Discharged Bankrupt - Can i claim?!!

joclayx

Please be gentle with me as I'm new and scared at the moment!!!
After a few nightmare years financially I had to declare myself Bankrupt.This was a year ago and I am now discharged.My advice to anyone thinking of this is to do it , learn from it and move on,
Anyway , my question to you all is - Can i reclaim my bank charges which theoretically were included in the Bankruptcy order,even though the bank would have been able to claim on their insurance? Half the reason I had to go Bankrupt in the first place was due to the hideous charges!! They total £3800 I've made a claim on MCOS and they have now ACKNOWLEDGED the claim. Please help me as I don't want to proceed with things if I'm fighting a losing battle!
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Remmer

Sorry sweetie but I'm sure that when you took the big step, all accounts belong to the OR and any refund of charges go to him

fermi

Common sense would say no, I think.

If they were claimed back during BR, then they would have gone towards satisfying your BR debt, and you would have not seen them.

Now (post BR) they are a debt that has been written off, regardless of whether they were originally lawful under OFT guidelines.

If an unlawful charge caused you to go BR, then I can imagine that a case for damages might exist. It may be this that they would rather avoid by acknowledging your claim.

If you want to proceed you should at least contact your OR to find out whether it is LEGAL for you to accept a refund on these charges, and if so what would happen to it.

Sorry, but this is a little too legal for me to be able to give a straight forward answer, but others might know better.

fermi

There we go:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=429683

Even if you got the charges back the OR would probably take them, which seems right.
Check with them to make sure.

AlanD_3

Ahh but would that be the case if you have been discharged and the 3 year period is up?

Surely once the 3 year period is up your obligation to contact the OR has passed and all monies you earn by whatever legal means are yours again?

Alan

AlanD_3

joclayx wrote: »

Please be gentle with me as I'm new and scared at the moment!!!
After a few nightmare years financially I had to declare myself Bankrupt.This was a year ago and I am now discharged.My advice to anyone thinking of this is to do it , learn from it and move on,
Anyway , my question to you all is - Can i reclaim my bank charges which theoretically were included in the Bankruptcy order,even though the bank would have been able to claim on their insurance? Half the reason I had to go Bankrupt in the first place was due to the hideous charges!! They total £3800 I've made a claim on MCOS and they have now ACKNOWLEDGED the claim. Please help me as I don't want to proceed with things if I'm fighting a losing battle!
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ooops just seen was a year ago. But as there is a 6 year period on claiming bankcharges and (depending on my maths) you either have only a year or 2 years to go on the hangon bit after BR perhaps (if folks agree with my previous post) it is worth hanging on a bit. You may lose a little for some charges from a few years back but at least all that you get would be yours.

AlanD_3

Just to clarify I am referring to circumstances where one has paid the bank the bank charges not where bank charge debts are part of the BR. In these cases having to pay the charges could still easily be a contributing factor to BR but the charges themselves would not have been written off by BR. This will be the case when we go BR. We have paid back all bank charges from last month's hiccup, I would hope that after the 3 year BR period that money would be ours to claim and not the OR's as the charges were incurred before BR and are not going to be a debt written off by BR.

fermi

AlanD wrote: »

Just to clarify I am referring to circumstances where one has paid the bank the bank charges not where bank charge debts are part of the BR. In these cases having to pay the charges could still easily be a contributing factor to BR.

This may be subtly different if the charges have been paid, rather than a debt that has been written off under BR.

However, the OR is still now probably the legal owner of the account, so it should probably be cleared through them. Just to avoid a nasty surprise in the future...

Edit: One thread or the other????

bexta76

Hi,

I'm in the same boat, i was made bankrupt on 9th May 2006 and had an early dischargement due to being a single mother on benefits.

It never entered my head that now being discharged that the money owed from the bank charges would be the OR's. I started procedures to claim in May this year, and finally i received a letter from HSBC to say they would offer me £855.53 but they would send the cheque directed to the OR for them to decide what to do with the money. I now am in 2 minds whether to sign the acceptance form. I just feel that the money is mine as it was the bank who unfairly charged me approx 6 years ago before i even knew i was going to go bankrupt.

Its all wrong i'm so upset and stressed with this decision as i thought once i was discharged that would be the end, but apparently not. If i was claiming whilst i was BR then i would understand that the money would be swallowed up in to the BR but after i'm discharged??? I'm not too sure.

I called the insolvency helpline and they agreed with me that the money should be mine but HSBC and OR do not.

fermi

I'm afraid this question seems now to have been conclusively answered on several different forums by several different people and individual cases.

Once you have taken the step and made yourself bankrupt, all subsequent refunds for charges incurred before bankruptcy (whether claimed before or after discharge) belong to the OR/Trustee. This seems to be the OR's decision in all similar cases that I have seen.

If by the 'insolvency helpline' you mean:

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/

then this is an independent advice agency unconnected to the Insolvency Service / OR. Their advice while often helpful, does not constitute official legal advice on insolvency procedures or law.

pink-princess84

its a dodgy one but always thought once your discharged and if you have no more delaings with OR (ie selling a home) then you could claim them back. Just like with inheritance, if you got some whilst bankrupt it has to go to pay off debts but once your discharged the money is yours. i went bankrupt in june 06 and was discharged in january this year and am cliaming back my charges. i hope they will come to me as they should do. at the end of the day not being able to pay ya debts does not make the amount they charge legal!