Advice on BR.

arcon5

Have you checked your eligibility for some kind of social funding? CTC, Housing Benefit, JSA etc. To ensure you are receiving the full amount entitled to.

Do you want to keep the house going forward despite negative equity or not? If not, can you stop paying the mortgage & other debts to use the money to put a deposit on a house? And if planned well you can stop paying priority bills like G&E (change tariff to quarterly on receipt of bill first if possible)... this would give you 1-3 months before bill comes in + maybe 3-6 more months before serious enforcement action by which you should be BR and included it in the BR order.

Can you partner find any kind of work to bring some money in? Even if picking turnips.

Personally, i'd seek to stabilise the situation before BR... otherwise if you go forward without an end in sight you might incur debt post-BR and spiral again.

Can you post a statement of affairs for us? (adults/children in household; income; expenditure; etc) (http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php).


As for feeling like a failure....
Don't even worry about that. Just do what you thinks best for your family. Any mistakes have now been made so don't dwell on them, just take some positive steps to move onwards and upwards in life again.

Family_in_debt...

I thought we would have to initally start on benefits using iur CTC CB etc and then claim HB and CTB and then get of benefits when the dust settles
Use them only to restart we could stay at parents or friends but not practical long term
I am worried about the kids not a great start to life

arcon5

The young children will adapt. Moving house doesn't have to be made a big deal for them. Get them involved and "try" to make it fun. Moving in with relatives though can get stressful, if I was you i'd be looking for alternate accommodation.

You don't say whether you want to stay in your current home or not? If so, going forward is the monthly mortgage bill sustainable going forward or is a downgrade essential?

Family_in_debt...

The fact is that we would not be able to pay the mortgage as the income would not be enough and OH profession does not allow BR
We just will be happy with a roof over our heads and protect the kids then we can get work and rebuild if possible I just dont want to be homeless with 3 children its not their faults

arcon5

Does he wish to remain in his possession or happy to do otherwise? If the latter, then i'm sure others would agree that if BR is a serious option then you should stop paying the mortgage and use that money to downgrade to rented accommodation. This way you can plan the move ahead and worry less about becoming homeless - after stopping payments i'm betting you'd have close to 9-12 months before the bank is at the stage of eviction.

You can still voluntarily surrender the property back to the back even if BR isn't your chosen route.

As I said before though, if BR is your chosen route, it's common to stop paying many debts down in anticipation of this in order to accumulate some cash to move. At least this is what I did.

lonestarfan

Would you be entitled to support for mortgage interest (SMI) if you have no earnings? It would only help with the interest. It's only paid for 2 years I believe. You would have to pay the difference between your interest only payment and the full monthly payment but if its only a small amount of difference then that could perhaps not need to always be paid every month. I imagine the advisers you've had so far have considered that option with you. Does going bankrupt mean that you must give up the house anyway as its an asset? Or is it that you can't afford the mortgage payment even if you get SMI? Sorry if I'm not helping because I don't know those things.
If it were me, I would look for a private rented house and claim housing benefit. I did this for a family member who went bankrupt and I acted as their guarantor as not all landlords will take housing benefit claimants. But your family may not want to be a guarantor. However there were lots that would take them without a guarantor so it really depends on how you approach the letting agent or landlord.
The problem I found was that Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is very low in their area as prices were higher due to everyone wanting the local high school for its good reputation. Which incidentally is rubbish but league tables can kid people!
Its £495 per month housing benefit for the number of children my family member had. The private rented houses were £695 pm minimum so we had to find another £200 pm for them. I genuinely couldn't find a suitable property for them at the LHA rate. I went on google and looked at the LHA rates for the district council of the area they were attending school & looked at the rates for the age & gender of the kids and the number of rooms they would be allowed. I also provided the rental deposit & month in advance. Would any family/parents lend you a deposit?
I think it's good advice on here to stop paying bills that will be in the pot for BR so you can build up a fund. The children have been fine with the drop in living standard as their mum talked to them about it a lot & they stayed at the same school and the same area. That may not be possible for you. I do know the strain of the debt was heavy for the parents but once it had all gone & they were on the rented place then every day was less worry about money. I really hope things can get sorted for you. I wish you all the best xxx

Family_in_debt...

he is like me only wants best for the kids he would if he could and maybe he could get back in after a while or once discharged. Our concern is if we end of benefits for a while how can we afford a rental place or are you suggesting the mortgage can pay rent for a while

We just had a look on our local council uchoose social housing site and there is some decent houses on there but would we get one. I have been told that we would be high up as we have 3 kids they would not put them on the street surely

lonestarfan

Are you replying to me or the previous poster arcon?
Is your OH in the forces?

kepar

If your OH has difficulty finding work, could you not go and do something instead?

Family_in_debt...

yes he will do anything but the mortgage is 1000 a month so with everything else we will not afford it he struggles getting told he is overqualified and he would do anything he is not proud he is a hard worker and not afraid of hard work

Lonestar he is not in forces was in financial services