Ask a StepChange (formerly CCCS) counsellor a bankruptcy question

StepChange_James

Mmusic wrote: »

Hi guys,

Am after some advice, does anyone know what happens if you receive an inflationary pay rise during an IPA? do you have to declare in and hand over the extra income each month or are you allowed to keep it to cover the increased cost of living each month? All my bills apart from council tax and rent have recently gone up and they're all starting to chip away at what i have left to live on each month.

Can anyone help?

Hello,

You do need to disclose increases in your income if you're on an IPA but given that your living costs have gone up it should just be a case of updating your figures and checking the payment is still a fair reflection of what you can afford.

Arguably, if your living costs have gone up more than your wage rise, your payment could come down. Particularly if you're finding that you've not enough money left to get by on after you've paid your IPA.

Cheers

James

StepChange_James

alastairq wrote: »

This is incorrect for a BAnkruptcy in the UK.

Under UK BAnkruptcy regulations, an Undischarged BAnkrupt is perfectly entitled to obtain credit.

Whilst Undischarged, if a Bankrupt seeks credit in excess of £500, they are obliged by Regulation to inform the potential creditor of the BAnkruptcy.

Once Discharged, no such regulation applies.

Any 'restriction' stems not from the OR or the LAw, but from the willingness of a potential creditor to allow credit.

Regarding phone contracts?

There are a couple of issues that can affect them.

[a] will the OR agree to allow the payment of the contract on the SOA?

& ...will the phone contractor wish to continue the contract after the BR petition?

If [a] is not agreed with the OR, but , the phone company are happy to continue, there is nothing to prevent the Bankrupt from continuing the contract, but it will need to be funded from elsewhere within the SOA.

I've not much to add to this apart from to say that this is consistent with my experience too.

Cheers

James

mrw1981

Hello,

I will have been discharged from bankruptcy for 4 years in November. I have been renting with my partner for the last 3 years but our landlady has informed us she wishes to sell the house and we have 6 weeks to find somewhere else to live :eek:
I have been in contact with a mortgage adviser who informs me we will need a 35% deposit on any house we look to buy, including the government help to buy schemes
Does anyone know of any other ways of getting a mortgage at a reasonable rate or am I stuck renting until my 7 years discharge is up?
All help gratefully recieved,
Many thanks.

System

mrw1981 wrote: »

Hello,

I will have been discharged from bankruptcy for 4 years in November. I have been renting with my partner for the last 3 years but our landlady has informed us she wishes to sell the house and we have 6 weeks to find somewhere else to live :eek:
I have been in contact with a mortgage adviser who informs me we will need a 35% deposit on any house we look to buy, including the government help to buy schemes
Does anyone know of any other ways of getting a mortgage at a reasonable rate or am I stuck renting until my 7 years discharge is up?
All help gratefully recieved,
Many thanks.

Hi mrw1981,

Welcome to the forum.

The bankruptcy will drop off your credit file after six years from the discharge date. Before that time a mortgage lender will be able to see that you were made bankrupt – this may affect their decision to approve a mortgage. Because of this you will need a larger budget than someone without a record of insolvency.

Take care,
Jess

luvchocolate

Hi Jess I think you will find the br falls of your credit file 6 years from br and not discharge as you quoted above. thanks

System

StepChange_Jess wrote: »

Hi mrw1981,

Welcome to the forum.

The bankruptcy will drop off your credit file after six years from the discharge date. Before that time a mortgage lender will be able to see that you were made bankrupt – this may affect their decision to approve a mortgage. Because of this you will need a larger budget than someone without a record of insolvency.

Take care,
Jess

Hi,

As Luvchocolate has pointed out - the bankruptcy drops off your credit file six years after the date you were made bankrupt, not from the date of discharge. Apologies for any confusion.

Thanks,
Jess

System

luvchocolate wrote: »

Hi Jess I think you will find the br falls of your credit file 6 years from br and not discharge as you quoted above. thanks

Hi,

Thanks for pointing that out and correcting me - you are indeed right, it's six years from the bankruptcy date not discharge.

Many thanks,
Jess

fluffy70

Hi

I'm looking for some advice on what seems to be quite confusing so far - my husband and I have come to the decision that Bankruptcy is hte best way forward for us both. I understand that we have to do two seprate petitions for this (one for each of us) but I am the sole earner in our family as my husband is self employed but not working due to illness. He doesn't receive any state benefits as I earn £21k (he's been told that it's too high an income for him to qualify under income based rules and he hasnt paid the right contributions for contribution based ESA/ JSA) but on that we keep our home running in the south of england (rented but utility bills are cripplng us with the arrears and we were repossessed 4 years ago with a £40k shortfall) with a 6 year old child and £160 a month child tax credit so looking at the remissions for court fees it says that he has to declare gross monthly income for both of us, which would instantly mean that he's not entitled to the fee remission if i read that right?

I'm trying to save for my court fees and both of our OR fees and have gone through that with Stepchange already, but I'm getting confused as to whether joint income is counted even when doing separate petitions.

Please offer any advice that you have - I'm praying that one of our creditors issues a statutory demand to save us from the fees but no such luck

Former_StepChange_Rachel

fluffy70 wrote: »

Hi

I'm looking for some advice on what seems to be quite confusing so far - my husband and I have come to the decision that Bankruptcy is hte best way forward for us both. I understand that we have to do two seprate petitions for this (one for each of us) but I am the sole earner in our family as my husband is self employed but not working due to illness. He doesn't receive any state benefits as I earn £21k (he's been told that it's too high an income for him to qualify under income based rules and he hasnt paid the right contributions for contribution based ESA/ JSA) but on that we keep our home running in the south of england (rented but utility bills are cripplng us with the arrears and we were repossessed 4 years ago with a £40k shortfall) with a 6 year old child and £160 a month child tax credit so looking at the remissions for court fees it says that he has to declare gross monthly income for both of us, which would instantly mean that he's not entitled to the fee remission if i read that right?

I'm trying to save for my court fees and both of our OR fees and have gone through that with Stepchange already, but I'm getting confused as to whether joint income is counted even when doing separate petitions.

Please offer any advice that you have - I'm praying that one of our creditors issues a statutory demand to save us from the fees but no such luck

Hi there,

From what you've mentioned, I would say that your husband probably will be exempt from these fees. That said, I think the best thing to do would be to give us a call as we have all your information right there and can talk you through how to move forward with things.

Best regards

Rachel

always_something

Hi,
I've been in chats with You and told that due to my low income (£12,000 pa), high debts (£42,000) and that I'm a single parent, BR is the best option. I rent from a private landlord.

My question is this, my car (07 plate mini) was purchased by my parents for me, and now in my name (was in theirs, but insurance etc seemed complicated.) I guess my car to be worth £5500, but I didn't buy it, will I loose it through BR?

What about TV and sons Xbox?

Do debt collectors come around. Feeling so scared, my parents don't know my situation, but I just need help, breakdown of relationship/recession,a job loss all had a part to play, and I'm left with all this debt.

Thank you.