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i_was_taught_2b_cautious

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sourcrates

As long as "you" don't have any assets, and "you" can afford the fee, absolutely nothing.

terryw

Quite a few case histories here:
http://www.iwentbankrupt.com/debt-fugitives/

[Deleted User]

Someone who'll never stand gives me all the prospective I need and that's with just a third of life lived. He never expected to be confined to his front room. Perhaps people after an accident are forced in so I don't think it so clear cut, I never felt so bad for my parents when my brothers life changed but I'm glad they can be there now for my brother without no longer having to worry over me and that's why I'm glad in the end the DRO had the greatest purpose.

I did have a random thought what happens to those going broke as this new wage thingy comes in but I suppose it's a double edged sword really.

Life really is to fleeting to mull things over and not help yourself.

Of course if you want a penny in compo then BR isn't often best.

fatbelly

What do you mean by 'so the banks don't go after family members?'

How would that happen?

[Deleted User]

Should bear in mind there are some careers and companies that will not take anyone with a bankruptcy past. British Airways for example will not offer employment to anyone with a ccj. So career consideration might stop someone.

HappyMJ

i_was_taught_2b_cautious wrote: »

im not sure about banks going after family members, but I mean them pestering partners, kids about the debt

No creditor I've ever had has ever pestered my partner about my personal debt. If they did I would be absolutely livid.

You do not need to go bankrupt to protect your partner and children from being harassed. It's illegal anyway.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

i_was_taught_2b_cautious wrote: »

and it seems you can get away from racking up huge debt in the UK then fleeing to another country............

Hmm... risky game.

If the banks can prove that you took credit with no intention to pay then there's this little thing called the Fraud Act 2006, and section 11 therein. That sort of thing does follow you across borders, and makes getting visas, residence permits etc. rather awkward.

Aside from that, individual financial institutions overseas are waking up to this, and are demanding proof of your financial responsibility before you can open an account. I recently had to do so for a foreign account - admittedly just balance and bank statement, but it's not a great leap of logic to suppose that in a few years, a statutory credit report will be required as well.

jamesd

i_was_taught_2b_cautious wrote: »

Just curious to know what is stopping someone who has lived their life, then when they feel racking up loads of debt on all the nice things in life, then declaring bankruptcy

Besides the possibility of a criminal prosecution and conviction for application fraud and the story they will have to try to get the official receiver to accept to explain why they did it? If it looks deliberate there may instead be a bankruptcy restriction order lasting longer than the normal bankruptcy period. If the nice things include luxury goods then those could be sold as part of the work of the OR.

Criminal prosecutions for this sort of thing aren't common but they do happen sometimes. If neither one or more of the defrauded lenders and the OR don't seek criminal conviction, you can expect that the institutions would be unwilling to ever do business with the person again if they thought it was deliberate.

None of this matters to the typical person going bankrupt, who didn't just set out to rack up the maximum possible debt. It's not uncommon for debts to increase a lot in the months before going bankrupt.

People "borrowing" with no intention to pay it back are a fact of life in consumer lending. Through P2P I've a range of people who clearly just took the money with no intention of ever repaying it, some who skipped town. So far one has received a criminal conviction. A fair number of bankruptcies, trust deeds, IVAs and such, and in those the system seems to be working as designed to help those who need the help.

ReadingTim

Thing with bankruptcy is that you won't have much /anything in the way of assets left once you've been through the process, so you're essentially starting life again, with the added complication that BR has on employment, borrowing, mortgage prospects etc.

Dunno what age you mean by 'someone who has lived their life' means, but assuming this is someone 60+, that doesn't leave you much time to start again, so you're essentially throwing yourself at the mercy of family and/or the state to support you, and the chance of the latter doing so is decreasing at an alarming rate. Not sure about you, but the prospect of poverty in old age absolutely terrifies me, and should do you too: imagine the thought of being evicted from your rented home aged 85 because the rent costs more than you get in your pension...

Basically, living for the moment has a nasty habit of coming back to bite you in the future...

andyfromotley

I dunno, for all of those stories that i read the debt still seems to be a huge part of their lives. As a quick look on the Bankruptcy forum would that its not exactly a magic bullet that makes all of ones worries dissappear. Each to their own i guess but i prefer to tackle my debt head on, pay it back and live a fairly stress free life. i definitely do not feel like my life 'is over' or has 'stopped' due to sorting my debts out. Quite the opposite really, but then i no longer define 'my life' or' fun' by how much money or how many toys i have.

Each to their own but i prefer my way.