Bankruptcy charges

Demelza

Hi

My son has serious debts and has been advised to go bankrupt, so, apparently does my niece, who I was speaking to earlier. Question:
I think the fees for gapplying for bankruptcy are somewhere in the region of £500. How can someone pay for that if they haven't got the money?

I would appreciate it if anyone could answer that question.

Thanks

fermi

Hi Demelza,

Copy of my post on the other thread to avoid confusion.:)

Bankruptcy fees are £335 for the Official Reciever + £150 court fee. The court fee is often waived if you are on some form of benefits.

If you are on a low income then there are some charitable trusts (mostly run by utility companies for some reason) that will sometimes grant you the remaining fees. I will look for some links.

http://www.severntrenttrustfund.org/

is one organisation that may grant them the BR fees under exceptional circumstances.

I'm sure others will have suggestions as to how the fees may be raised.

One option once committed to going bankrupt is to stop paying all creditors and save the fees out of this. Most people will be able to save them long before the creditors take any serious action, and even then there is nothing they can really do.

wherediditallgo

What people usually end up doing is stopping paying their creditors for a month or two & using that money to pay their BR fees instead. The OR won't have a problem with your son doing that. There are also charitable trusts that people can apply to for help with the costs, such as the Severn Trent trust fund, but I think the money takes a while to sort out, plus there might be a high demand for the money & no guarantee of getting it.

The contact details for Severn Trent are as follows:

Severn Trent Trust Fund
FREEPOST MID 16999
Sutton Coldfield
B72 1BR

Telephone:
0121 355 7766


The fees for going BR are £335 plus £150 for the court fee. The £150 can be waived if the person is on certain benefits, & some courts waive that part of the cost whether someone's on benefits or not.

You can get more info about bankruptcy here, but I strongly suggest that you advise your son to contact one of the free debt advisory charities, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Payplan or National Debtline. I believe the CCCS also has a list of trust funds around the UK that may be able to offer help with costs. These organisations will give your son impartial advice & won't charge him any money for it. The Official Receiver will expect him to have taken professional advice, & it's in his interests to do it anyway so that he's informed about the seriousness & repercussions of what bankruptcy means.

Demelza

Thank you so much for your replies. yes, I'm sure that is the answer. You know this question was not for me but my son and niece but I can see how they can so easily get into trouble. Until recently I was a very successful 'rates tart', moving my credit card balance on but then i decided to pay it off and be done with it. I had about half a dozen credit cards in my wallet that I hadn't used for a while and I decided to cancel them all. i spent about half an hour on the phone doing that and within that half an hour I had been offered something in the region of £30K worth of credit if I had not cancelled the cards and all that without having a job! I resisted and am now credit card debt free but I can see how easy it is to fall into the trap especially for young people in this 'have it all now' society and I have no qualms at all about suggesting that people do not pay off their debts. Credit card companies are making millions and it will only be when for some reason they feel the pinch that they stop making it so easy for people to get in debt.

debtmonkey1

hi-just gone BR-on a very low wage. I went in 2 1/2 weeks in advance of BR hearing (had the date booked in) & handed in the 'exemption of court fee' form (some kind soul will post a link but it's on the insolvency services web-site or can be got from the local county court) with evidence, payslips, etc. The full fee was authorised to be exempted BEFORE I went BR.

Also-if your son rents a room/lodges with a Britsh gas customer or is a British Gas customer the can apply to the British Gas Trust (google it!) for full payment of the £335. I did this (enclosing a huge ammount of evidence/letter backing up my circumstances) & cheque arrive day before BR-so it cost me nothing!

Hope this helps.

philnicandamy

if you contact the consumer credit councelling service www.cccs.co.uk talk to them & they will send you a list of participating organisations that offer a trust fund that helps pay the cost of bankrupcy fees

fermi

philnicandamy wrote: »

if you contact the consumer credit councelling service www.cccs.co.uk talk to them & they will send you a list of participating organisations that offer a trust fund that helps pay the cost of bankrupcy fees

There is also a booklet containing the details of these types of trust funds here:

http://www.edfenergytrust.org.uk/documents/UtilityTrustsandSchemesforVulnerableCustomersDec06.pdf

philnicandamy

fermi wrote: »

There is also a booklet containing the details of these types of trust funds here:

http://www.edfenergytrust.org.uk/documents/UtilityTrustsandSchemesforVulnerableCustomersDec06.pdf

Its worth trying to contact as many as you can..some companies due to the increase in bankrupcy rates are now refusing trust fund payouts for BR fees

kudge

Hi guys. I have heard recently that bankruptcy fees are going to be £90.00 as of april this year. does anyone know if this is true as an acquaintance of mine is currently waiting until then.

fermi

kudge wrote: »

Hi guys. I have heard recently that bankruptcy fees are going to be £90.00 as of april this year. does anyone know if this is true as an acquaintance of mine is currently waiting until then.

They are refering to Debt Relief Orders, not bankruptcy.

They will come in from April.

See this link: Debt Relief Orders

kudge

Fermi.. Thanks a million for that information.. It sounds better then having to go down the court route and lessen the stress.

I will deffinately get my friend to visit CAB.

Thanks again

Kudge:j