Discharged - My Story

Head_Burried

I'm a long time lurker of this forum and the posts certainly helped me when I was deciding whether bankruptcy was the best option for me or not. I'm now a year down the line and discharged from my bankruptcy so I thought I'd post my story in the hope it may help others.

I'd amassed an unbelievable unsecured debt of £44,000 in my 20's due to living way beyond my means and banks just throwing credit at me left right and centre. In my thirties I met my wife, we had a child and it was time to settle down. At this point my debts were way out of control, I would get paid and this would not even get me out of my overdraft. I had loan payments, credit card payments and no assets. At this point I was all over the place so I left my job, stopped making any payments and concentrated solely on our new baby and our family.

I had letter after letter which I ignored and if I'm honest I was just hoping to get each debt to the 6 year mark before hoping to get them statue barred. My creditors had different ideas though as they started to take legal action. It was at this point I decided to look into bankruptcy.

I did a lot of research, posted a few questions on here and certainly didn't make the decision lightly. But in September last year I pressed the button.

My telephone interview (which I was worried about) went great. In fact my OR actually told me I could add more in certain sections of my SOA so it 'looked' like I had less disposable income at the end of the month thus stopping me getting an IPA. Our car worth about £2000 according to Parkers at the time wasn't even questioned. It was accident damaged so was worth less in reality though. I wasn't asked to send any bank statements and the virgin bill (£79) was accepted.

I already had a basic bank account with Co-Op and this wasn't affected but they did close my ISA (£0 balance)

Over the course of the 12 months I haven't heard a thing from my OR and the insolvency register now shows me as being discharged.

My car insurance wasn't affected (paid monthly) and when I applied for a new policy it allowed me to pay monthly. There was nothing in the T&C's about being bankrupt and the policy was less than £500.

What I did find strange was when our Virgin was up for renewal we swapped it from my wife's name into mine to get a better deal and even with them doing a credit check I was still allowed a contract with them. I really wasn't expecting that.

All in all, it has been a very positive experience. Although I wasn't better off financially each month (remember I hadn't paid anything towards my debt for years) I no longer have the weight of £44,000 on my shoulders.

I'm not proud of the debt I racked up but I was young and in my opinion it was both myself and the banks that were naive.

In hindsight, I may have been really lucky with my OR being so nice but I would recommend bankruptcy if the circumstances are right. However, do your research and ask any questions on here of things you aren't sure of before jumping in.

Head (not so) Burried

Years_of_debt

Hey great post,

I cannot begin to explain how similar my circumstances were.

Today is my discharge date, exactly 1 year ago I was made bankrupt.

I owed around 45k to various lenders, having a good job & debt just meant people were throwing money at me!

I’m still in my 20s.

This time last year I had a melt down & ended up quitting my job & going bankrupt to clear my debts & honestly it was the best thing I have ever done!

I had 1 phone call with the OR & that was it. Haven’t heard from them since, no post, no emails and no phone calls.

Before I pressed the button I was so scared, would I get an IPA if I worked? What questions would they ask me?

It was the most stressful moment of my life which turned out not only to be the best thing I have done but also the easiest.

I woke up today & felt this biggest sense of relief, words cannot even describe. Even know I haven’t been contacted by 1 creditor in the last 12 months, I have also been aware of me being “bankrupt” and that the debts are still hanging over me.

But today literally best day of my life!

I also have a co-op bank & they have be amazing. I opened it after I went bankrupt & there was 0 issues opening it. I told them I was BR and they said it was fine, just going to stay with them now.

Sorry for the random rant lol!

But happy for you also

RattyIrk

Congratulation guys. Am about halfway through and am convinced it was right decision.

Never saw myself being in this position as always been careful with money but business went under after long struggle and too many debts linked between that and me personally so had no choice. Is a kick in the teeth but you just need to grit said teeth, get back up and get through it.

Have had more contact with OR than you two seemingly have but they have been fine with me.

katyp

I have a very similar story, very positive.
Myself and husband both went bankrupt within a few days of each other, and we ended up with the same person as our bankruptcy trustee, who was also dealing with the liquidation of our company. Last year was quite a year!
We got an incredibly easy ride - we were never asked for bank statements, allowed to keep two cars (one under £1000, one gifted by my FIL, the OR accepted it was just loaned to me with no proof), we filled in our SOA with some big numbers quickly as we expected to have to pull it down, but it was waived through. In reality, we had an excess of around £500 per month, but the trustee accepted large allowances for everything, including £150 for three mobiles! We did not get an IPA, the trustee said it would be reviewed after six months, but it never was.
My husband changed jobs early in the process, the trustee knew this but said the pay rise would probably be eaten up in additional petrol, so didn't ask to see payslips or any proof of new earnings.
We were allowed to keep our NT tax money, and the trustee gave us the backdated cheque when she received it from HMRC.
We were allowed to keep the money we had paid for council tax while bankrupt, and the trustee allowed us money from our savings for a new stair carpet.
My lovely PIL bought the beneficial interest in our house for £29k, when the actual gap between mortgage and value was around £60-70k.
All in all, a very positive experience for us.