Help please. I've been made bankrupt for money I don't owe.

Kinell

A few days before Christmas I received a huge pack from the Insolvency Service informing me that I had been made bankrupt upon the petition of 1st Credit. The hearing was apparently a few days beforehand, though I knew nothing about it at all and had not received any petition or notification of date of court hearing and so obviously was not at court when the case was heard. The Insolvency Service have since provided me with a copy of the petition in which 1st Credit claim that I owe them in excess of £8000.

History of the debt is that I took out a personal loan in 2002 on which I defaulted with the repayments. The debt (about £6900 at the time) was assigned to 1st Credit who used a doorstep collection agent to collect monthly payments which I agreed with him and paid every month without fail for over three years (thus reducing the debt quite significantly). Out of the blue a couple of years ago, 1st Credit instructed the collection agent to cease collections and then started corresponding with me direct asking for the entire amount – failing to take account or even acknowledge the fact that I had been making payments for over three years. I contacted them repeatedly – usually in response to their letters - to explain that their figures were wrong and sent them copies of proof of the payments I had made to their collection agent (a payment card with each monthly transaction recorded and signed by the agent) – all of which were seemingly ignored.

Do I have grounds to have this bankruptcy annulled? I am incredibly aggrieved that I had no notification of the hearing or copy of the petition before the event and I am relying on the fact that the sum quoted in the petition is very wrong indeed and that their claim (also in the petition) that I have not made any payments against the account is quite demonstrably wrong – luckily I still have the payment card.

One possible fly in the ointment is that 1st Credit have a CCJ against me for the sum of £8000+. Foolishly, I didn’t challenge this at the time (even though I had the evidence to so so) being so exasperated with them. Would this make a difference to any application for annulment?

Sorry if all this sounds like a garbled mess, but my head is in a spin. I’ve had a terrible Christmas thinking about all this and would really appreciate any and all advice.

Many thanks.

out_of_cash

if you owe a debt of £750+ you can be made bankrupt.

The correctprocedures would have to be taken up before this,you would have been served a statutory demand and this has to be served in the correct manner.Youve had no chance to defend,what did they show to the court?

Have you checked to see if your on the insolvency register?

It sounds to me you have a strong case.The dca hasnt followed procedures for this, so will be in deep !!!! if you drag them to court, and i most certainly would.

However the ccj could make a big difference, and especially if you have missed any payments on it.

Do you have a mortgage?is there equity in your home if you have?

GET EXPERT ADVICE ASAP.

fermi

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?104409-Bankruptcy-Order-!!!-***-WON-TWICE-***

Browntoa

so still up to the same tricks then by the sound of it Fermi !!

JCS1

http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/Publications/publications-by-theme/insolvency-publications

Might be worth a read of the "can my bankruptcy be cancelled" leaflet to see if possible to arrange an annulment on the grounds of ought not to have been made

debtinfo

The title here is a bit misleading as you do owe money and so they do have a right to push for bankruptcy as you are unable to pay it as it falls due which since you defaulted is all of it straight away. It is important that you understand that basic concept as it is different from someone who truly does not owe anything.

However as has been said above there are strict procedures that should be followed in an action like this and whilst it is possible that they could have done everything correctly even though you didnt know about it, it is less likely. I would say the main question here is have you moved address since they were employing the doorstep collector and if you have did you inform them of the change of address.

The other question you need to ask yourself is do you want to be bankrupt, ie do you have other debts that you cant pay, if you do get the annulment then the debt does not get wiped you will still owe whatever is the correct amount and it will still be payable straight away and they could still make you bankrupt if you cant pay it

debt_doctor

Hi,
If you are to have any prospect of success in the anulment of this BR order (on the basis the order should not have been made) it looks like you will have to show proceedural error, as the other reasond to objecting to a creditors petition do not seem to be available to you as it seems clear you do owe at least £750.
Did they ever try to enforce the CCJ, perhaps by bailiffs? - if they did and they were unsuccessful, then there is no requirement to issue a Statutory Demand, they could move directly to the creditors petition.
However, the PETITION must be served on you personally,so the creditor will have to show what has been done to locate you and serve. If they could not locate you, then the correct procedure is for them to apply for 'substituted service' in which the DJ would set out the requirements, ie recorded delivery to all held addresses for instance. If no response is then received from the debtor in the time stipulated by the DJ, then the debtor would normally be declared bankrupt in their absence.
So, for me, it would be scrutiny of what was done to serve personally the creditors petition, and were there any errors in that procedure.

However, as has been said, if you are successful there is nothing to stop the creditor serving another petition - which boils down to another as yet unanswered question - what does 1st Credit think you have that makes BR a good option for them? Do you have substantial assets?

DD