They Have Found Me!

healeywayne

Hi All

Newish poster on here so please be gentle with me.

A few years back I was suddenly made redundent. Having 5 kids living at home it really hit hard as I already had loans from when I was doing well. I tried keeping my head above water by maxing out my credit cards to pay the bills but this obviously proved futile and to cut a long story short I ended up losing my house.

I have (like an idiot) been digging my head into the sand ever since and have moved 3 times since losing my house so I have stayed one step ahead of the debt collectors (although in fairness this wasnt the reason for the moves)

But now it appears they have caught up with me as this morning I have had a letter from a Guernsey based debt collection agency for a Natwest credit card, and in my experience, once one company finds you the others dont take long to catch up!

So, im pulling my head out of said sand and am going to face this head on, kind of. I think now is the time to declare myself bankrupt.

I have debts of £80k + but the problem is its been so long that I dont know who I owe money too or for how much. Is this something that will automatically be found out in the bankruptcy process?

Also my wife (who knows everthing about this and totally supports me) doesnt want to become embroiled in this so that she too becomes bankrupt. She has a job within the NHS and this cannot become jeopordised in any way.

Who should I go to? The CAB are out of the question as we followed their advice at the begining of all of this and turned out to be rubbish information that made my life worse (this I think is also a reason i've tended to not deal with it) so my wife will not entertain them at all.

What is the deal with the many companies advertising bankruptcy help? Are they any good or just out to stuff me over for more money.

A bit of personal info about my current situation:
I am unemployed and have been for 7 months.
I no longer get Job Seekers Allowance as its been over 6 months.
I live in a privately rented house.
I do not have any idea where I could conjure up £600+ to go into bankruptcy
I have no real assets to speak of. My car is a knackered Mondeo worth £400 tops but is in my wifes name. My wifes car is a 20 year old Toyota worth around £800.

Finally, the way I see it is my credit rating is already at rock bottom and if I looked into a voluntary payment with the companies I owe money too then it will leave me with nothing and i'll still be paying it on my death bed.

Am I doing the right thing here people. I'll be honest, im scared out of my brain at the thought of going bankrupt but im also excited to be getting my life back on track.

Please ask any questions you feel relevant.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Wayne

edeneve

First of all take a deep breath and relax........

ok lets face it things can't get worse, years living with this hanging over your head dreading when they would catch up with you is the worst.

I had a similar situation, I owed 60K and I worked out with an IVA I would be paying it ff until 65 (I was 36). I had 5 children too but divorce left me with nothing but debt. In my case it was worse as I owned a house that I had to have voluntarily reposessed and find somewhere to rent.

I stopped paying everything and went bankrupt, it was scary but so easy actually. Walking out f the court I felt a weight had been lifted and only person that knew abut it was a friend. It affected nthing, apart from I couldn't get credit.

Last month was 6 years pst BR and I now have a good credit rating with no mention of BR and a credit card and mobile contract etc.

Take a deep breath, smehw find that £600-sell whatever yu have to and go BR, they won't take your cars off you as too cheap for them to bother and as I see it as you rent it won't affect anything.

Don't wrry abut not knowing all your creditors, just write down the ones you know and after BR when a creditr gets in tuch just write to them saying yu have gne BR and enclose a cpy of BR and ask them to update their records....that's all you need to do.

As you are not working, BR will be straight forward as the OR will probably do a phone interview as did with me and then discharge you, they won't ask for any money from you as you earn nothing. As you don't own your own house, it won't affect your wife.

Do it today, ring the court and make an appointment to go BR (usually a waiting list), get the forms and fill them out and get that money for the fee from somewhere. Its not as bad as what you thinking, what is an hour in court compared to living like you have.

6 years down the line here and I can honestly say apart from the hour in court being scared of the unknown, BR was the best thing I did and had no affect on me after apart from giving me a fresh start.

All the best

alastairq

Hi, & welcome!

Firstly, CAB are as good as it gets, providing you get to meet a debt remedy expert.
Stepchange are another.

Do not entertain engaging a commercial company to petition your BR for you..it will cost you over twice as much as doing it yourself [with ours, and Stepchange/CAB's help]

I cannot comment on what, exactly, the original 'advice' would have been...especially as your circumstances would have been different back then.

Accessing your credit reference files will elicit what creditors you have.

It really doesn't matter if they know where you live, or not.

You would be advised to establish a set of nominal payments to each account [probably something like £1 per month?]

This is to establish, to a Court if necessary, that you are willing to pay....as distinct from avoiding all payment...which doesn't go well if CCJs are being sought.

Someone like Stepchange or CAB can negotiate with creditors for you...but that does involve a definite commitment between you and the charity concerned.

It is extremely unlikely any of your creditors will petition for your BR, as you have no assets.

So, it is important you get yourself organised first, before any petitioning is done by you.
Time is on your side..having said that, the sooner the BR is petitioned the better for you...but...no rush yet.

If going BR, it is unlikely you will get to keep your car, regardless of worth..it is deemed an asset in bankruptcy, so will be taken [and probably sold for scrap].

Therefore, if you yourself can sell it beforehand, then the moneys can go towards your BR petition [if that is definitely the route you wish to follow?}

[be aware, with cars, it is about who owns them, rather than whose name is on the V5c]

Your wife will be 'embroiled' to an extent,as her percentage contribution to your household living expenses is taken into account by the OR.

Also, if any of the debts involve joint accounts, then liability will be completely passed to your wife, if you alone petition BR.

Therefore, your wife ought to correctly investigate what restrictions her employer may have in place with regards to 'her' bankruptcy...[if it comes to that?}

ASAP, you should apply to open either a Co-op Cashminder basic bank account, or a Barclays basic bank account, into which all your 'income' can be paid.

These accounts would not be 'frozen' by the banks concerned...I cannot say the same for any other banks.

And check out hte stickies at the top of the forum..remember, fear is borne out of ignorance..so please ask away on here as much as you like.

spacey2012

How long is it since you last made any payment on this loan ?
In numbers of years.
This is very important as you may no longer be liable to pay it back.

fermi

As said, how long since you paid or acknowledged these debts in writing? Over 6 years?

Are any of them a mortgage shortfall, and if so, when is that from?