How to go Bankrupt Advice Please

Likesplants

Please can someone advise me. I am in an IVA and need to go bankrupt as no longer working due to my health. My IVA company won't advise me on how to go bankrupt and said to talk to CAB. I can't get the CAB to answer the phone or get an appointment with them for ages if I go in. I rang Stepchange and they can't advise me as I am still in an IVA so a conflict of interests. If I just stop paying IVA, can I then ring Stepchange for advice? Or do I have to wait until I have missed 3 payments before Stepchange will help? Also, once I stop making IVA payments as I have no income at all now, how long will it be before my creditors start contacting me as I want to get the bankruptcy filed before they start the calls as I can't face that again. Only I have heard that you need to show you have taken advice on bankruptcy or the court can decline it so I am worried that if I don't speak to someone they will refuse my application. thank you for any advice. Sorry also I did post a previous posting on here and a couple of people were kind enough to respond but I didn't reply. I havent been well, so just wanted to say here thank you if the same people read this and sorry I didn't acknowledge it on other posting.

Helpmeontheladder

Hello,

I have been a discharged bankrupt for 3 years, i never went the IVA route because I was a student at the time and had no spare cash. I am not sure about the stepchange or IVA stuff as i never had that experience but i can tell you that when i went through the process of declaring bankrupt, i received no help at all! CAB were less than useless, they just kept insisting that i should leave my degree and get a job (the debts belonged to my ex and i had co-signed but there was no way i was going to be able to pay them alone since he had stopped paying) that advice was useless. In the end i printed the forms myself (i can't remember where i found them sorry). The application goes through the court and once you have completed it you will have an official receiver, who was very helpful in my case. Personally I found the application process very difficult but once i had completed it , everyone was very helpful suddenly.

tigerfeet2006

You need to stop your payments and fail your IVA. Your IVA company are being !!!! not helping you.

Talk to National Debtline they will talk you through the process.

How long before creditors start contacting you? How long is a piece of string? Please don't panic about it, they can't hurt you.Switch your ringer off and just put any post in a drawer.

You really need to take advice as your application could be refused until you do.

Also have a read of the Look Here First and Bankruptcy and Living with it stickies.

Likesplants

Thank you for the replies. I really wish I had gone bankrupt at the start instead of doing an IVA as the only asset I have is a car worth about £800 and I live in rented.

Hopeful1968

Sometimes it is written into the IVA that if you miss a certain amount of payments that the Trustee of the IVA will make you bankrupt. Do you have a copy of the IVA document you signed? This could be why the Trustee will not give you any advise on this.

Likesplants

Yes there is a mention in the IVA agreement about a payment being used for bankruptcy. Does that mean they would make me bankrupt and pay the fees rather than me doing it? If that is the case would they definitely do that do you think? Considering I have no assets apart from car worth about £800. I just don't want any delays so the creditors start hounding me again.

Hopeful1968

There is nothing to say they would, but if it is written in the agreement at the start if you miss however many payments they will make you bankrupt then they should do. Saying this, if they did make you bankrupt, it would take a number of months, by which time you may find creditors are starting to contact you again.

Likesplants

Do you think it would be better if I just make myself bankrupt rather than wait and hope for them to? I'm just worried about leaving it too long so that creditors start sending bailiffs to my home etc as I know some of my debts have been sold on. Also with things like the IVA fees and fees for the company who the IVA firm are getting to look into PPI, would I need to include these in my bankruptcy application?

tigerfeet2006

You can certainly make yourself BR, no one is stopping you. You would need to check with your court to see if they need a certificate of failure from the IVA company, so do before you go BR.

You won't have bailiffs come to the door unless you have a CCJ that you are not paying. Do you?

Likesplants

Thanks for the advice. No I don't have any ccjs. Do you also know if bankruptcy would effect my husband? We have no joint financial ties and the debts are just mine from before I knew him. He's worried he will have to contribute to wards an IPA if I get one or they'll take his surplus income into account when calculating what I can afford to pay, once I get a job again.

tigerfeet2006

No they won't expect him to pay anything towards an IPA. All they would look at is he is paying a fair amount towards the joint household bills. So if you earned the same they would expect him to contribute 50/50 towards household bills. Any money you have left then that is what will be looked at for an IPA.

If you have no joint financial products then he will not have any problems.

Hope that makes sense.