Some advice on which way to go please

DaveUK2019

I am in a bit of a bind to say the least, I moved abroad and had to wait 8 months to get a visa to work and during that time my wife had an affair and she is pregnant although its ivf so it is definitely mine.

So with no work I relied on savings to pay the bills, that is all gone now and I have huge debts, two are over 5k so I worry that they will declare me bankrupt.

I have always prided myself on paying my debts and my good credit record. However it is all shot now and I am 3 months behind on monthly payments. I rent the house so it pays my mortgage.

I have a house in the UK, my retirement fallback and the only asset I own so I am quite proud of it. I don't want to lose it, once that is gone I have pretty much lost everything.

I contacted them all but with no money to pay I cant give them income and expenditure details as they will see I have no income. So I phone them occasionally and the rest of the time I bury my head.

I don't want an IVA and reality wise I have no income to fund it.

My question is...is it likely the loan companies will declare me bankrupt? what if I paid some of the debt, would the judge still take my house. (Its rented out at the moment).

Any advice is welcome to get me out of this hole.

fatbelly

Hi DaveUK2019

Statutory Demands (forced bankruptcies) are extremely rare so let's just worry about that if it happens, because it probably won't.

The house is safe as long as the mortgage is up to date.

As bankruptcy is not a strategy for you, and an IVA is unaffordable, you will need another strategy for your debts. Pop over to debt-free wannabe and post a statement of affairs

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Minkym00

To be fair Fatbelly, creditor bankruptcies aren’t that rare, it’s probably about 10% of all bankruptcies.

The reason why they are rarer than adjudicator bankruptcies is because people with large debts don’t normally have any assets. However, as you do, your position is a bit more precarious. If your creditors are aware that you have an asset that can be sold then it’s worth their while spending the money it costs to make you bankrupt as they’ll get their costs back and their debt paid off. And if this happens you’ll lose the property and have to pay a fortune in fees.

However they may just be satisfied with putting a charge on it.

Are you based in the UK now?

Lacemaker

Hi DaveUK2019,
You seem to be running at this at a million miles an hour.

Have you actually received a Stat Demand ?

I would suggest that you do fill in your creditors' Income & Expenditure forms, even if it shows a big deficit, they are likely to re-set the amount that you need to pay to a token amount for a period. This would give you a bit of breathing space to consider your options if your work visa is now through and you can begin earning again.

I am very concerned by the advice that your house is safe, if you are bankrupt the OR will have an interest in it, if your house has clear equity of above £1000 it can be sold as an asset and the OR has a period of three years in which to do so. It is also worth checking the T& Cs of your mortgage, in some instances bankruptcy is treated as Default by the lender, and as such they would seek full repayment of the loan whether your payments were up to date or not.

If you went bankrupt after your child was born there may be minor's relief for up to one year post bankruptcy before the OR could deal with the asset, however, this would only apply if the child was in residence, not where the house is effectively a buy to let.

Please give some thought and get some advice either from a professional or a debt charity before making a decision.

debt_doctor

Hi,

Stat demands are mostly issued by non Consumer Credit Licence holders (like builders merchants, wholesalers etc) If your money is owed to standard lenders then they must show you forbearance and work with you to find a solution - anywhere from £1 pm upwards.

The danger is ignoring such debts as then they can say they tried to engage but you didn't - allowing them to move to more drastic actions.

I have assisted hundreds of homeowners over the years who paid back minimal amounts for years on end with no action.

DD

fatbelly

As I read it, the OP is not proposing to declare bankruptcy but is worried about receiving a statutory demand.

Like DD, I have dealt with hundreds (as a team, thousands) of homeowners in debt - I can think of one effective deployment of a SD (countered with a voluntary charge) in all that time.

It's not impossible - but statistically he'd be very unlucky to get one.

As for an actual strategy, the DFW board could suggest something if he does a second post over on that board. Bankruptcy is unlikely to be the way forward