Orange Contract

sovilla

I had 2 orange contracts before bankruptcy, one for me and one for hubby. Im still paying those contracts and didnt add them into the bankruptcy however husband has just lost his job for the second time in a year and were struggling. Would I be able to cancel these and not have to pay out the reminder of the contract?

Thanks in advance.

AD is in 15 Days.

philnicandevan

both contracts in your name?

MrSilk

Not a chance unfortunately

sovilla

Yeah both in my name.
One is due to end in June 2014, the other November 2014.

I suppose if I stop using and stop paying it, its not like its going to affect my credit rating as thats shot anyway. Then I could just offer token payments till hubby gets another job.

Helpmeoutofthismess

I thought you could stop paying and have it drop into the bankruptcy as long as it was signed pre bankruptcy.

H x

sovilla

I thought that too, but not 100% sure on mobile phone contracts.

I have a car that is currently on HP which the OR said I could hand back without penalty. But as im paying it at the moment I am ok to keep it.

But I will be handing it back as soon as I can afford another one as I owe about £5000 on it still and I would say its worth about £500.

I suppose to best thing to do is contact my OR and confirm with him.

National_Debtline

Hello there.

The short answer is that the debt would usually be included within the bankruptcy. The reason for this is that the contract was taken out before the date of the order.

This is covered under s382(1)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986:

(1)“Bankruptcy debt”, in relation to a bankrupt, means (subject to the next subsection) any of the following—
(a)any debt or liability to which he is subject at the commencement of the bankruptcy,
(b)any debt or liability to which he may become subject after the commencement of the bankruptcy (including after his discharge from bankruptcy) by reason of any obligation incurred before the commencement of the bankruptcy

What this means is that the contract agreed an obligation to pay for a period of time (most contracts seem to be 18 or 24 months these days). Your husband agreed to those terms before his bankruptcy, as such the liability existed before the date of the order - therefore it would be written-off.

I hope this makes sense.

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

National_Debtline

sovilla wrote: »

I have a car that is currently on HP which the OR said I could hand back without penalty. But as im paying it at the moment I am ok to keep it.

Hello there,

It's exactly the same principle for hire-purchase (as you already know!)

Best wishes,

David.

sovilla

Thank you.

philnicandevan

one thing to bear in mind as well IF you decided to contact Orange once the contracts are included in your BR it'll be difficult to get another contract with anyone else till bankruptcy is off your credit files

Grumpy_Shunter

Based on personal experience, I would say it is almost impossible to get a mobile phone contract once BR due to credit checks. Unless of course you get a family member to take one out on your behalf and you pay them by SO or DD each month.

I took out two contracts (My wife and I)with Tesco Mobile just prior petitioning for BR.

Out of curiosity, once BR, I applied for a phone contract with all major providers. I was refused each time due to my obvious abysmal credit score.

My advice would be, if you can manage it, keep paying Orange - they will be non the wiser and once your contracts are up, you could be in a more favourable position to negotiate a better/cheaper deal with Orange.