Looking into Bankruptcy

gray30

Hi all,

Popped down to CAB today -what lovely people as me and my partner are in around £50k of debt between us. They have recommended bankruptcy. Just feeling a bit lost really as to what it is all about. Love the idea of starting fresh, we have both been really stupid and shall never ever make this mistake again. Going back down as we have an appointment at the end of April. Just wanted a heads up. We pull in £2k a month and pay out around £1500ish on everything including petrol household bills, food, clothing etc. Will anyone take the £500 as month off us? we rent a house and have no savings. My partner has £500 in shares (not much) will they take our household items i.e TV, sofa, washing machine - its all second hand and nothing special?

any help and advice would be great, read briefly through some other posts and you all seem very helpful and supportive - i might sound quite breezy about it however have not really slept for a year from worry and am extremely nervous about the whole situation. Not told family and friends as we dont want anyone to know

Thanks

Gray30 xx

confused76

hi there and welcome

have a read of this first of all https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1056083

the OR allows you living expenses but then takes any additional income for 3 years in an agreement called an IPA. might be worth popping your SOA up here so we can see if your living expenses would be acceptable, and whether you are forgetting anything.

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

are you both going bankrupt? if your partner is then they would be interested in their shares... they don't take household goods and furniture but would be interested in any assets that would be worth £1000 or more at auction.

do either of you have a car?

on_the_right_track

Hi, I dont really have any advice as such but I am in the same position as yourself. I'm over £30k in debt (all my own) & live with my parents. After changing jobs recently I now earn less than half what I used to and have no way of paying of this debt so seriously considering bankruptcy. I'm terrified and I'm sure you feel the same good luck I hope everything works out.

x

confused76

another thing to consider is that most bank accounts will be closed once you go br

most people open a basic bank account with barclays or the coop. do you have debt with either of those?

gray30

Hi Guys, thanks for the quick reply's. Not sat down and looked at our income and expenditure properly as yet (only a rough idea above) will do tonight when my partner is back from work. Confused 76 - yes i have a car however it is my mums and she rents it out to me for a sum each month as i had to sell mine :-( i pay her my insurance, tax petrol etc as my bank never has the money for DD to go out. She pays it out of her account. (she thinks i dont earn enough) Would they take this as i use it? I have an account with natwest and i am looking into opening a cashminder account with co-op as dont have any debt with them, this wont be set up for a while, how do i pay my bills because i think they will freeze both of our accounts. On-the-right-track - i will keep you posted on whats going on as i go along. Im bricking it!

will they tell my landlord and employer?

Gray30 xx

confused76

gray30 wrote: »

Hi Guys, thanks for the quick reply's. Not sat down and looked at our income and expenditure properly as yet (only a rough idea above) will do tonight when my partner is back from work. Confused 76 - yes i have a car however it is my mums and she rents it out to me for a sum each month as i had to sell mine :-( i pay her my insurance, tax petrol etc as my bank never has the money for DD to go out. She pays it out of her account. (she thinks i dont earn enough) Would they take this as i use it? I have an account with natwest and i am looking into opening a cashminder account with co-op as dont have any debt with them, this wont be set up for a while, how do i pay my bills because i think they will freeze both of our accounts. On-the-right-track - i will keep you posted on whats going on as i go along. Im bricking it!

will they tell my landlord and employer?

Gray30 xx

they won't take the car if it isn't yours...

i think i had my cashminder account set up within a couple of weeks...

they might contact your landlord so be prepared for this, might be worth speaking to the OR and finding out if they will contact them. you need to check your tenancy agreement and see if bankruptcy is mentioned. most people don't have an issue with br even if it is in the contract, my landlady was find as we always paid our rent on time. as far as i am aware the OR never contacted her anyway

no, they won't tell your employer unless they are listed as a creditor

hope that helps x

gray30

thanks, will update soon xx

NeverAgain_2

Your bankruptcy is in the public domain, but is not routinely publicised in the local paper as it used to be.

Creditors will be told, so provided you don't owe your employer or landlord money, they will not be written to.

I think your tax code may alter, but even if your wages department realise what's happened, they shouldn't be punting that knowledge around.

As regards your earlier questions, you have lots of unsecured debt, but no assets, so bankruptcy may be a good option.

The official receiver will only take high-value assets, which wouldn't include a few sticks of furniture or your telly.

gray30

Holy s**t!!!!!!!

Carnt put it off any longer up at 5am this morning and sifting through our paperwork to try and make some sense of it! (still only half way thorough) had to come away for a while. i carnt believe how much there is :-( feeling physically sick. that many debts have been passed to that many different collectors dont know what is with who?? Back at work tomorrow though so needed to get cracking. Having to sort my partners out is a pain, if i dont though he will leave it, he has buried his head in the sand for about 10 years by the look of the paperwork! Still have debts going to old addresses though because we did not tell them we have moved, can not remember the exact amounts of them only a rough idea.

Much moral support needed :-(

Gray30 xx

Teen_the_Drama_Queen

Welcome G30 - you have come to the right place for advice, people on here are extremely helpful. Have you been in touch with National Debtline - they are great too, cannot speak hightly enough of them :j

Just for info, a co-op bank account is easy to set up, did initial call on the phone, paperwork sent out to us and then we just took ID into our nearest branch (which was in a Co-op store! which was handy! Managed to get a couple of grocery bargains whilst we were in there ) Chap in branch just took copies of our passports and a council tax bill and said that we would get all account details in post.

BaldEagle

Yeah the paperwork bit sucks but is, IMO, the most important part. For me, it only became crystal clear once I laid everything out in front of me, put all the figures into one Excel spreadsheet and started trying to work out what to do next.

Once you've done all the paperwork stuff, you've got an excellent platform to start making informed decisions from there. You know exactly how much you earn, you know exactly how much you spend and you know exactly how much you owe. Everything else then kinda falls into place...honestly!

As TtDQ says, you're in the right place. There is a ton of great information on the board and loads of people who are here to lend a helping hand.