OR interview help/advice please

oddydog

Hello - I have been reading this forum for some time and have finally plucked up the courage to go BR. I have my court date next Wednesday.

I am not so much dreading the court appearance, rather the OR interview. I understand that they will require an explanation as to how/why the debt accrued and I understand that self confessed abject irresponsibility can lead to all sorts of delays with receiving AD. To cut a long story short, I was a single mum with 2 kids who had left an overseas abusive marriage, came back to the UK, started rebuilding my life and had lots of cards/loans offered to me which I took. These were manageable and my credit rating was good as I was working. My mother passed away nearly 13 years ago and left me a small house which I then spent credit on fixing up - and it took a lot of fixing! Bless her. By now the debts were getting a little out of hand and I started missing payments - it didn't take long before it was all out of control and I did something I never thought I would ever do again. When I got married, my husband was an ex drug user (he had been clean for years when we met and married) but he started using again. I stupidly experimented with him but quickly learnt that if I didn't leave, I would not be able to look after my kids and would probably end up in a ditch somewhere. Once an addict - always an addict so I left.

Roll on to 2005 and there I was, with 55K worth of debt, 2 kids that had by now left home and I started using again. The house had a charging order on it and I sold the house in 2005 with the intention of clearing all the debts and starting over once more. Only, that didn't happen. I spent the best part of 100k on drugs. When the money ran out was when I stopped using.

I have not touched drugs since and for the first time in 7 years, I am not haunted by them. I have met and married a wonderful man who has supported me in every way possible and we will be celebrating our 5th anniversary later this month. I managed to clear 2 of the debts completely and have been paying a monthly amount to my biggest creditor. However ..... I am now not working (made redundant a year ago) and 7 other debtors have now crawled out of the woodwork. I have outstanding debts totalling 45K and know there is no way I will ever clear them at the rate of £5 per month.

My adviser has said that the OR will probably not be interested in the house sale as it is over 7 years ago and the debts accrued before then, that they are only interested in what I own (nothing - we rent and I don't have a car) and we receive housing benefit and working tax credit as hubby is self employed - but struggling. Do I tell the OR the sordid details even though it happened years ago, or do I just state that I accrued the debt over many years and left it all get out of hand? I do not want to be dishonest, but if there was anyway I could avoid going into such details it would certainly help me get through it. As I said, once an addict, always an addict and I live in dread of the old 'escape' mechanisms kicking back in.

I would be so grateful for advice. Thank you

tigerfeet2006

Welcome to the board and well done on having the courage to get some advice and do something positive.

You answer the questions asked, truthfully and accurately with out waffle. If the debts are 7 years old and you haven't taken on much more debt in the meantime then I doubt whether they will ask you to much about it.

The worst you would probably get is a BRO/U

debtinfo

As tiger feet says you must answer as truthfully and fully as you can, the longer ago an action is the less it matters to the OR, but they are going to notice a £100K hole in your explanation, what is likely to delay your discharge more is the fact that they will be digging deeper tp try and find out why it doesent all add up. When i was an examiner that is usually where an investigation starts by the fact that what you have been told doesent add up.

Some quick questions for you When is the last time that you took a loan or used a credit card.

Also from the sale of the house how much did you receive, where there any secured debts that were not paid and when did the money you received run out.

Finally when did you last use any drugs

If the answer to all of them is 6 years or more then i dont think the consequences will be to severe

oddydog

Thank you so much for replying!

The last time I used any drugs was in 2005 - and I am the proud owner of a Narcotics Anonymous medal to boot!! They teach you at NA to 'own your recovery' but that doesn't mean I want to broadcast it to anyone. Next to BR it will be the most shameful thing I have had to deal with.......

I wasn't contemplating lying to them, just wondered if I should volunteer the info if they didn't ask. The CCCS adviser seemed to think that they wouldn't be interested as it was 7 years ago and I was already knee deep in debt from non-drug related spending. The last time I used any credit was also in 2005 - no new cards or applications for new cards at all.

All debts secured against the house were settled on sale - sale price was 125K.

