pre-bankruptcy advice

22bear

Hi there!
After having a CCJ against me in Oct last year for unpaid income tax by HMRC, I was waiting for them to petition for my bankruptcy, however I have just received a telephone call from one of their enforcement officers informing me that they have no intention of making me bankrupt but will instead seek an "attachment of earnings" because, as he told me, the HMRC making me bankrupt is not in their interests. This did surprise me because the amount I owe is large and, realistically, I would not be able to pay it all off in my remaining lifetime given my current age, job and salary. I was under the impression that the HMRC were one of the few organisation that would definitely make someone bankrupt if the person was unable to settle the debt within a year, but apparently not it seems!

I informed the officer that, in that case, I would petition for my own bankruptcy which he seemed fine with and he has given me one month to do this before making a claim on my wages. This outcome has been looming on the horizon for me for about 3 years now so I'm quite calm and accepting of it all and have done lots of research about the ins and outs, advantages and disadvantages, and implications of bankruptcy and what it involves. However, since I was always expecting the HMRC to do the deed for me, which clearly is not going to happen now, I just wanted to ask some advice from you lovely people on here, namely:

-I understand that I will be asked by the judge (or rep) in court if I have sought advice..I have just filled out the online "DebtRemedy" tool on the StepChange website and have printed off their personalised solution (which naturally was to go bankrupt!). Is this enough evidence to satisfy the courts that I have taken the appropriate advice to permit the court to allow my bankruptcy to go ahead?

-My take home pay each month is about £2000 and rent/utilities/council tax is a shade under half of that, so I will be expecting a sizeable IPA for the 3 years once I have negotiated appropriate expenses with the OR..I know that it can take from several weeks up to 2-3 months for an IPA to begin..am I able to spend my entire salary until the IPA is up and running? Would the OR be ok with that? I would estimate that after the usual food and household items etc etc, I have about £500-600 left as disposable each month so until my IPA becomes payable, am I able to spend that?

-I've had a Co-op cashminder account for about 3 years now, if I go bankrupt just after my monthly salary is paid into it, is it likely to be frozen so that I cannot pay bills or access money from it? I'm obviously worried here about my direct debits not getting paid and having enough cash to buy food for the month until I get my next months wage. I know that I will be able to keep the account once the OR is happy that it is my only account that I have for my wages and living expenses..but will I be able to access my salary in the days/weeks immediately following going bankrupt?

Any advice would be much appreciated, ta!

arcon5

Can you post an SOA up?

They don't go in to much detail about who you contacted, what they said etc etc, at least they didn't when I declared. Just say 'yes, I spoke to ___ debt charity and we discussed my options and the implications of BR and we agreed it was the best way forward for me'.
Although could be worth a 5 minute phone call to them anyway.

22bear

arcon5 wrote: »

Can you post an SOA up?

They don't go in to much detail about who you contacted, what they said etc etc, at least they didn't when I declared. Just say 'yes, I spoke to ___ debt charity and we discussed my options and the implications of BR and we agreed it was the best way forward for me'.
Although could be worth a 5 minute phone call to them anyway.

Thanks for that! I'll request a ring back from them just to underline it, although it's just a formality...I'll need to download the forms for the court and I'll submit a SOA on here when I've filled it in...from being a lurker then a sometime-poster on here, I'm quite clued up about SOA, currently I spend way too much on groceries, socialising etc so I'll need to knock that on the head come IPA time!!

I guess the thing about being able to spend my disposable income before the IPA becomes active it my main concern...my phone and laptop are both on their last legs and certainly wont last me over the next 3 years, so if I could buy a reasonably priced replacement before I start paying my IPA without the OR getting cross, that would be nice!

arcon5

22bear wrote: »

Thanks for that! I'll request a ring back from them just to underline it, although it's just a formality...I'll need to download the forms for the court and I'll submit a SOA on here when I've filled it in...from being a lurker then a sometime-poster on here, I'm quite clued up about SOA, currently I spend way too much on groceries, socialising etc so I'll need to knock that on the head come IPA time!!

I guess the thing about being able to spend my disposable income before the IPA becomes active it my main concern...my phone and laptop are both on their last legs and certainly wont last me over the next 3 years, so if I could buy a reasonably priced replacement before I start paying my IPA without the OR getting cross, that would be nice!

During my interview the examiner focused more on how the debt was spent and what my outgoings was generally, rather than how my wages was distributed each month leading to BR. Although I suppose they could have requested my statements from the bank for their own investigations.

So long as you don't take the p*ss by spending £1k for example on a Laptop, I can't see them being too put out if you told them 'my laptop packed up and I needed it for work/whatever you need it for'.

I *think* some members have in the past advised that you withdraw money from your bank account before going BR to live on. As once you've declared BR the accounts I believe belong to the receiver who will then tell you if you can keep them or not - then it's down to the bank whether they want you or not.

Smokey_Joe

arcon5 wrote: »

During my interview the examiner focused more on how the debt was spent and what my outgoings was generally, rather than how my wages was distributed each month leading to BR. Although I suppose they could have requested my statements from the bank for their own investigations.

So long as you don't take the p*ss by spending £1k for example on a Laptop, I can't see them being too put out if you told them 'my laptop packed up and I needed it for work/whatever you need it for'.

I *think* some members have in the past advised that you withdraw money from your bank account before going BR to live on. As once you've declared BR the accounts I believe belong to the receiver who will then tell you if you can keep them or not - then it's down to the bank whether they want you or not.

On your SOA you have to declare "Cash in Hand" - presumabliy this includes the money you've taken out the bank for living expenses till the bank accounts are sorted after the BR? If so, is there really any point going to the bother of taking it out the bank in the first place - don't you just have to hand over that cash at the point of bankruptcy? Excuse me if these are dumb questions - it's late and my brains overloaded with it all...