Advice required please - being made bankrupt by creditor..?

magicgirl

I have received a letter from bishop investigation on behalf of another company who are (as advised by my creditor) acting on behalf of my creditor. I owe just under £3k to this creditor although my overall debts are in the region of £45k.

I was looking at declaring myself but have not had the money to do so. I am almost relieved but am alos worried for a few reasons. One is I am not sure if this is a common 'scare' tactict to get me to contact them. I am currently out of work and stopped talking to my creditors (pretty much all of them) when after I explained this, they started getting very nasty and demanding I pay something to them - but of course, they only accept card payments and as i have no cards they kept getting nastier. calling every twenty mins from 6pm to 10 pm (sometimes later) My telephone number has changed a few times since then and now I have received this.

I would love to know if it is real and who would be the best person to get advice from? CAB take two weeks to get appt in my area (all appt only it seems) and these ppl want response in one week (so they say..)

I have no idea how to proceed with this but would be really happy if i could be made bankrupt but would this have any negative impact that would be different if i did it myself?? Sorry if this sounds a bit garbled but I am happy to clarify if you are able to give advice but need more info...
Thanks in advance.

philnicandamy

seeing as the CAB is at least 2wks try the following
It does sound like the company are trying scare tactics

Call the Consumer Credit Counselling Service. Tel: 0800 138 1111 http://www.cccs.co.uk/
National Debtline. Tel: 0808 808 4000 http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/
Payplan.Tel: 0800 917 7823 http://www.payplan.com/
If you have any questions about the process of going BR, it's implications, pitfalls etc then feel free to start your own thread on the board.
Useful info can also be found on: http://bankruptcysupportersclub.co.uk which is a site run by a recent member here.

PixiePie

By the way, if you are having trouble raising the fee to go BR, you can apply for this from some charities. I am awaiting an info pack from the National Debt Helpline who told me about this and it should have addresses of people I can contact about this - I think there was a thread (should still be on first page) about this as well, and lots of people gave addresses/websites where you can look to get the fees as well.

From what I've read, threatening to make you BR is a scare tactic usually - it costs them £1500 to make you BR and if you don't have any assets they will be able to get the money from it is not worth their while. I'd call one of the helplines for personalised advice though, as you may have other circumstances that make it a different case from my (limited so far) experience. I tried to ask the helplines what the implications were of being made BR instead of me doing it, and they basically didn't tell me as just said it was highly unlikely they would do so (as I have *nothing* literally for them to take). I would still like to go BR myself, a kind of taking control of my life not them thing I guess, but will still welcome it when it comes either way

Good luck x

philnicandamy

PixiePie wrote: »

By the way, if you are having trouble raising the fee to go BR, you can apply for this from some charities. I am awaiting an info pack from the National Debt Helpline who told me about this and it should have addresses of people I can contact about this - I think there was a thread (should still be on first page) about this as well, and lots of people gave addresses/websites where you can look to get the fees as well.

From what I've read, threatening to make you BR is a scare tactic usually - it costs them £1500 to make you BR and if you don't have any assets they will be able to get the money from it is not worth their while. I'd call one of the helplines for personalised advice though, as you may have other circumstances that make it a different case from my (limited so far) experience. I tried to ask the helplines what the implications were of being made BR instead of me doing it, and they basically didn't tell me as just said it was highly unlikely they would do so (as I have *nothing* literally for them to take). I would still like to go BR myself, a kind of taking control of my life not them thing I guess, but will still welcome it when it comes either way

Good luck x

One thing to bear in mind though is some of the charity trust funds are now refusing to pay towards costs of bankrupcy because of such an increase in numbers BUT ring as many as you can once you get a list from either debtline or cccs...someone will be along soon with more advice for you asap

magicgirl

thanks for the quick replies! Shame really but if i can raise the money, I will do so asap! I did have some offer of assistance to raise funds but the person offering was not in a position to help at the time so i almost started to raise my hopes... lol

I will have a look at the suggestions. Still welcome any further advice if any is available.

Somerset

magicgirl

It's almost certainly a scare tactic ... passing you on to their legal dept, arranging 'home visits', 'maybe' applying for a CCJ etc. All threats to get you to call them. If they talk to you they can demand/threaten/scare you into paying something.

To your original question, if you go for bankrupcy or are 'made' bankrupt by a creditor, it's the same process. It just saves you paying the fee yourself. But usually it's just a threat - as said by PixiePie it costs them £££ to do it and when they're chasing a bad debt it's like throwing good money after bad. I've heard Amex do it but that's the only one I've heard of.

rog2

I would agree that this is almost certainly a 'scare tactic'.
Whilst ANY creditor, to whom you owe mre than £750.00, has the right to petition for your bankruptcy, they must, firstly, serve you with a statutory demand, which would give you 18 days to either arrange to pay the debt, or negociate a settlement. Stautory demands are usually, though not always, served as a result of a default on a CCJ (County Court Judgement).
The creditor, who serves the statutory demand, has to pay the up-front court fees, which are usually in excess of £1500.00 (unlike self petitioning) and whilst these fees would be added to your bankruptcy debt, there is no guarantee that the creditor will get these back.
Equally, the creditor who petitions for your bankruptcy des not gain any preferential status over your other creditors.
There's something vaguely familiar about the name Bishop Investigations. I think it is a rather nasty DCA who, contrary to the OFT guidelines, issues forms that are so similar to official documents that they are designed to mislead the debtor.
Talk to a solicitor, or CAB, to see how genuine the form is.

magicgirl

Right! Thanks again for all the advice.

Basically, the 'creditor' in this instance is Barclaycard. The highest of my debts is to HSBC whih totals approx 26k. this includes loans creditcards and overdraft. I am getting the imoression that despite their knowledge of my circs, it is unlikely that i will be made bankrupt by any of my creditors and am back to pursuing it myself. i just did a 'living cost summary' for if i wanted to go back to work and in reality, i cannot afford to despite having both children at school now. I have been advised since the birth o my second child four years ago that i should seriously consider bankruptcy but at the ime it was not something i wished to entertain and i truely believed that my hard work would pay off! (More fool me eh?! lol) Either way, I seriously need to sort this as I am struggling on the £10 per week i get from benefits. (my ex pays £50/w maintenence.) I will start a new thread once i can get an appt at cab and get the ball rolling. thank you once again for taking the time to answer. it is very much appreciated.

seabstien

Hi

I have recieved a letter from Bishop Securities...it for a debt of £1,027.56...

It has frightened me to death at the word of Bankrupt...

Can someone point me in the right direction as Idon't know who to turn to for advice.....

If I ignore the letter they will go ahead and proceed with action....I have read previous posts.....but I am just as confused...

I am unable to work because of ill-health....I have very little money...

I would be gratewful for any advice....

LOL

seabstienx

seabstien

Thanks for the advise....

The letter sure did scare me though...

LOL

seabstienx

gettingitsorted

seabstien wrote: »

Thanks for the advise....

The letter sure did scare me though...

LOL

seabstienx

Thats what they want the letters to do :mad: