NDL have recomended bankruptcy but now im worried and have so many questions.

intempo

I have just come off the phone to natinal debt line and they have recommended bankruptcy as my best course of action.
I am worried about what will happen if i go through with it.
I don't fully understand all the implications and im worried by the whole thing. I live in rented accommodation witch is fully furnished and all i technical own are my clothes and my mechanical tools wich i need for my 16 hour a week job.
Can they take my tools?
Can they take stuff out of the house that is not mine?
Can they force me to rent some where els?
how conman is it for a bankruptcy to last longer / shorter than 12 months?
I last made payment to my crediters Feb 2008 and have spent nothing since. is the any reason they would say i have been irresponsible in my spending? i did not rack up all this debt in a short space of time and did not buy big things. Money was spent on petrol and food etc.

I know the is loads of question there but my head is spinning with it all and i feel i need some answers or tonight is going to be a long one filled with worry.

thank you in advance.

intempo

TheGardener

Hi - Take a deep breath, make a cup of tea and start reading though the sickies at the top of the board. No one will take your tools or the furniture -that's not how it works at all. BR lasts 12 months (early discharge is getting less common) and if you earn enough to have any disposable income, you may have to make agreed payments to the OR for 3 years. If your rent is reasonable for the area and your needs (i.e you are not living in a penthouse flat with a massive rent are you?) the OR is unlikely to challenge what you spend on rent but check your tenancy agreement to see if there is a clause in it that requires you to tell your landlord if you go BR
Deep breaths and just read loads of posts - there is masses of info on here - I couldn't have managed without it.

coolcait

intempo wrote: »

I last made payment to my crediters Feb 2008

Where do you live in the UK?

Not looking for a postcode . Just whether you are in - alphabetical order - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

Action_Jackson

Hi intempo,

Please try not to worry too much (easier said than done, I know).

Quick answers to some of your questions:

Can they take my tools?
They will not take tools of trade.

Can they take stuff out of the house that is not mine?
No. No one will go to your house. They won't be in the slightest bit interested in your normal domestic stuff like clothes, TVs, fridges etc. unless you own something expensive that they can sell for a good return e.g. your £10k Rolex, or your gold coin collection :-)

Can they force me to rent some where els?
They won't allow excessive rent or mortgage payments on a property beyond your needs. e.g. you're a single person renting a 5 bedroom luxury home when you could easily live in a smaller 1 or 2 bed house or flat.

how common is it for a bankruptcy to last longer / shorter than 12 months?
Early discharge (before 12 months) is almost unheard of these days. BR restrictions usually last 12 months followed by discharge. However an IPA that obliges you to make payments to your creditors will last for three years if one is established during that 12 month BR period. An IPA is only made if you have disposable income after your reasonable domestic needs - no disposable cash, no IPA. Under certain circumstances they might want to extend BR restrictions for more than 12 months, but that's usually if you've been reckless or dishonest.

Is there any reason they would say i have been irresponsible in my spending?
Unless you have been gambling or being ridiculously extravagant and reckless, they won't see you as irresponsible - they are well aware how debt builds up with interest over time and becomes unmanageable.

Remember, to the OR you are not 'special' - they have seen a 1000 cases a lot worse than yours.

You'll get plenty of support here if you need it.

intempo

coolcait wrote: »

Where do you live in the UK?

Not looking for a postcode . Just whether you are in - alphabetical order - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

Thank you for your reply.
After doing some reading i know why you are asking. I live in England and i have a feeling you are going to tell me to sit tight till Feb 2014 when my debt would be time barred.
2 problems there, first is the debt although unenforceable by debt collection agencies would still be owed and i feel it would be impossible for me to move forward with my life.
The second is the CAB convinced me in 2009 to let them contact all my creditors on my behalf to arrange a payment plan that was ultimately rejected by all. That means my last acknolagment of my debt was around 4 years ago.

If that is not why you were asking sorry to have jumped the gun and im keen to hear what you have to say.

intempo

Action Jackson, thank you some much for your reply. you have taken some of the worry away and answered alot of questions for me.

The tools are a big relife because as any mechanic will tell you its almost impposible to go and work for any one and not have your own tools, That and after 8 years of being a mechanic you end up with over £10,000 worth of the stuff and need all of it to do the job.

The house i rent is rented as furnished and i do not own any of the furniture or appliances and the likes so its good to know it all safe.

The house i rent is a 3 bedroom terist and i have been here for a total of 22 years and the last 12 of those as a tenant with a private land lord. when i started to struggle the land lord surgested moving another paying tenant in and spliting the rent and bills. For the last 4 years that's the way it has been. my half of the rent is around £325 P/M and then bills on top.

I am going to put it all down on paper over the weekend but i know i have nothing left at the end of the month. I quite smoking, gave up my car, don't go out at all and live of £1 microwave meal from iceland for most of the week.

