Considering Bankruptcy

AlanD_3

What is really frustrating and annoying is how much of this is just due to our burying our heads in the sand. Never intentionally. Just unable to cope or deal with people, money people. Reading some of the letters it is just... over and over "contact us so we can help"... we just couldn't... just couldn't...

We just couldn't face it. Can't... physically unable, makes us sick at the thought, shakes etc.

Plus while we are living within our means we still just spend money when we have it. Not huge amounts, not frivolously... just a bit here and a bit there.

We could have sorted this out years ago... we could have avoided it altogether.

I feel sick. I'm going to bed.

Sorry.

Just had to vent.

goldy

Hi Alan,

It sounds to me as though you are holding it together well considering the stress you are all under.

You have taken steps to cope by going part time.

You have asked for help on here.

You are like many of us on here - events rather than recklessness have led to your financial position.


I have just gone through the bankrupcy process and while it is horrible and stressful and worrying, when you come through the other side there is some hope and a chance to start afresh.


Don't forget if you do decide to go for bankrupcy, you will have support on here, I'm sure.


I hope you are feeling a bit better today - I would take a guess that the thought of going back to work after the holidays isn't helping right now either.

You can get this though - just keep in there. The letter are a horrible strain but they are just letters and you can still take control of this and sort it out.

gettingitsorted

Alan your doing great ,we just need to see what debts your paying a month compaired to your household budget thats all to see if we can figure which would be the best route for you to take

AlanD_3

End of the month we generally end up with £0 in the bank before pay day but there is wasted cash and luxuries in amoungst that (plus birthdays etc).

I think food budget is around £400 a month... maybe more. It sounds so excessive to me but there are 4 of us and both the kids have (despite being so skinny and small) enormous appetites. Then there is cleaning products, washing powder etc... It is so difficult to work out. Especially with kids' clothes etc.

It is these costs we need to work out. Obviously with the drop in wages next year we'll have to budget and avoid luxury spends but we're expecting that. We're going to look at costs etc properly in advance of that.

As far as things we are paying back we've been on repayment schemes for most of our debts at one time or another but they've lapsed for one reason or another (not always our fault... sometimes they just cancel them and then chase us for defaulting when it wasn't a bounce or anything). Currently there is only the £10 a week for electric (no choice it is part of the key meter) and £75 a month for nondomestic council tax (no choice the baliffs came and wouldn't leave until we gave them some things to put on their list, they did good cop, bad cop etc. All we gave them was a mobile phone, a VHS player (doesn't work, lol) and comics, we didn't let them in but of course now they "own" the goods I suppose they can come in any time they want).

Going back to school is not helping. I was at the top of my game at the beginning of the school year but I just fell appart. Apparently I'm getting better but I think that is bull just to get me back to work.

I will be going through all the debts today. May be less than first thought (we've paid some back over the years) but still not an easy step. Not avoiding it just too tired last night and kids around this morning.

Circumstances getting out of control... that about sums it up. We were running at full pace to stay on one spot and ended up losing ground. It wasn't that we ran up the debts it was just more like trying to bail out the titanic with an egg cup at times. Both with the shop and other debts... cash was coming in but we... anyway, you've probably heard it all before. We're crap with money and will be MUCH better after all this. If we get clear then it isn't just "one more thing" to panic about, it can be something to be budgeted etc. Honest guv

THANK YOU so much to all of you for your kind words of support. It means so much.

wherediditallgo

Well done on what you've done so far, Alan - stick with it. There was a time when I had so many letters coming through my mailbox, the postman would either ring for me to open the door so that he could give me the load in my hands or would stand outside for what felt like forever feeding the letterbox with them. :eek: It took you a long time for you to get into debt - like many of us, yours aren't recent ones, just the accumulation of not paying them & the charges etc. Though it may at times feel like you're using an eggcup to bale out the water while someone else is using a bucket to put it back in, you will get to the point when what you've done to sort things out is more than what you have still to look at. Once you're there, you'll start to feel the benefits of your hard work & it will get easier.

loopy_lou_6

dear alan, i've just read your posts and im just really moved, i feel for you so much. you will get through this, stronger and wiser and closer as a family. well done for holding it together for your wife and kids at this time, many men would have bailed by now. My best friend went bankrupt about 7 years ago and its been a really testing time (she had a breakdown and developed ME) but now shes the other side of it and she and her husband are whizzes with money and often give other people advice on how to manage their finances. just bite off a bit at a time. dont feel like a failure. u r not, what you are doing takes a lot of courage. Take heart. i read recently that the difference between people who succeed and people that fail are those who succeed are the ones who ask for help and you are really putting yourself out there and doing that. im a christian and i am going to pray for you and yor family, god knows who you are and hes for you all the way.keep your tongue out as my wise old hubbie always says. I will post another time the way we do our budget which we got secondhand from my friend who went bankrupt, who had to implement it to save up to go bankrupt! much love

loopy_lou_6

ps check out the legislation on your student loans being included or not if you do go bankrupt. I remember reading somewhere that under new rules they were to be included and passing this info on to my friend but unfortunately it didnt apply to her cos she went bankrupt b4 the new rules came out. that is if you do decide to go bankrupt. I have to say that even 7 years down the line it causes my friend problems and has repurcussions. whatever you decide will be right for you and the guys onhere will really help you out, theyve earned their stripes

Richard_S

AlanD wrote: »

I'm not including student loans. They are repaid by the government thanks to the repayment of teachers' loans scheme.

