Raising bankruptcy fees, car & job questions

FixitM

Hello. Just wondering what ways you've all found of raising the funds? Really struggling as have nothing left after mortgage, bills & food, and we need to do this as soon as possible.


Also what value of car do they allow you to keep for work purposes please? We were advised upto the value of £1000, however that doesn't seem much for my husband who needs a very reliable car as he travels up and down the country all week.


And finally, how does it affect taking a new job? Do you need to declare your bankruptcy/ impending bankruptcy to prospective employers before or at interview?


Thanks in advance.

tigerfeet2006

FixitM wrote: »

Hello. Just wondering what ways you've all found of raising the funds? Really struggling as have nothing left after mortgage, bills & food, and we need to do this as soon as possible.

Scrimping from every source you can, if you normaly spend £100 a week on groceries try and spend £75. If you look around the boards on MSE there are plenty of ways that people use to earn extra pennies ( The Grorcery Challenge thread on the Oldstyle Moneysaving board. The Debtfree Wanabe Challenges thread to name but 2). Stop paying debts and put the money by for the BR. Borrow it off reletives. Someone even sold their things via the ads in shops etc. and then went on Freegle/Freecycle and picked up furniture to replace it(sofa, beds, microwave etc).


Also what value of car do they allow you to keep for work purposes please? We were advised upto the value of £1000, however that doesn't seem much for my husband who needs a very reliable car as he travels up and down the country all week.

This is indeed correct but if you can really prove a need that you need a bit more then you can usually get away with £1.5k sometimes a bit more. The OR might also ask for someone to buy his interest in the car so you can have a car that is worth a bit more.


And finally, how does it affect taking a new job? Do you need to declare your bankruptcy/ impending bankruptcy to prospective employers before or at interview?

Why would you need to say anything? None of their business unless it is a financial institution.


Thanks in advance.

Hope that helps a little

dancingfairy

What's the situation with the house? Are you planning on staying? If you are going to give the house up then you should stop paying the mortgage.
I assume you've stopped paying any money to any debts?
Df

National_Debtline

Hi

You can search this Turn2us website for any grants which may be able to help you with bankruptcy fees:

www.turn2us.org.uk/Find-Benefits-Grants

There’s also a thread on this forum which lists charities who can help with bankruptcy fees:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4279781

James
@natdebtline

Mollie_Guinness15

As dancingfairy said, if you're paying a mortgage on a house that you're not planning on staying in, don't pay it and use that money for your fees.

queensland

I needed a reliable car for work, I was allowed to keep mine which was worth £2,500

philnicandevan

queensland wrote: »

I needed a reliable car for work, I was allowed to keep mine which was worth £2,500

sdaly though no two OR's offices are the same...what one does isnt always a guarantee another will...:cool:

FixitM

Thank you so much for your replies. Sorry I've not responded sooner, I had 2 family bereavements and an illness over Christmas.

We have nothing to sell and can't leave my kids with no furniture (which is really all we have). Any old clothes I could sell will bring in a pittance, and won't make a dent in what we need to raise. We were hoping my husband may get a bonus, but the criteria for that was out of his hands. He is desperately looking for another job, as he is working very long hours for not very much money.

We don't believe there is any equity in the house, so hope that we will be able to stay here, hence continuing to pay the mortgage. We are not paying anything towards any debts, literally just mortgage and food, and phone/ internet bill, as that's all the money that's coming in will cover.

Thank you for that link about grants. What's the eligibility for those? Is it just showing income & expenditure and that you have no assets?

Our worry with the car is that they will make us sell it for a cheaper one which will turn out to be unreliable/ a money pit, and as he relies on something very reliable with the amount of driving he does, that would be a disaster. I guess we will have to try and argue that one. It's not like it's a newish car, it's 10 years old, but it fits all 5 of us in & 3 car seats across the back. Can't see how we'd get anything else cheaper?

I think I need to make a list of questions, as feel overwhelmed with the situation a bit, and feel so out of control of everything. Feel I need to be doing something, but can't really do anything until we can afford the bankruptcy. Council Tax have agreed to put everything on hold for another couple of weeks, but no idea what happens after that as we won't have gone through bankruptcy by then.

National_Debtline

Hi FixitM and sorry to hear of your recent bereavements.


Eligibility criteria for grants will from one charity to the next. Some will insist on you being in receipt of certain welfare benefits, while others will have a broader definition of financial hardship - in either case, they will expect to see a household budget.


I would suggest that you have a conversation with your mortgage lender about how they can help you through this difficult time. You could ask for a temporary payment break - the terms of your mortgage contract may even allow for this. Failing that, you could enquire about switching your mortgage (even temporarily) to interest-only payments which could allow you to build up some funds for bankruptcy without jeopardising your home. You can only ask.


What is the car actually worth? As a general rule, Official Receivers won't cash in a vehicle if it's likely to end up a false economy because a reliable replacement can't be found. As yours is 10 years old, I can't imagine it's worth much more than the £1K-£2K threshold that ORs tend to use and so they may simply ignore it without a second glance.


Be prepared to keep stalling creditors in the meantime - if any specific action becomes likely over council tax, for example, post on here or better still get in touch with one of the free advice charities.


Dennis
@natdebtline

FixitM

Thank you for you reply Dennis. Sadly, the mortgage company can offer no more leeway. The car is a VW, with 2 extra fold out seats in the boot (7 seater), so seems to hold it's value. However, it's had a few bumps and kids have wrecked it a bit inside, so Parkers Guide says £2,060.00 for the value of one in poor condition. My worry is, as husband uses it for work, if they take it to sell he will most likely lose his job as won't be able to work without it.

I'm just completing my forms now, and hoping to get my court date today.

Thanks again.

Tiddlywinks

If you're not making payments towards your debts and really do only have enough to meet the mortgage, buy food and pay utilities then how will you live going forward?

Have you made sure you've claimed all the top-up credits available?

Could you get a job?