Can you be forced into Bankruptcy 31 January 2014 at 8:58PM in Debt-free wannabe 7 replies 1.6K views

chrisp65

Can you be forced to become bankrupt? We owe 30k+ and are struggling to pay all the bills. I'm now having to pay for food on a card!! Can you be made to sell cars? My OH has one which is used for his business and I have a car (which we are currently paying off). Can you be forced to sell 'assets'? I just need the interest to stop accumulating and then we would be able to pay the debts. Some cards I'm only paying about £40 per month whereas I'm paying £150 interest etc!!!

Upsidedown_Bear

You received some good advice in your previous thread.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=63493702&highlight=#post63493702

As suggested in that post up a Statement of Affairs so people can help you

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

dancingfairy

Possibly. I believe anyone can make you bankrupt if you owe over £500. Whether they would and whether they would get anything back is a different matter entirely.
You're probably best of talking to one of the debt charities such as National Debtline, Stepchange or CAB.
Best of Luck
df

eyeopener2

I would re read your previous thread, lots of advice there.

fatbelly

dancingfairy wrote: »

Possibly. I believe anyone can make you bankrupt if you owe over £500.

£750

Statutory demands

[Deleted User]

Of course you can be forced into bankruptcy. Any creditor or combination of creditors where the debt is more than £750 can petition the court for a bankruptcy order. The official receiver will take all realisable assets(including house if you own it or have positive equity) and they only have to leave things for basic living. Having said that, creditors are reluctant to go down this route since it costs them a large court fee(was £795, not sure if increased), and they might not get much once the assets have been sold, typically a few pence in the pound. Sometimes it's a good idea to make yourself bankrupt, especially if you don't have many assets and there is no realistic prospect of clearing the debt. Might be worth thinking about, gives you a clean slate, and the end of debt worry. I know it sounds like a drastic step, but worked for me some years ago, and never regretted doing it.

loveka

You sound really worried, and that's totally understandable.

It sounds to me that a DMP would be the right thing for you. Interest and charges are usually frozen and you pay the debt over a longer period of time. There is loads if information on DMP's on here. As long as you have some disposable income left after your basic living costs then you can do a DMP. It is not legally binding, but it does effect your credit rating.

You can call your creditors individually and tell them you are having difficulties. This is what my partner did, and 3 credit card companies froze interest there and
then. People on here often say not to phone, but he has always spoken to them and followed it up in writing. If you do this, this would be a self managed DMP.

Or you could get Step change or Pay plan to manage a DMP for you.

Creditors like DMP's because the actually get their money. If people went bancrupt with no assets they get next to nothing! You need to read up on debt -most people know nothing about it and panic-like I did and you are-that bancruptcy is the only way out or will be forced in some way. But it doesn't' work that way.

So. Bite the bullet and contact Stepchange for advice. Read as much as you can about debt-it will reassure you. Personally, I would phone the credit card companies today to get the ball rolling- though the specific department you need may be closed at the weekend. Just do it. Good luck and be brave.

fatbelly

Deleted User wrote: »

creditors are reluctant to go down this route since it costs them a large court fee(was £795, not sure if increased

£920 now.