Bankruptcy, Self Employment, and Time Lines

bitofhelp99

Hi All,
First time here, so be gentle.
I ran up a load of credit card debt and loans, including overdraft stuff around 3 years ago and then kinda just moved and didn't tell anyone.

Now I've got a letter from a company that has found me - I'm not sure if it's just a bluff letter, but they're talking about getting a solicitor if I don't contact them (had one of these before and it just went away), but this one I get bad feelings about.

Anyway, first and important question:
If I do get issued proceedings against me - can I start bankruptcy then - or should I really do it now? Is it really that quick to go down the bankruptcy route?

And...
If I start to be self-employed, I know that bankruptcy shuts it down, but is it easy just to close the account and start again with the same name?

For the last two years, my accounts and finances have been in a real mess, with a company getting disolved by HMRC, and not a lot of an idea where a lot of money was coming and going to. We're not talking 10k's here, probably about 15k a year... is this going to complicate the situation as I have little or no idea what was going on for the past two years (sorry, alcoholism - no excuse)

Anyway all and any comments welcome and appreciated.

Many thanks
x

fermi

bitofhelp99 wrote: »

Anyway, first and important question:
If I do get issued proceedings against me - can I start bankruptcy then - or should I really do it now? Is it really that quick to go down the bankruptcy route?

The waiting times for a court appointment vary wildly. Some you can more or less walk in and get it done there and then. For some you may have to wait months.

Only your local court can tell you what theirs is.

bitofhelp99 wrote: »

And...
If I start to be self-employed, I know that bankruptcy shuts it down, but is it easy just to close the account and start again with the same name?

Not sure ATM

bitofhelp99 wrote: »

For the last two years, my accounts and finances have been in a real mess, with a company getting disolved by HMRC, and not a lot of an idea where a lot of money was coming and going to. We're not talking 10k's here, probably about 15k a year... is this going to complicate the situation as I have little or no idea what was going on for the past two years (sorry, alcoholism - no excuse)

Well, the OR will probably take quite a hard look at things, and you may end up with a BRU/O. Not actually a bad thing for a lot of people.

bitofhelp99

Thanks for the help, and for getting back so fast.

I just had one more thing I forgot,
Say I owe like 100k, I think it's like 10k each on perhaps 5 credit cards, 20k loan, 5k overdraft and there must be more
How can I find out how much I owe and to who - or can I just put down this 10k nasty letter and list a few others I think I owe money to? I don't have a bank account at the moment, so all the free credit report things are barred at the moment, coz I think they need a 30 day sign up thing.

Thanks again,
x

fermi

You can check your credit reports. That may not be 100% accurate or complete but it might give you an idea.

Or you could just ask the creditors or debt collectors you know of for a balance. What can they do if you are going BR within a day or 2.

In the end though it's not a huge deal

(a) You only need to put the amounts to the best of your knowledge on the forms. The OR will write to creditors and get the accurate one if appropriate.

(b) All provable debts are covered by the bankruptcy, whether on the forms or not. So if some are forgotten etc and turn up later it's not a problem.

bitofhelp99

Thanks Fermi, I'll give it a go.

fermi

I should just say that even if someone starts court proceedings and gets a CCJ, the BR would still overide it. And you can delay a CCJ for about 1 months anyway. So it's not hyper urgent if they go to court.

The question regarding trading, I may have to leave to others. Sole trader before and after? Or something else?

bitofhelp99

That makes me feel a little better thanks. Sole trader is tricky - am looking to start being sole trader now, so don't really want to do it now if I'm going to be bankrupt straight away

arcon5

What was the money spent on ? With such a large sum involved in such a short period of time I suspect the receiver may be looking for any wrong doing.

I found the OR not to be interested in the accounts of the ltd company, just wanted an understanding of my employment status timeline in order to establish the full circumstances surrounding the time leading to bankruptcy... Unless for example you took tens of thousands of credit and plunged it in to a company they may take a deeper look into how the money was spent thereon.

arcon5

You cannot be a director as a bankrupt but if you are a self employed sole trader, usually one man band type setup then its unlikely they will shut you down!

bitofhelp99

Thanks for that - the money was spent on living costs for about 3 years i guess when i didn't have much of a job, so perhaps 10k coming in each year and 20k spent on living / rent / travel - i know it doesn't sound good but perhaps if i don't have records i can just offer to go on the BRU thing voluntarily - trying to get life and money sorted out in the best way i know

arcon5

Don't offer yourself to having restriction orders, just explain as best you can to the examiner how you spent the money and let them decide what to do. They can request your statements to help build a picture of how it all came about and make a decision as to whether your a risk on their own accord

Just explain you spent the money with the view of paying it back as the business took off but it never went to plan.

As for holidays... Depends how lavishly you lived really, as they allow an allowance for holiday in the SOA. Depends how many people are in your household.