If my our own household income is mainly from housing/council tax benefit and working tax credit and just the tiniest amount from my husband's earnings ( £40per week) then the adviser seemed to think mine would be a very straightforward case of no pennies to pay creditors. May I ask please, what is a BRO/U and what does it mean in practical terms?

shedhead55

As others have said, be truthful. The OR's job is to salvage what they can for the benefit of creditors, they are not there to judge and will not do so. My partner suffers from depression and anxiety and was dreading the OR interview but actually found the examiner to be sympathetic and supporting and wasn't pressed too hard for answers to long forgotten questions. At the time my partner was claiming incapacity benefit and our adviser said it would be very unusual for the OR to ask for payments from anyone on benefits and in the event no payment was asked for. Like yours it was a straightforward case and, my partner got early discharge after 8 months.
Please remember though there is nothing shameful about being BR, it will make it harder for you to get credit for the next few years, it can affect car and home insurance with some insurers (even if in someone else's name, I had to change my home insurer when my partner went BR) and it has implications for company directors and public officials, but apart from that you can live a perfectly normal life that is all the better having being released from the constant fear of debt collectors.
If debt collectors do contact you after BR then just sent them a copy of the bankruptcy order with a brusque covering letter referring them to the OR, doing that can be quite satisfying! Its probably best not to phone them (IMHO) as their agents are usually specially trained to intimidate and economise on the truth.

oddydog

Thank you for your kind words - in my case I am just afraid that i will, if I feel cornered, run back to old ways out of sheer panic. I have come a long long way but am so aware of how easy it would be to simply fall back into the life I hate.

There are things I genuinely don't remember - I was convinced that my debt was in the order of £25K - horrendous but not as startling as realising it is actually 45k outstanding. Not to score points here, but will it carry any weight that I did settle 2 of the creditors who contacted me and am still paying the largest one; the others I lost track of (and in truth shut them out mentally) and they didn't locate me until 2 weeks ago, probably via the one I have been making payments to. Additionally, I remembered that I may have owed money on a credit card to my old bank who hadn't contacted me at all so I wrote to them and asked for details, just so I could face ALL the debts (they sold it on and I have contacted the collection agencies in the chain (bank to MCS to Vertex) but no one knows where it is now and as it is over 6 years ago, no one can tell me where to call next as they reckon it may be archived as Statute Barred. I have contacted everyone who has since located me and explained that I am willing to enter into a plan but can only pay £1 pm each which they won't accept hence the BR appointment next week. just hoping the OR will see that I am not trying to hide anymore.

PippaGirl_2

The debt might be that because of all the fees and interest. I took out a £15,000 loan but when the CAB contacted them about a DMP they added all the interest of the whole loan had it run the whole duration and a few fees on top and it is now £26,000 of my BR debt. So what you thought you owe and what they now say you owe could be explained by that.

debtinfo

Yes 7 years is alot of interest and charges, The best thing to do is to set out in your statement basic but pertinant details of the history, i think you ned to mention the drug use because that is a big part of the overall reason why you are in debt, but with it being so long ago you dont need initially to go into great details, just i would suggest roughly when you started, when you stopped and approx how much was spent. the same for any other significant factors. If the OR wants more details then they will ask you

shedhead55

Please don't worry oddydog, the OR are not there to corner you or to catch you out. My partner was in a similar position, she had jointly with a previous partner borrowed a lot more than she thought (and a lot more than you) and couldn't explain where it had gone but it wasn't a problem, she just told the truth and everything was fine. The OR's job is to sort out the present situation and not to judge your past.

Don't worry about who currently owns your debts, just put down the original creditor or if you've been notified by creditors that debts have been sold then put that down, just give what information you have... that's all that is required. The OR will advertise your bankruptcy to give creditors an opportunity to make a claim, if they don't see the ad' then that's their problem and not yours.

oddydog

Thank you all - so so much. It really does give me confidence just seeing that strangers are willing to take the time to reply. I get the feeling that my adviser really doesn't want me to mention the drug issue voluntarily due to the 7 yr timeframe - maybe because of the BRO/U thingy - but instead wants me to say I was living way beyond my means and then stuck my head in the sand. Anyway ...... I will let you all know how I get on.

Thanks again everyone - heartfelt thanks.

RecoveringAlcoholic

Thank you for your kind words - in my case I am just afraid that i will, if I feel cornered, run back to old ways out of sheer panic. I have come a long long way but am so aware of how easy it would be to simply fall back into the life I hate.

Relapse is always a possibility. Keep in close contact with NA.

Good luck.