Holiday Flight Advice

EnslavedByDebts

Hi,

I am looking for advice for a relative. They booked a flight back in June to go to the States on 12th December and return 19th January 2012. They paid for this on a CC which was £1000. Everything at this time was fine and all bills being paid.

In August the company they owned took a turn for the worst so this relative and husband had to stop being paid a full wage due to shortage of money within the business. Now this has happened before and turned around within a few weeks so they missed payments on CCs and used the overdraft to get by thinking it would be fine.

Well we are now 4 months on and they have had to make the decision that the wife will need to declare bankruptcy due to the company not making the money to cover everything anymore.

I'm just wondering if the OR can stop the wife from going on this holiday (she's going to see good friends so no further costs incurrable) as it was paid for on one of the CC or if it will be okay?

She has been getting harrassed by telephone calls constantly now for weeks so wants to do it thursday but doesn't want to have issues over this flight.

Any thoughts please?

EBD

Ineedaname

As the holiday was paid for before the finances took a turn for the worst then I don't see that any OR would have a problem. Where they do have a problem is with irresponsible spending once the individual is aware they are in dire straits and should really be tightening the belt instead.

sundays

Ineedaname wrote: »

As the holiday was paid for before the finances took a turn for the worst then I don't see that any OR would have a problem. Where they do have a problem is with irresponsible spending once the individual is aware they are in dire straits and should really be tightening the belt instead.

I agree

And also just to let you know something happened to me , i was totally solvent when i purchased flights but when i defaulted i hadnt travelled, as the flights had been paid for i still travelled regardless of the default.

id say nothing or mention such to the OR.

EnslavedByDebts

But as she is away for over a month would she not need to tell the OR so that they know she is not contactable or would you not tell them and return calls when she returned?

Ineedaname

So she's going to declare BR and then go on holiday for a month, do you know what the timescales are? If she will be going away very shortly after going BR then she will definitely need to let the OR as she may not have had her interview before leaving. Even if she has already had her interview, I think it would be courteous to let the OR know she will be away for that length of time, just in case they do need to contact her again, it shows continued cooperation.

sundays wrote: »

id say nothing or mention such to the OR.

The OR will see the purchase of flights on the credit card statements, so no point trying to hide it!

Defaulting on a credit card debt wouldn't change the T&Cs of flights purchased before the default... just the same as you get to keep goods purchased by credit card even if you then default.

coolcait

EnslavedByDebts wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking for advice for a relative. They booked a flight back in June to go to the States on 12th December and return 19th January 2012. They paid for this on a CC which was £1000. Everything at this time was fine and all bills being paid.

In August the company they owned took a turn for the worst so this relative and husband had to stop being paid a full wage due to shortage of money within the business. Now this has happened before and turned around within a few weeks so they missed payments on CCs and used the overdraft to get by thinking it would be fine.

Well we are now 4 months on and they have had to make the decision that the wife will need to declare bankruptcy due to the company not making the money to cover everything anymore.

I'm just wondering if the OR can stop the wife from going on this holiday (she's going to see good friends so no further costs incurrable) as it was paid for on one of the CC or if it will be okay?

She has been getting harrassed by telephone calls constantly now for weeks so wants to do it thursday but doesn't want to have issues over this flight.

Any thoughts please?

EBD

Why Thursday?

What advice has she taken on how to deal with the debts at this stage?

What is the rationale behind your relative applying for bankruptcy now?

A four month's slump in business income? Doesn't necessarily point to bankruptcy. So quickly.

Which brings me back to 'Why Thursday?'

The holiday? Not even a question in my mind at this stage.

I'm still stuck at 'Why bankruptcy?', 'Why Thursday?'

Why? Bankruptcy should be a last resort. Not a 'want to do it Thursday' option, after a few months' difficulty. While worrying about a holiday.

Sorry if that's too frank, but I really don't 'get' why your relative is in such a hurry to declare herself bankrupt - based on what you have told us.

tigerfeet2006

Get her to ring and talk to Business Debtline and go through everything with them. The court may delay her petition until she has taken advice.

Business Debtline - Website: Business Debtline Telephone: 0800 197 6026

Don't quote me on this but if the OR can get some money back from those flights I think he will. There will obviously be implications for the DH if they were a partnership and she goes BR.

TELL HER TO GET FREE, PROFESSIONAL, IMPARTIAL ADVICE NOW.

kepar

Why not cancel the holiday if possible, then use the £1000 to service the debts for longer, who knows things might pick up.

EnslavedByDebts

Hi all,

Thank you for the responses. I'll give a little more detail.

The flight are non refundable so cancelling the flights would not give her any extra money to service the debts which she has. I am aware that due to the business and her being a director with her dh things will get complicated and made her aware of this.

She and her husband have taken advice over the last 4 months from financial advisors/solicitors/debtlines and they have now all said that the present situation in their eyes has only one answer. Hence why she has now made the decision to declare bankruptcy. The debt is around 75k from what I can gather from helping her with the forms.

The reason for thursday to go to the court is that she wanted to have the interview before she went away. I can open mail from the OR while she is away but she wanted to be able to co-operate with the OR before that.

When I went bankrupt in 2009 the OR interview happened within 4 days of going to court, is this not the case any more?

Thanks

tigerfeet2006

It's more like two weeks and sometimes longer and as this is business debts she will most likely have to have a face to face interview. All she can do is advise the OR when she goes BR that she will not be available for interview on the dates she is away. That she had this booked before she became insolvent and it is non refundable.

Glad to hear she has taken advice.

sundays

I would think that 75k would make anyone and most insolvent.

My OR did not look at any of statements for credit cards etc.
but that is not to say they wont look at hers.
Many people buy flights months in advance because on first release they are often much cheaper.
I had non refundable flights but was able to pay a admin fee to delay the flight up to 10 months, that was with BA.

Each OR district deals with things differently in terms of telephone interviews.
I got a call the next day to advise of the date of the telephone call, because far many are going BR , i had a wait of approx 10 days.
I have read on here for some its been longer.
So i would def not assume 4 days to have received that phone call, i would say on previous posts between 7 -21 days.

If she is overseas and her phone is turned on , the OR will be able to tell she is out of the UK as the dial tones changes.

Her call but IMO going BR then going overseas for one month more or less straight away is complicating matters.
Personally id not answer the calls and wait till i returned before going BR.
You can change the date with the court, i changed mine over 2 years at least 6 times, mainly because id lost my nerve, the court wont be bothered if you do cancel as all you do is tell them the name and address, they do like notice to cancel so they can slot someone else in.

So my response would be cancel the BR, and do it when she comes back, unless a charging order or a commital to prison is likley in the next few days ie unsecured debt turned into secured debt and non payment of council tax . delaying it by a month wont make any difference what so ever.
I doubt the OR would have much to say, but it may make them more likley to look over her financial history if they think she is living it up.