankyou.i do receive income support but the letter is in hubbys name as its a claim for both of us .is this ok?

taliz

It goes up to £70 on the 4th of April.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

When I was cleaning up a file for someone else I simply took a print from the Insolvency Service website showing the discharge (but keep a copy since it only stays on their website for three months following discharge), then when writing to companies I put in a photocopy of the original bankruptcy notice, a copy of the website print, and referred the company to the OR giving their details if there were any queries.

No-one ever questioned this and that meant £60 was saved in the process. I cannot see much benefit to obtaining these discharge letters when all the companies I dealt with didn't question it.

fermi

Occasionally some companies do insist, but most are happy with other documents that confirm the discharge.

However, if you should be able to get the certificate for free, then I would probably do so. It might not be useful now, but you never know.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Fermi, that's a good point well made. Whilst I've never had any problem cleaning up without the letter (and from the Data Protection Act I doubt very much a company could insist you had that letter and only that letter before they correct your data, they would be on very dicey grounds); I agree with you, if you can get the letter for free go ahead and do it.

ladylumps45

thankyou all very much for your help.the reason i need confirmation either print or letter is because motabiltity need proof of discharge before i can renew a new 3 year lease on a new motability car.

fermi

CitySlicker wrote: »

and from the Data Protection Act I doubt very much a company could insist you had that letter and only that letter before they correct your data, they would be on very dicey grounds

True.

But if a creditor is obstinate, then you would have to go through all the hassle of complaining through the ICO. That seems to be taking 6 months minimum at the moment, and is hassle you don't need if it can be avoided.

I personally wouldn't pay the £60 to avoid it though.

ladylumps45

just checked and im not on the register.i was discharged 0n 6th dec 2010 so i guess as its more than 3 months ago thats why.