Ask a StepChange (formerly CCCS) counsellor a bankruptcy question

Radav

Hi StepChange,

I am originally from France but lived in the UK for the past 12 years, I have about 25k worth of debt, credit cards, one personal loan, phone contracts, two payday loan, and a lease for a apt I am renting through a estate agent, around 5 months left on the contract.

I am abroad at the moment and on limited funds, if I do apply for bankruptcy, I will have to ask a friend to borrow me the court fee.

I would like to know how many times do I have to present myself to the court to apply for bankruptcy?
Do i need to take a appointment in person first?

Thank you

StepChange_James

STUDENTMW wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I am currently considering declaring myself bankrupt but not too sure where I would stand on this situation.

I have no assets however, my brother has a car on HP which we share. I pay him half towards to car every month and pay my own fuel etc. The payments for the car come out of my account and my brother gives me the money (either by cash or bank transfer).

My question is, if i decided to declare myself bankrupt, would the car be taken as an asset?

Thank you

Hello,

If the car is in your brother's name and the finance is also in his name then it would probably not be not seen as your asset by the Official Receiver. I say probably because you've paid towards the buying of the car by contributing to the finance but if the finance outstanding is similar or more than the value of then they may not see it as an asset at all.

The Official Receiver may want to see documents that establish the car is definitely not yours and also could ask for any other paperwork about your finances.

It's unlikely that the Official Reciever will see you paying half of your brother's car finance as an essential cost, so there's a possibility that they'll ask you to pay that money to them instead, which can be then passed on to your debts.

I hope this helps and I'd recommend getting in touch with us for more advice before going bankrupt. Our contact details are in my signature.

Cheers

James

Helpmeoutofthismess

STUDENTMW wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I am currently considering declaring myself bankrupt but not too sure where I would stand on this situation.

I have no assets however, my brother has a car on HP which we share. I pay him half towards to car every month and pay my own fuel etc. The payments for the car come out of my account and my brother gives me the money (either by cash or bank transfer).

My question is, if i decided to declare myself bankrupt, would the car be taken as an asset?

Thank you

If the car is on HP it cannot be taken as an asset as it still belongs to the finance company. I'm no expert but I don't think the OR will allow the payment on your SOA :sad: they will probably allow you an allowance for transport but it would have to be reasonable for your circumstances.

H x

teddybear38

Thankyou for your response James. To enlighten you about my car payments, i need the car for my job, and was reliably informed that it wouldnt be taken from me, or used towards bankrupcy. Im assuming the £201 monthly payments IVe been making for nearly two years now, have been greatly helping with improving my credit score rating. I also have à Vanquish card i use to also improve my scoring. I just felt let down by the Official reciever, because i had no communication from him, when my discharge happened. I didnt know the relevance of having the paperwork that showed my discharge. I recently tried to change mobile phone contracts to a different one then i have. I was unable to, and feel sure it was mainly down to the Oddities on my credit scoring that should of said 'settled'. But those companies werent contacted by the O.R.
Thankyou anyway James for your response.
I hope within 3yrs, Im able to finally get a foot on the property ladder.

xxlindyloo

hi,
I was declared bankrupt in July 2010 after a bank refused my Debt management offer. I paid a small payment monthly to a insolvency agency which finished last month. I kept my house because we had no equity and my partner paid £500 for note of interest in it (Mortgage is solely in my name) My question is, is it worth trying to build a better credit rating just now or should I just give up for 6 years until the bankruptcy is removed from my records. I applied and got a vanquish credit card (which I only did to improve my credit rating).

Bordeau

Hi,

Thank you first for all your helpful answers I had the chance to read through the post, it did help me with some of my questions.

I do have a couple though. I am seriously considering to go Bankrupt, however I fear I might not be able to get a bank account with barclays once i will be declared bankrupt. It is actually one of my debtors (it was a business account).
I am also wondering how the transition works, as I am employed, I wonder how I can get my wages to be paid if my current bank accounts are closed ?

Thanks again for your help.

StepChange_James

xxlindyloo wrote: »

hi,
I was declared bankrupt in July 2010 after a bank refused my Debt management offer. I paid a small payment monthly to a insolvency agency which finished last month. I kept my house because we had no equity and my partner paid £500 for note of interest in it (Mortgage is solely in my name) My question is, is it worth trying to build a better credit rating just now or should I just give up for 6 years until the bankruptcy is removed from my records. I applied and got a vanquish credit card (which I only did to improve my credit rating).

Hello,

It's a tough one to call really. Whatever you do, it won't stop the bankruptcy from being listed on your credit file but it could give you a little boost.

I doubt I need to say it, but it's really important to make sure you don't run up the Vanquis card. If you make a small purchase on it once a month and pay it off as soon as the bill arrives then that will build up a record to regular payments on your file.

If you'd like other ideas on ways to improve your credit rating I'd suggest looking here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score#improve. Martin Lewis gives a really thorough run down of the possible ways to improve your score.

If a good credit rating isn't that important to you then it might not be worth bothering with but if it's something you're prepared to put the work in then there's a chance you'll see some modest improvements if you follow Martin's advice.

I hope this helps.

James

ConfusedIAm_2

Hi, (I have sent this message privately but my sent box says empty so I'm unsure whether it went. Apologies for any duplication,

I really hope you can help me out. I apologise in advance for the length of this message.

I accumulated debts of around £75,000 by 2009 and have been in a DMP with Pay Plan since then. All the debts are in my name only and I'm currently paying £1 per month to each creditor.

