BANKRUPTCY long post please read

paying_to_much

our son (36) is a client of CCCS and is to see them tomorrow and start bankruptcy proceedings,4 years ago he was a young man with a good credit history, job and on the way to buying a home with his partner of 11 years, disaster struck when his partner was diagnosed with cancer, he gave up his job to look after her during her treatment which was devastating for them both and harrowing for all who know her,thankfully she is now in remission with a good chance of a normal life to come. during this time he constantly told us he was just managing financially and we paid the odd car repair etc for him however it transpires that during this time he has accrued £46,000 of debt.

CCCS have advised him that bankruptcy is the only way forward as it would take 100 years plus by making minimum repayments to reedem his debts.

HELP/ADVICE needed, are there any steps/tips available he should take before bankruptcy to help with the immidiate after effects of bankruptcy to help him move on with his new life. what does the O.R. regard as non-essential "goods" and claim for his creditors (ie the gold watch & st christopher we gave him for his 21st) at the end of the day he does owe this money whatever the circumstances, he has been back at work for about 18 months.

My wife and I also need advice, during this time my son gave up his rented home in Wales and his partner moved in with her sister to enable his return to work and his move to Rugby to a new job (he manages to see her about every 4 weeks or so). he lives in a room in a multi let house and because of this situation he had various items of mail stolen, usually any thing that looked as if it had come from a bank, we suggested he re-direct his mail to our address as we live about 60 miles away and from Rugby, more convinient than travelling back to Wales to collect his mail ( we also got to see him).

We have now been told that we are directly linked with him and the delivery of his mail to our address means that our credit rating will be seriouly affected, if so is there anything we can do to protect our position as we need to use financial institutions as do we all.

Now for the nicest bit, THANK YOU ONE AND ALL, why? because so far I have only seen good advice and wonderfull support for people using this site, many years ago things like this did not exist and yes I do know how it feels to have the debt collectors, balliffs etc at the door, having to walk into the bank hopeing no one will spot you, the dread of the postman arriving daily (especially registered/recorded deliveries), the apperance in the County Court to stand in open Court and have my home possesed, the dreadfull feeling of shame and pain I caused for my wife through all this but my beautifull wife (married 40 years this Sept) stood by me and YES it was awfull,then hard followed by not to bad and without realizing it life (financially) became O.K. but it took about 8 years.

HOW I WISHED then for help and advice, and now we have it from computing, the internet, and most of all kind, intelligent, and informed people freely giving support and advice to all who ask.

Whoever you are wherever you are good luck and thank you.

paying_to_much

WiseSteward_2

Dear paying_to_much

Clearly you and your family have been going through a tough time but things are about to improve.

I endorse your comments at the end of your post. A tremendous amount of good work is done by and through this great web site, long may it prosper.

Re. preparation for Bankruptcy

The two main points are:
1. that the application forms (Debtor's Petition and Statement of Financial Affairs) are completed comprehensively, carefully & acurately.
2. A Basic Bank account is opened, but not with an initial deposit or otherwise used in any way, prior to presenting the Petition to the County Court. This may need careful timing to avoid hickups with transferring Salary credit and Direct Debits/Standing Orders.

In my experience, Official Receivers are only interested in personal assests such as Land, Property, valuable antiques, jewellery & works of art, financial investments such as savings, stocks/shares & insurance policies which have, or may aquire, a surrender or sale value, and vehicles. Regarding the latter, a case can usually be made for the Petitioner (Debtor) to keep an existing vehicle, or be allowed to keep a cetain amount of money to buy a cheaper one, for the purposes of carrying on employment/self-employment or searching for such and/or in connection with disability/mobility problems.

Re. potential effect on your credit reference record.

As your son has shared your address, even though it was only for postal security issues, you will need to contact one or more of the 3 Credit Reference Agencies (CRA) and complete a Declaration of Disassociation so that his records are separated from yours. This is quite straightforward and can be done online or by post for a nominal fee. For full details click one or more of the web links below:
http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/index.html
http://www.equifax.co.uk/
http://www.callcredit.co.uk/corporate_scripts/index.asp

Experian are the main CRA and will usually update the other two for you.

The above is necessarily a brief summary and not exhaustive. I'm sure the CCCS will do a thorough job for your son.

For more comprehensive information about Debt & Bankruptcy web resources, please see my posts of yesterday & today on the 'Im about to drown .... help!!' thread.

Very best wishes to you all, Graham B

Xbigman

Preparing for bankruptcy.

Utility providers (gas, electric, water) can get funny over quarterly billing as, in theory, you are in debt to them. Your son might have to have prepay meters. As soon as the bankruptcy is done let all utility companies know whats happening and offer to pay by direct debit. Quite a few accept this but want quite a high monthly payment to start with. It varies company to company.

As to the other posting. Yes your son will need to open a basic bank account but shouldn't pay in his wages yet. Time it so that the first wages he gets after bankruptcy goes into the new bank account. First step is that he needs to speak to the wages dept where he works and find out how long they take to do the admin on this. It should be possible to give them a change over date. If you do arrange a change over date get it in writing. If the wages dept mess it up (quite possible) you got some ammunition to get something out of them, even if its only an advance on your next wage packet.

Landlords can also get nervous about bankrupt tenants, and prepay meters appearing are a give away. Your son will have to judge this for himself but I'd tell the landlord right after it happens (and preferably just after you sign a new lease / extension).

Other advice. Don't hide anything and don't lie to the OR. Coming clean about everything is more than half the mental battle.

Best of luck to your son.
Regards



X

jen_jen_2

agree with all of the above, the only thing i will add is tell your son not to worry too much if he is open and honest with the ORand creditors it will be fine.

Debt_Free_Chick

To prepare for Bankruptcy, read this and call the National Debline with any questions

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_factsheets/factsheet_01.php3

WiseSteward's advice re the Notice of Disassociation is also spot on. If you have no debts shared with your son, then you will not be affected. It used to be that everyone at the same address was affected by bad credit - not any more. You have to be financially connected i.e. share debts, in order to get a bad credit record

A sad tale. Bankruptcy will allow your son the opportunity to wipe the slate clean. As far as I can tell, he has nothing to lose i.e. no substantial assets to lose. The watch maybe sold ... it's difficult to be sure. If it is (whilst I appreciate the sentimental value) it seems a small price to pay to secure his future financial security.

Good Luck

paying_to_much

Dear all, rushed home (lunch break) to view possible posts and there they were, thank you so much, have phoned son and he will be here monday to see for himself that the spirit of caring and sharing here is wonderfull. thanks to you all so far, will be rushing back from work later to look at other posts to see if i can help anyone.
thanks paul, judith & james

paying_to_much

can someone explain what the RO list is at bottom of my post, i do not recognize it and i am worried that they are someone elses addresses if so how do i delete them from appearing thanks.

elona

To get rid of the message- go to User CP and click on it then to edit profile and then you can erase unwanted info.

Don't worry about it as it is something that happened when the forum was changed to vbulletin and it has happened to loads of people - I appeared to be advertising the lottery!