Some help/advice please.

Soph34

I'm not here to be judged or looked down upon or told off by the moral police. I'm simply someone who's in over her head and seeking advice from people more qualified than herself in this field.

I'm in a significant amount of unsecured credit card debt. I got into the trap of opening interest free cards to cover other interest free cards and had no problem paying my minimums back as my business was flourishing.

Rather than pay myself a wage to pay back the debts I had been building over a lengthy period I naively thought it was smarter to continue to put what the business made back into itself and live month by month on the credit cards.

The business crashed and burned and my pride (naive again, I know) kept me from seeking proper advice whilst I moved back in with my parents, worked any part-time hours I could get and used the income to keep up with my minimums.

I eventually spoke with StepChange when the interest and repayments started to drown me. They advised me to apply for Bankruptcy, but I didn't want to make any hasty decisions, especially with something that will have such a great effect on my life for years to come. So instead I opted to propose token payment plans to my creditors to give me a bit of extra time to properly evaluate the situation. Fortunately they all agreed but the agreed 6 month period is coming to an end and I'm struggling to see any alternatives to bankruptcy that will allow me a realistic opportunity at getting myself out of this hole I've buried myself in.

My brother, who doesn't know the severity of my situation and who's been helping me with as much part time work as he can in his offices, is a partner in a small maritime law firm - and as such his name is above the door. One of my biggest concerns now, as silly as it may sound to someone not in my shoes, is embarrassing/putting shame on him and potentially causing other detrimental effects on his business, as our surname name is quite standout/unique.

So my question is this, if I change my surname by deed poll, will our surname be kept from the London Gazette listings or would previous and current names be listed?

arcon5

Shame on him? Nothing shameful about a business failing and subsequently becoming insolvent!

TheGardener

Sorry to hear things are not going well for you. Unfortunately, the OR will list any previous names on the register as the debts were incurred in your current name so changing it would be a waste of time and money.
However, the London Gazette is not read by many other than the CRA's and it is no longer the case that BR's are published in local papers.

What you need to do is ensure that there is no financial connection between your brother and you such as joint bank accounts etc? If your brother is paying you wages and you get a NT code, he and whoever do the payroll may work out what is going on but please - this isn't about 'shame' This is about a small business going under - far from unique these days.

Take a look at the famous bankrupts post on this board and you will see a lot of business names that may surprise you. I know its embarrassing but the relief of getting out from under the weight of the debts is usually enough to help keep your chin up.