Ask a StepChange (formerly CCCS) counsellor a bankruptcy question

kittykatt28

Hi,

I didn't get a response on the main board so will try here, I'm not sure it's the right place sorry if it's wrong.

I'm filling in BR forms and have a question. My tax credits renewal came and states that up to April 2013 I was overpaid nearly £1500 and they will collect this back from future awards by reducing my payments. Do I add this to my list of unsecured creditors or not include it at all? My tax credits award is around £30 so will take a while to pay off!

Many thanks!

System

stressbags wrote: »

Hi, I've just gone through the debt remedy tool (which was really good) and it's suggested a DRO which I am trying to look into. I was wondering what happens to credit cards I have no balance on if I take out a DRO? I have an american express card with zero balance. Would this need to be closed before hand? Thanks.

Hi,

Glad you found the Debt Remedy tool useful.

If you were to go onto a DRO you're not allowed to take out additional credit of more than £500 without informing the lender - having the card active is fine as long as you don't use it in in excess of this amount. You may want to close the account so it's not a temptation to use it but you're not required to.

If you need anymore information or want to discuss a DRO with us you can call in and have a chat with an advisor.

Thanks,
Jess

System

kittykatt28 wrote: »

Hi,

I didn't get a response on the main board so will try here, I'm not sure it's the right place sorry if it's wrong.

I'm filling in BR forms and have a question. My tax credits renewal came and states that up to April 2013 I was overpaid nearly £1500 and they will collect this back from future awards by reducing my payments. Do I add this to my list of unsecured creditors or not include it at all? My tax credits award is around £30 so will take a while to pay off!

Many thanks!

Hi there,

You should add it to your list of unsecured creditors yes. Tax debts are included in bankruptcy and you should include them.

Many Thanks,
Jess

slowjourney

Hi, I have a question that I hope you may be able to offer some guidance on.

My bankruptcy case is being passed from the OR to an nominated insolvency practitioner and they will obviously be looking to sell my assets (house and a small piece of land) which I jointly owned with my husband. He is still solvent. My question relates to whether his interests are protected when the insolvency practitioner decides what price to sell our house for. If they find there is enough to cover my bankruptcy debts and their costs in my half of the realised funds, are they still legally bound to sell for the full market value in order that my husband's proceeds are protected, or can they sell it at a lower price (as long as creditors are covered) in order to speed up the sale?

thank you.

StepChange_James

slowjourney wrote: »

Hi, I have a question that I hope you may be able to offer some guidance on.

My bankruptcy case is being passed from the OR to an nominated insolvency practitioner and they will obviously be looking to sell my assets (house and a small piece of land) which I jointly owned with my husband. He is still solvent. My question relates to whether his interests are protected when the insolvency practitioner decides what price to sell our house for. If they find there is enough to cover my bankruptcy debts and their costs in my half of the realised funds, are they still legally bound to sell for the full market value in order that my husband's proceeds are protected, or can they sell it at a lower price (as long as creditors are covered) in order to speed up the sale?

thank you.

Hello,

Thanks for posting.

I would recommend getting in touch with the Insolvency Practitioner to discuss the process they are going to follow.

I'd expect the Insolvency Practitioner would want to work together with you and your husband on the sale of the property.

There is a bit of flexibility in how quickly they want to sell assets, they'll sometimes allow you extra time in the property before wanting it to be sold. It's reasonable to expect them to get a fair market value for assets, regardless of how much money they are looking to raise.

I hope this helps.

James

slowjourney

Thank you, does my husband have any protection at all from anywhere, to ensure that he receives a fair 50% of the proceeds?

As an extreme example - if house was worth 200,000, and my debts were 50,000, could they then just sell the house for 100,000? Thus leaving him with far less than he would normally receive for his half of the property?

I just would like to go to the insolvency practitioner armed with the information....the OR kept saying to me 'insolvency practitioners are much more commercially minded than we are', which of course now leaves me with a fear that my poor husband is going to get shafted.

