gETTING ABIT CONFUSED

MARIADANCER

Right, ive decided, that BR is better for me, But what im confused with it, about my bank account. I am in an overdraft. but my wages and benifits go into it. And i have phone/ntl/insurance come out. Am i better off opening an accound now, before i got BR or after. PLease help,

Richard_S

MARIADANCER wrote:

Right, ive decided, that BR is better for me, But what im confused with it, about my bank account. I am in an overdraft. but my wages and benifits go into it. And i have phone/ntl/insurance come out. Am i better off opening an accound now, before i got BR or after. PLease help,

Hi Maria,

It is confusing and different banks respond differently to you being declared bankrupt. One member of the forum banked with Lloyds and because he didn't owe them money he was allowed to keep the bank account together with debit card and cheque book, but I think I'm correct in saying that this is unusual.

You could open a new bank account and have your salary, benefits and Direct Debits set up on that account but there's always the risk that they may freeze the account when they learn of your bankruptcy, and you have to go through the whole process again. The Official Receiver can and will write to your bank and authorise them to give you access to your funds in order to pay for reasonable living expenses; but again that's up to the bank.

We got around this problem by having my salary paid into my daughters bank account in the month leading up to our bankruptcy, any DDs that were due I paid cash at a bank or post office. Almost all utilities have the fecility to allow you do this especially if you tell them that it's only temporary while you change banks - no need to tell them why. We were declared bankrupt in the morning and by 2pm the same day we'd opened two new basic accounts. We then arranged for my salary to be paid into one and set up new DD mandates through that bank.

There's obviously a period of disruption and additional paperwork but it's eminently manageable and a small price to pay for the relief of being able to put your debts behind you.

Have you taken advice from one of the debt charities? CCCS, CAB (specialist debt advisor) Payplan or the National Debt Line. They're all really helpful and generally have all the answers and reassurance to hand. The judge will ask you if you've taken professional advice about bky so it's something you'll need to do anyway.

Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have or PM me if you don't want to post them on a public forum.

Good luck with everything,

Richard

MARIADANCER

HEY thanks, im looking at the co op , and ive been trying to get to get to cab, but the days i can get there, im alway working, dam it, But there is no doubt, im going for it, I cant keep going like this, But worried about how im gonna find the money for it, I only have to pay the main amount as im on benifits. But still its money i dont have,

Richard_S

MARIADANCER wrote:

HEY thanks, im looking at the co op , and ive been trying to get to get to cab, but the days i can get there, im alway working, dam it, But there is no doubt, im going for it, I cant keep going like this, But worried about how im gonna find the money for it, I only have to pay the main amount as im on benifits. But still its money i dont have,

Hi Maria,

We used the CCCS, they take a few details from the initial phone call and then you arrange a time that's convenient for you to speak to them in greater detail. Ours was a long conversation and it didn't leave any stone unturned and I have to say from a personal perspective that until that conversation I'd never actually realised that we'd gone past the point of no return and that bky was almost inevitable; it didn't stop us fighting it but it was a battle we couldn't win and with hindsight I'm pleased we didn't.

As for raising the money, we were declared bankrupt by a third party so it wasn't an issue for us, but if it had been then I would have just stpped paying every creditor with the exception of priority ones, i.e mortgage / rent, utilities and groceries. We did stop paying creditors and went on holiday but that's a different story.

On reflection, this seems a weak post in response to the questions you've raised but it's difficult to suggest how you can raise the money without seeing yr income & expenditure details.

Keep posting and the answers will materialise - that's certainly been our experience.

Rich