worried about car

worried123

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fermi

Welcome worried123

Cars are a pain in bankruptcy.

In order for you to be able to keep your car, you must convince the 'Official Receiver' that it is required for your work or your reasonable domestic needs. This is not a case of a car simply being convenient or advantageous.

Be prepared to argue your case.

Some detailed info on how the OR will assess this can be found at:

http://bankruptcy.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=72

You will also see from that info, that even if the OR lets you keep a car the normal maximum value before they make you sell it and buy a cheaper one is about £2000. This is not a guaranteed figure, but a general indicator. Some people have been allowed to keep a vehicle valued at more than this figure, while others have had cars taken of less value; each OR assesses each case on individual merits.

If you decide that you are going to try and convince the OR to let you keep a car, I would advise you to get several different valuations in writing if possible on your current vehicle so that you can provide the lowest one to the OR. Otherwise the OR will just go with the book figure in 'Parkers' guide.
As I said it's best to prepare your case beforehand, firstly so you can indicate this on the BR forms if you want, but most vitally for arguing your case during your interview with the OR.

If you use your computer for work then that should not be a problem. Considering the very low auction value of a second-hand computer, its probably not even worth putting on the BR forms.

When it comes to having to pay anything towards your debts during BR, if your I&E is very tight then this is not likely. The OR will assess your I&E to take into account reasonable living expenses and look at any surplus that may be present afterwards. If the surplus is less that £100 per month then they will not even consider taking anything. If its over £100 you would be expected to agree to an 'Income Payments Agreement' which takes 50-70% of said surplus. You can read about IPA's (with a table of surplus vs amount taken) here:

http://bankruptcy.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=18

If you want to, than please post your rough I&E so we can advise on how we think (from our experiences) that the OR would view it.

Personally, if you are committed to going BR then I wouldn't bother with the bank charges claim. If you receive any refund before BR the the OR will expect to see that this has been fairly distributed between your creditors by you.
If you receive the refund after BR, then the OR will claim the lot. Either way you won't/shouldn't see the money.

You can tell creditors about impending BR if you like. With some it may help, but others will ignore it assuming you are bluffing (or not caring). Others will even try to offer you managed loans etc and get you even deeper into trouble.:mad:

I wouldn't be concerned about BR appearing in the local paper (the adverts are tiny), and if anyone spots it this is a small price to pay for the relief of the burdens of unmanageable debt. You may think that is easy for me to say (and with the benefit of hindsight it really is ), but I understand your concerns.

Your employer won't necessarily find out. There are a few professions where you would have to inform them or your professional body (law, accountancy etc). Plus you should check your contract to see if it mentions bankruptcy. If none of these applies then although it would be embarrassing for them to find out, that should be it.

Hope that ramble of a reply helps.

tigerfeet2006

Sorry Relax that isn't true. We have had OR's want to take cars of less value on the forum. Fermi's advice is spot on.

worried123

Many thanks all for your posts and for your help

Fermi, thank you so much for your help - I am about to look at the link.....much appreciated.

With best wishes

worried123

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backontheup

worried123 wrote: »

My argument would be that a car of 2k would be less reliable and liable to break down etc....I would not be in a position to find the money for repairs etc....and also not be in a position to get finance for a new car for many years after BR and therefore my ability to earn my living is put in jeopardy....

Any thought would be greatly appreciated please....

Many thanks!

Sounds like a sound enough argument to me! There is a world of difference between needing a car to travel 10 miles to work and back - or needing a car that can get you from London to Newcastle without breaking down at South Mimms :-)

worried123

thank you everyone.....very grateful for your messages....I feel a little bit more hopeful now....

Hope all are doing okay.

Best wishes

hueygeorge

Good Luck with it all Worried123 - I love these boards cos at least you know that you are not alone!! Hope it all goes well

Walter_J

Daft question at a time like this, but how's your credit? If you can get HP on an equivalent car to the one you have then sell yours and get a new one. Firstly, the cash raised may come in handy!!! Secondly, your new car will not be counted as an asset as it belongs to the HP company. So long as you can keep up the payments you will keep the car. The monthly HP payment will be accepted by the OR as a legitimate expense during your bankruptcy, therefore minimising the chance of having to pay anything at all to your creditors

Walter_J

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

But taking on more finance just before going br which means the OP is already technicaly insolvent could leed to a BRO/U as even though the loan is secured you would still be borrowing money that you couldnt repay at the time of signing

On the whole not the best of ideas Walter J

It's what I did 3 months before going bankrupt and it worked sweet as a nut!Chances are these days that you won't even get called in to an interview at the OR office. They are so overworked and understaffed that everyday individual cases are swept through. They only investigate the bigger commercial fraud cases.