I've tried to raise money to make settlements via releasing money from a pension through a loophole but this was closed just prior to me receiving £30,000 and is now being held by a pension trustee, whilst others appeal the High Court decision. I have no idea what my pot is worth or when I can place it in another pension fund.

I separated from my wife in January 2012, she remained in the rented council house we shared with my daughter while I have lived in private rented since then.

Sometime before we separated, I was given some money by my father. I used some of the money to put a conservatory on the house to create more space. The sole intention was to create space so we could obtain a source of income by my wife becoming an adult placement carer (similar to fostering but for adults). The house was too small for 3 adults as it was before and we wouldn't have been approved without the conservatory.

When we split myself and my wife agreed that I should receive some of the cost of the conservatory back as she was benefiting from it. As I was no longer living there I agreed to come off the tenancy, once she agreed to pay me back in monthly installments. (Which she has been doing)

I have received £3,500 of the £4,750 agreed to date. She is now a self employed carer and receives £450 per week and pays no tax due to the tax allowance given by HMRC for her job.

A couple of weeks ago, we started talking about a reconciliation. I really don't want my poor financial situation to scupper our attempts to rebuild ( partly the reason why we broke up) and am considering bankruptcy.

The complication is she told me that she bought the house from the council 2 months ago, obtained a £75,000 discount and has just started paying the mortgage!! I believe the house was valued by the council at £170,000 so she would have bought for £95,000 but borrowed an additional £27,000 for an extension making a total borrowing of £122,000. £48,000 equity remaining

The timing of this concerns me a lot. I'm worried how this would be viewed by the OR if I decide to move back in with her. Would I have any beneficial interest in the property, could they take equity from my wife and would they wonder why I was being paid £4,750 to come off the tenancy, even though it was for the conservatory?

If I was to move back in and only pay for food and utility bills could they say I have an interest?

The timing would be comical if it wasn't so serious! I'm torn between reuniting my family but worried about the financial implications of doing so. I can show evidence of arguments via texts about this money being for the conservatory from a year ago. Clearly, I want the best situation for us both to ensure we have a good chance of making this work second time around but I'm really confused about where I stand on this.

StepChange_Private_Messages

ConfusedIAm wrote: »

Hi, (I have sent this message privately but my sent box says empty so I'm unsure whether it went. Apologies for any duplication,

I really hope you can help me out. I apologise in advance for the length of this message.

I accumulated debts of around £75,000 by 2009 and have been in a DMP with Pay Plan since then. All the debts are in my name only and I'm currently paying £1 per month to each creditor.

I've tried to raise money to make settlements via releasing money from a pension through a loophole but this was closed just prior to me receiving £30,000 and is now being held by a pension trustee, whilst others appeal the High Court decision. I have no idea what my pot is worth or when I can place it in another pension fund.

I separated from my wife in January 2012, she remained in the rented council house we shared with my daughter while I have lived in private rented since then.

Sometime before we separated, I was given some money by my father. I used some of the money to put a conservatory on the house to create more space. The sole intention was to create space so we could obtain a source of income by my wife becoming an adult placement carer (similar to fostering but for adults). The house was too small for 3 adults as it was before and we wouldn't have been approved without the conservatory.

When we split myself and my wife agreed that I should receive some of the cost of the conservatory back as she was benefiting from it. As I was no longer living there I agreed to come off the tenancy, once she agreed to pay me back in monthly installments. (Which she has been doing)

I have received £3,500 of the £4,750 agreed to date. She is now a self employed carer and receives £450 per week and pays no tax due to the tax allowance given by HMRC for her job.

A couple of weeks ago, we started talking about a reconciliation. I really don't want my poor financial situation to scupper our attempts to rebuild ( partly the reason why we broke up) and am considering bankruptcy.

The complication is she told me that she bought the house from the council 2 months ago, obtained a £75,000 discount and has just started paying the mortgage!! I believe the house was valued by the council at £170,000 so she would have bought for £95,000 but borrowed an additional £27,000 for an extension making a total borrowing of £122,000. £48,000 equity remaining

The timing of this concerns me a lot. I'm worried how this would be viewed by the OR if I decide to move back in with her. Would I have any beneficial interest in the property, could they take equity from my wife and would they wonder why I was being paid £4,750 to come off the tenancy, even though it was for the conservatory?

If I was to move back in and only pay for food and utility bills could they say I have an interest?

The timing would be comical if it wasn't so serious! I'm torn between reuniting my family but worried about the financial implications of doing so. I can show evidence of arguments via texts about this money being for the conservatory from a year ago. Clearly, I want the best situation for us both to ensure we have a good chance of making this work second time around but I'm really confused about where I stand on this.

Hi and thanks for your post.

We answered this question in the private message you sent us, if you need some more help please get in touch.

Kind regards,

Mat

szracer

Hi there,

Not sure if I'm asking this in the right topic, and I feel guilty asking it as I know there are many on here with bigger problems than mine, but...

I was a director of a company with my wife, which unfortunately (After 10 successful years) went into pre-pack administration last year. My wife formed a new company, and I started up on my own, as self-employed. I was not personally made bankrupt or insolvent.

I am lucky enough to own the freehold of the retail premises which my wife's (old and new) company rents. This is personally owned, not through a company.

However, I just phoned NFU to renew my car insurance, and they told me that because I had been a director of a company which had gone into administration, the woman at my local office gave a 'tip' that would probably be unwilling to renew either my landlord insurance, or my car insurance this year.

I've since managed to get new car insurance from someone else, but every time I try to get a quote for landlord's insurance (from other brokers), I'm told that they won't insure me because my company wnet into administration.

I'm not personally bankrupt, and my insurance is through me personally, not a company. What can I do?