Do you think my BR will only be for 12 months?
I don't have any money left to even offer token payments.

As soon as my situation change and i knew i could not afford to pay credit cards etc i stopped spending on them straight away and never bought any thing of great value before then.

Action_Jackson

From what you're saying, yours looks like a simple case (your rent is probably even low).

Chances are you will only get a telephone interview with the examiner and no external trustee will be appointed.

Your BR should only last 12 months before discharge. However, if you sign an IPA during that 12 months (one can't be signed after discharge), you will be bound to make payments to your creditors for 3 years after signing (even though you will still be discharged after 12 months).

If you get an IPA (because you have disposable income), the OR will claim 100% of any disposable income you have beyond £20, every month for 3 years. So, if you found a really good job during that period, you will not personally financially benefit from it, your creditors will.

There are guidelines that the OR uses to determine amounts they will accept for domestic living expenses (these are not allowances, they are guidelines - you'll find them on this BR board).

They guidelines are generous enough to allow a basic and reasonable standard of living - they don't expect you eat bread and water and wear rags. I'd strongly advise studying them.

For most people, the IPA is of more significance than the 12 month BR restrictions.

The benefits of legitimately avoiding an IPA (e.g. by limiting your income for 12 months) are fairly obvious, although some might say that's a morally contentious issue. As this board is about advice and not judgement, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Good luck.

intempo

Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry i have not been on since last week but the whole thing was stressing me out so I put it out my head for a few days. today I have received an advice pack from NDL that has lots of advice and info so i think its time to press forward with it all.

Action_Jackson wrote: »

From what you're saying, yours looks like a simple case (your rent is probably even low).

Chances are you will only get a telephone interview with the examiner and no external trustee will be appointed.

That is good news because i have been so worried.

Action_Jackson wrote: »

Your BR should only last 12 months before discharge. However, if you sign an IPA during that 12 months (one can't be signed after discharge), you will be bound to make payments to your creditors for 3 years after signing (even though you will still be discharged after 12 months).

If you get an IPA (because you have disposable income), the OR will claim 100% of any disposable income you have beyond £20, every month for 3 years. So, if you found a really good job during that period, you will not personally financially benefit from it, your creditors will.

I don't think i need to worry about an IPA because as i literally have no thing left at the end of the month

Action_Jackson wrote: »

There are guidelines that the OR uses to determine amounts they will accept for domestic living expenses (these are not allowances, they are guidelines - you'll find them on this BR board).

These would be very useful to make sure i am not in there eyes over spending in any area although i don't see how that is possible. I have had a look and for the figures but all i can find are broken links. If any one could point me in the right direction as to where to find them it would be greatly appreciated.

Action_Jackson wrote: »

They guidelines are generous enough to allow a basic and reasonable standard of living - they don't expect you eat bread and water and wear rags. I'd strongly advise studying them.

For most people, the IPA is of more significance than the 12 month BR restrictions.

The benefits of legitimately avoiding an IPA (e.g. by limiting your income for 12 months) are fairly obvious, although some might say that's a morally contentious issue. As this board is about advice and not judgement, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Good luck.

I am in the middle of doing a ruff copy of my personal budget sheet. I say ruff because i have had to use some round figures until i get my annual gas and electric figures. As it stands it looks like I am about negative £60 P/M witch is not a good position to be in but sounds about right.

I recall the CAB telling me back in 2009 that if my figure was negative that i would not be granted a bankruptcy order because I had no plan / way to stay ahead and out of debt. Is this still the case?

I tried to do a credit search last friday to make sure i was not forgetting any one but ran into a problem. even though i can get a free 30 day trial i still need a bank card in my name to register with and i don't have one. Dose any one have any ideas?


Thank you to every one that has replied and especially to Action Jackson. Im starting to feel like i can do this.

Action_Jackson

intempo wrote: »

...I recall the CAB telling me back in 2009 that if my figure was negative that i would not be granted a bankruptcy order because I had no plan / way to stay ahead and out of debt. Is this still the case?

I tried to do a credit search last friday to make sure i was not forgetting any one but ran into a problem. even though i can get a free 30 day trial i still need a bank card in my name to register with and i don't have one. Dose any one have any ideas?...

I'm not convinced that CAB advice was correct. I'm sure I had a deficit too, and I have not heard of anyone being refused for that reason. Might be worth calling someone like Step Change.

Don't worry too much about listing all creditors - just put down the ones you remember. All qualifying debts are automatically included in BR regardless of whether they are on your SOA. Some creditors will try and claim that because their debt was not mentioned it is not covered by the BR - this is not true.

That just reminded me that Step Change actually did a credit check while I was on the phone to them (enough to list defaults at least) - I was rather impressed with that.

You can find a spreadsheet of those expenditure guidlines here:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XfBoBBB_5XcJ:www.insolvency.gov.uk/DocumentLibrary/Policy/Excel/Household%2520Expenditur.xls