BR experts please help...

Richard_S

headinsand,

I've got a couple of suggestions that you may be interested in but I'm not going to be able to post again until Saturday; in summary, if I was in your position I'd certainly not be thinking about bankruptcy; if all the debt is unsecured you just need to know how best to approach the situation.

Regards

Richard

tight_jock

I agree with Rich.
If you haven`t spoken to one of the free advice agencies, I suggest you do so ASAP

headinsand_4

Thanks for your advice.

I suppose i havent spoken to a debt charity yet as I am frankly embarrassed about the situation. In my own mind I probably deserve to go bankrupt ... and then i feel that if I resign myself to this worse case scenario then I might as well fight anyway because i've nothing to lose.

I look forward to hearing more advice ricard_s.

thanks again

ClaireLR

Don't be embarrased! We're all here for the same reason and the debt charities will have seen/spoken to people in much worse situations. You are by no means alone and have nothing to be embarrased about!!

As for saying you "deserve" to go bankrupt, no one deserves it. We all find ourselves here for one reason or another, from reading your initial post you say you had divorce pay off/illness etc so there are reasons why you are in the situation you are in. Please stop beating yourself up! It takes to muc energy and you're going to need that energy for other things now!

Can I suggest CCCS as a first point of call, I rang them along with national debtline and they were lovely, really helpful told me exactly what I need to know. They will also send you some literature to read so that you can absorb the information at your own pace.

Give them a call, it's the first small step!

tight_jock

headinsand wrote: »

Thanks for your advice.

I suppose i havent spoken to a debt charity yet as I am frankly embarrassed about the situation. In my own mind I probably deserve to go bankrupt ... and then i feel that if I resign myself to this worse case scenario then I might as well fight anyway because i've nothing to lose.

I look forward to hearing more advice ricard_s.

thanks again

Please,please please dont feel embarrased. The good people at the agencies are dealing with cases like yours and mine every minute of every day. To them, your debt figures are not something to give you grief about. They are there to give you 100% support through whichever path is right for you.

If it helps, I felt exactly the same on approaching the CAB with debts of over 100k ( business and personal) but here I am today, discharged and doing ok.

Do it as soon as you can. You will wish youd done it sooner

:beer:
TJ

Richard_S

Hi headinsand,

As previous posters have said you really should consult one of the debt charities. Their advice is free, their advisors are professionally trained and they are only there to evaluate your financial situation and offer advice that’s in your best interest. They may well suggest an IVA or DMP and when you’ve had it fully explained you could well decide that one of their suggestions represents an acceptable solution.

If, as you say, you’d prefer to tackle the problem “head on” then you’ll need to have a very clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve and the nerve and determination not to be intimidated by all the phone calls, letters and court action that may well come your way. To be fair to your partner, you need to agree between yourselves how you’re going to approach things otherwise the strain will undoubtedly take a toll on your relationship.

You’re not technically insolvent, or if you are only marginally, and your creditors will try their hardest to get their hands on the equity in your house. They can do that by petitioning for your bankruptcy, and some do, but generally speaking they would prefer to resolve things without getting bogged down in legal action. That’s why so many banks and financial institutions sell debts at a huge discount; “your first loss is your best loss”.

Your aim should be to make an offer that’s acceptable at the point before the debt is sold on; it doesn’t really matter if you don’t because the DCAs will do deals but they’re usually more difficult to deal with. You’re not working at the moment so your room for manoeuvre is limited. Write to all your creditors explaining that due to personal circumstances your finances have taken a turn for the worse; you’re in the process of reviewing the situation and until such time as you can make an improved offer the most you can pay is a nominal £1 per month.

Don’t budge on that; some will accept, some won’t they’ll almost all threaten an eternal hell but in reality they know that if they take legal action against you then the Court will probably accept your offer and their legal fees will have been a waste of money.

Your next step, and this is always contentious, is to offer a one off payment in full and final settlement. If your debts are £90k offer 15% of the figure to each creditor on a pro rata basis and be prepared to settle somewhere between 20-25%. An IVA works in a similar way with the exception of paying huge fees to the companies that administer them. If you settle on 20% then you’ll need to raise £18k and even with a bad credit rating you should be able to raise it given the amount of equity in your property.

This is an incredibly difficult route to follow and there are never any guarantees of success but the law of averages dictates that it’ll work some of the time. We had secured and unsecured debt somewhere in the region of £150k and I’d reached agreement with approximately 80% of our creditors for a deal based on 20% of the outstanding amounts and along came an over zealous creditor that we only owed £4-£5k and brought the whole thing crashing down.

I didn’t think they’d be stupid and naïve enough to petition for our bankruptcy; they did; outcome: nobody will get a penny. We were working ridiculous hours a week just keeping our heads above water and then “bang” all over, forget the 80hr weeks; we don’t owe a penny. Our situation was different to yours in that some of the debt was secured but the theory is the same.

The downside with this of course, is that you don’t get any immediate result; it will drag on for months and coping with that level of uncertainty is very demanding for most people. If you want to see a classic example of somebody dealing with unsecured debt then search for Sooty0404 his approach and philosophy were priceless; unfortunately, we haven’t seen him around for a while.

Best regards

Richard