StepChange_James

slowjourney wrote: »

Thank you, does my husband have any protection at all from anywhere, to ensure that he receives a fair 50% of the proceeds?

As an extreme example - if house was worth 200,000, and my debts were 50,000, could they then just sell the house for 100,000? Thus leaving him with far less than he would normally receive for his half of the property?

I just would like to go to the insolvency practitioner armed with the information....the OR kept saying to me 'insolvency practitioners are much more commercially minded than we are', which of course now leaves me with a fear that my poor husband is going to get shafted.

Hi there,

Insolvency Practitioners dealing with bankruptcy have to follow the "Insolvency Ethical Principles" which you can read here: http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/guidanceleaflets/conductethics/conductethics.htm#1. THE INSOLVENCY ETHICAL PRINCIPLES.

The Intergrity section mentions: "Integrity implies not merely honesty but fair dealing and truthfulness."

Any assets that are to be sold should be sold for a reasonable amount, so not ridiculously low. However, they will balance up the requirement to get a fair price against avoiding prolonging the sale process and risking losing money (from mortgage arrears, house values dropping, damage to property, etc).

It's worth pointing out that the Insolvency Practitioner will also take their fees out of any assets they realise, which could potentially reduce the amount available for creditors.

I'd say that speaking the Insolvency Practitioner first will hopefully give you an idea of where you stand. If anything sounds a bit fishy then you can query it with the Insolvency Service, here's their contact details: http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/contact-us.

The Insolvency Service can't give advice but they are able to give information about how things work in bankrutpcy.

Kind regards

James

kittykatt28

Hi,

Can I please ask for help on form 6.28 section 8.2 Give details of any property you rent either alone or jointly.

I don't have my name on any rent agreement and haven't for many years, my partner rents the house solely in his name (I knew I would fail the credit check on the application so didn't apply). Do I just leave this section blank as I don't hold any agreement? My partner and I would rather the landlord wasn't informed as we don't want to risk having to leave. I've never paid towards the rent just a small portion of household bills as I earn very very little.

Thank you for reading.

StepChange_James

kittykatt28 wrote: »

Hi,

Can I please ask for help on form 6.28 section 8.2 Give details of any property you rent either alone or jointly.

I don't have my name on any rent agreement and haven't for many years, my partner rents the house solely in his name (I knew I would fail the credit check on the application so didn't apply). Do I just leave this section blank as I don't hold any agreement? My partner and I would rather the landlord wasn't informed as we don't want to risk having to leave. I've never paid towards the rent just a small portion of household bills as I earn very very little.

Thank you for reading.

Hi Kitty Kat

If you're not named on the tenancy agreement and don't pay anything towards the rent then it sounds like this section doesn't apply to you and you don't need to fill it in.

Section 13 of the forms allows you to put in any extra information that might be useful. So you could clarify the situation there, just to make it easy to follow.

We've an article on our blog about filling out bankruptcy forms which might be useful: http://moneyaware.co.uk/template-letters-court-forms/how-do-i-fill-in-my-bankruptcy-forms/.

Kind regards

James

advicerequest

Hello there - I'm hoping someone can give me some advice. As part of my job, I've been advised I need to be a joint signatory on the company managers' bank account in order to pay invoices etc.
As far as I can gather, the person who is the current joint signatory has a joint account set up with the manager (I'm not sure if it's set up as a business or personal account) - he's leaving the company so it's now my responsibility to take on that part. I'm really concerned as I declared bankruptcy in Nov 2007, was discharged a year later and had an BRO for 3 1/2 years. My credit file is clean with the exception one debt which is still showing as outstanding even though I have written to them to advise it was included in my original bankruptcy. I'm really concerned that the bank will refuse me as a joint signatory and I'll have to explain why. Do you know what the policy normally is for joint bank accounts after bankruptcy?