I currently have no credit cards or loans but I did have in the past, as did the business.

I'm sorry if you feel I have been unclear or misleading it isn't easy facing up to all of this at the best of times and at the moment ME, stress, depression etc is not making it any easier.

I said I was going to list the creditors soon. It is not easy to look at.

We have council tax (domestic and nondomestic), suppliers, newspapers (advertising), electric companies, water companies, BT, Banks, suppliers of credit card equipment (swipe card machine) and two credit cards within there.

Again I'm sorry Rich if I've seemed at all evasive or annoying it was not my intention.

Hi Alan,

You've got nothing to apologise for, it's me that should apologise if my post appeared anything less than sympathetic. I was frustrated with myself for not being able to just read through your thread and then suggest what your next course of action should be.

I know how hard it can be when you ultimately have to face the pile of post that seems to scream at you every time you go near it. One little trick that might help is to pretend you're doing it for a friend and then it seems less intimidating somehow; it worked for me.

Try and decide how you're going to approach the task before you start. A useful approach is to sort the letters into individual companies or accounts, putting the statements and correspondence in seperate piles. Then sort them by date order and then file them so that the whole thing ordered and easy to refer to.

Once you've done that you'll be able record quite easily how much you've got outstanding and to who, and by reading the correspondence file with the most recent first you'll get a clear picture of how far things have got with your creditors.

Once again, please accept my most sincere apologies for appearing to be anything other than 100% sympathetic and supportive, we've all been where you are and it's a very uncomfortable place.

Hope you can enjoy the lovely weather and I'm sure it won't be long before you're on top of the whole messy situation.

Best regards

Rich

wherediditallgo

Good on you, Richard. It takes a big person to offer such an apology. Enjoy the weekend yourself too.

AlanD_3

This is messy...

I've done it for a first try through.

I'm sure there are some missing and due to the enforcement agencies passing debts from pillar to post it is difficult to work out who the debts were originally and then there are charges on top... thus 1 or 2 may be duplications... AND some have had some paid off on them.

It is so hard to work out. It could be some of the bigger ones are far less or it could be that we're missing one or two of a few hundred that haven't found us at this address. I knew it was around £30,000 but Dawn and I did a work thru in our heads last night and it seemed more £25,000... it coming out at £39,000 was a BIG shock which really does suggest to us there must be some duplication in there... must be, surely... And then what is missing??? Got another pile to sort through next that we sorted for the IVA we were going to do. Not all of that has paperwork though...

So many addresses... home1 (evicted), shop1, shop2, shop3 (we had to keep moving for cheaper rent), temporary accomodation, home2... so many places for debt to have come from/being sent to... so many shocks waiting to catch up with us...

Richard I'm sorry for being so defensive. Just been burying all this for so long it is quite raw. It just is always there, a millstone round your neck you convince yourself you've gotten used to.

Here is the first draft of the debts:

Origin Agencies Original amount Current amount
La Redoute Droyds Debt £79.29 £177.49
Reader Digest £13.95 £13.95
Bedford Insurance Amber Credit, Icon £58.29 £138.29
North Wilts CT 131 Equita £677.14 £787.07
Williams £28.20 £28.20
British gas - Elect 1a £133.24 £133.24
Hypercom ? 52.88 a quarter ??
British gas - Elect 131 Global £250.66 £250.66
BT 131 Nelson Guest, Debt Enforce £161.87 £238.87
Wessex Water 1a £37.64 £37.64
Diamond £414.51 £414.51
Wessex water 15 £48.38 £48.38
Yell £37.24 £37.24
Nat West £943.51 £943.51
Nat West £1,825.40 £1,825.40
Western Chall 131 Renaissance £3,815.97 £4,142.72
North Wilts CT 63 £50.00 £50.00
Andy&White Removals £2,616.68 ??
????? BuchananClark&Wells £2,568.94 £2,568.94
HSBC Overdraft Debt Enfor, Logan, Wescot, Nelson Guest £2,031.72 £2,031.72
HSBC Legal&Trade £1,986.72 £1,986.72
HSBC card Legal&Trade £1,832.06 £1,832.06
Powergen £2,037.00 £2,037.00
BT 15 ??? ??? £391.93
Kleeneze £75.06 £84.64
Norwich Union Car £51.60 £51.60
JD Williams Reliable Collections £277.54 £277.54
Wessex Water 131 £127.47 £127.47
???? GMAC Commecial Credit £598.94 £733.94
Barclaycard Mercers, thames, Lewis £1,759.36 £2,200.99
Comics' International £126.90 £126.90
WWDC 1a £1,206.75 £1,206.75
WWDC 15 £759.76 £759.76
DVLA Manches £80.00 £80.00
Newsquest £114.00 £114.00
Western Newspapers £23.50 £23.50
BT 1a £194.08 £194.08
Nat West Loan ??? £7,702.72 £7,702.72
Sky 131 £28.00 £28.00
Sky 15 ?? ??
comicbiz £3,800.00 £3,800.00
West&East Somerset Baptists Rent £1,775.00 £1,775.00

Total £39,402.43

Sorry it has come out so messy, tried to sort it out with spaces to resemble the spreadsheet but once posted the formatting goes... The numbers next to some bills (eg BT 15) refers to the address, it is a quick reference for us.

Thanks.