Do you regret going bankrupt?

alastairq

I am perfectly fine about BR.

I don't do 'guilt' trips, or feel I've committed any moral wrong.

Especially when I see and read about the moral wrongdoings of many major creditors.

In my case, any debts owed were never ever going to be repaid, at the sums creditors were demanding....demands which actually bore little resemblance to the actual amounts that may have been owed.

BR brought closure for my creditors....and given how much of my income used to go in payments...to the detriment, ultimately to my ability to simply live....once BR ,I actually found myself better-off.....

not in material terms, but in my quality of life.

The very process of BR actually opened my eyes to the realities of this credit-laden society around us.

I found myself able to care for what is truly important to me....and to cast off that which is, in essence, mere trivia.

and it is truly amazing how much baggage we have thrust upon us by this society we live in and support...

TinyToes

my DH and I have just been declared BR last week, but the feeling is fantastic. Knowing we will be debt free in 3 years, have managable payments, and can finally have a life in after it all.

We would never have been debt free had we continued the way we were, it crept up then hit us.

Our main worry was our home, but as we have negative equity, our trustee has no interest in it, although we have needed a family member to buy the trustees interest as in 3 years if our home has increased in value they could make us sell to release any capital, which now cannot happen.

i know its early days for us but i can only see positives. We have no intention of ever having a credit card (99% of our debt) or any other type of debt, appart from our home.

Now we only have a set budget, we take it from the bank and we then know how much we have left. i dont think i could go back to our old way of switching all our purchases, deffo a way to loose control of spending.

Tupperware_Queen

I have to agree with alastair....I don't feel guilty, sad that my marriage failed and the resulting mess, but not guilty

greytdog_2

as others have said already i reget getting into the situation where i had to go bankrupt but actually doing it was the best thing ever - i should have done it originally when i started to deal with my issues in 2006 and if i had i would have been clear of it next year. However i tried to battle on with a DMP that was nothing but stress and hassle and not due to finish until 2015 to 2019. I am now newly discharged and feeling like the future is bright not stressfull!

radio-jo

Thanks everyone. You've made me feel much more positive about BR.

The majority of my debts are in another EU country. One of the creditors rang me last week demanding repayment and I explained my situation and told them I was planning on petitioning for bankruptcy here in the UK in the next couple of weeks. A couple of days after that, they sent a summons to my old address (my dad's house) requesting I attend the district court at the end of July! I don't understand these people, they know I don't live in that country anymore and they know i'm going bankrupt. The summons seems like pure intimidation tactics.

radio-jo

Question - how do you have any sort of life when you're BR? I didn't realise the IPO could take *ALL* of my disposable income. Is there any kind of allowance made for having a social life? I'm not talking about eating out and lounging in bars every night, I mean occasionally going to the cinema/going to a gig/having a meal out/a cheap holiday once a year.

tigerfeet2006

There is no provision for socialising but you may be able to find money from else where in your SoA. You will be able save for a holiday.

Put up your SoA on another thread and someone will show you how an OR may look at it.

Fill it out, format to MSE and copy and paste into a thread
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

alastairq

Question - how do you have any sort of life when you're BR?

depends on what you call 'life?'


Do you mean, like the one you may have enjoyed prior to BR? [I know you haven't petitioned yet]

BR might well make one think a little bit harder about what is important in life....

All that you have suggested are within reach and available whilst BR.

But what a BR has to accept is that sometimes one cannot 'have one's cake and eat it'....

Having said that, a freebie, or a cheap offer, for a night out, or a break, will be all the more enjoyable simply because they will be a treat...

and not something that one may have taken for granted pre-BR....

[and the paying for which may have helped compound the problems that eventually led to BR??}

so....which is it next month?

A haircut?

Or a trip to the Cinema?

NewStart09

Went BR in Mar09

I regret having to go bankrupt as for me, it was not down to my lack of financial management but my soon to be ex's.

I was unaware of joint credit cards, and accounts that total nearly £70k (keep in mind he appearently open these over the phone in 07/08 and just answered the questions, stating yes married, yes joint account, gave them my name DOB work place earnings etc. and as he always collected the post, explained why I never saw the statements for the credit cards, much less the online banking account he had created.

I can not even begin to express the surprise I felt when he invited me to the accounts meeting, particularly when he left out the insolvency part. She was quite switched on and within minutes realised I was very ignorant about the finances in which he was in controll of, I too burst into tears, as I could not believe that I was going to have to go BR.

It is now just over 2 years, and the divorce will be final in August, I have a nice house, rented, and little debt (-£100) which will be paid off in August.

Only blessing in the end, is it has made the divorce easier, no assets to divide. I have found it easy to open a bank account, (barclays) I even have been placed on my sons account, with no hassle at all. (he is off for his gap year soon)

I have no desire to have a mortgage in the future will just rent and plan on having a credit card again after 6 years, but to use only to travel with until I go home in 7 Years.

On a bright side my bankruptcy will not follow me home as the laws there give you a clean slate after 10 years, so I will never have to speak of it to anyone.

I know that it is not an easy thing to to do, and people really should consider all their options before doing it, but in a way it is such a relief, the phone really does stop ringing, and the letters seem to disappear, and you are faced with the reality of living within your means again. Which can seem daunting.

Good luck to everyone who has gone down this path as I really do wich all of you the best. I just wish that here in Britian we were all not tarred for life on the London Gazette.

NewStart09

kittykat100

I have not regretted going bankrupt (Feb 09), it was the best thing I could have done. I can sleep at night, and have not of the harrassing phone calls, knocks on doors from Baliffs, letters etc.
I regret getting into the situation and have learnt my lesson.

Kittyx