Bankruptcy Newbie

mitchen83

Hi all,

The other posts on here have been a great help, but I still have a number of questions about filling for bankruptcy that I'm hoping someone can help me with. I've just been on the phone with the national help debt line, and she's run through a lot of stuff and pretty much said that bankruptcy is my best option.

I have debt of around £50,000 and I work 2 jobs totalling around 70 hours a week to try and keep up with the payments. I've never missed a payment or defaulted, and in fact my credit isn't in such a bad condition.. I'm just so tired of it all. Plus I'm never actually getting anywhere with it all in terms of paying the debt off and being debt free.. and I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my life. Because of my income she's warned me that I could be paying into the bankruptcy plan for 3 years, which is disappointing but better than the status quo.

She's advised me that my car which is worth £7k will be taken and she's said I will find it very hard to get a mortgage in the future if I ever wanted to. Also my girlfriend is from Sweden and we are considering moving there at some stage, but the advisor warned me that my bankruptcy history will follow me there and I could have a lot of issues.

All of my accounts are also in my parents address and not my rented accommodation address. I'm wondering whether to move everything into my own address, as the last thing I want is anyone going there to check for valuables or assets etc.

If anyone could help with any advice to the above points I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers

thevdm

Hi, generally if you have an excess income of £20 a month or more you may be asked to pay into an IPA. I'm guessing that with you being tired of this situation you plan to reduce your hours to a standard level, if so you're income will also go down a bit. As you say though, 3 years of paying will be better than a lifetime of paying without getting anywhere.


If you require a car for work/family commitments then you may be able to keep a car, your car would usually be sold and you'd have around £1,000 to buy a cheap car with. If the car isn't essential for you then it'd just be sold.


It would be harder to get a mortgage in the future, but not impossible. You would have to do some credit building after bankruptcy and would most likely be restricted to some of the higher interest mortgages (with time and showing good use of credit the offers would get better).


I can't comment about Sweden, I don't know anything about how bankruptcy would follow you there.


When you go bankrupt nobody will come to your door or want to look around your house unless they see on your bank statement that you bought an expensive caravan last year which wasn't listed as an asset. It is probably recommended to update them with your address, but when you go bankrupt they will be given your current address details and other than a few statements throughout the year you will probably never hear from them again.

mitchen83

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. I was wondering now what to do with the logistics around the time my accounts are frozen. How I pay rent, my phone bill etc. With no bank account. The advisor basically said it’s best I open a different account.. and then utilise the last of my credit, default on the next couple of months credit payments so I can withdraw all my wages and have some cash behind me. Would the bankruptcy accessor frown upon the fact I’ve basically used my last credit knowing I’m going to declare bankruptcy? And defaulted on my recent due payments to have cash in my pocket.

terrence45

Absolute rubbish about your bad credit following you abroad. I moved to an EU country just after being declared bankrupt and had no problems. The records are not linked. Of course, with no credit record abroad, you can't just take out mortgages and loans willy nilly, but still, it was a clean slate.


It's not 'very hard' to find a mortgage after bankruptcy. There are MANY threads on here about people who've got market rates (just have to wait probably 6 years or so after bankruptcy).


Nobody 'checks' for valuable assets when someone goes bankrupt, so don't worry about addresses. How much time do you think they have! There's a degree of trust here. Obviously vehicles and large payments for things like property are recorded with the DVLA and your bank accounts/credit cards, so the OR will know about those.


If you need a car, yours will be sold and £1000 provided for a replacement.


If going BR, open up a basic bank account either beforehand or right after. Plenty of details about these on this forum and elsewhere.


I'd never missed a payment before either, but unfortunately circumstances were such that I had to make the jump. Perhaps try another debt advice line just in case they advise anything different before you make your decision?

mitchen83

Great thanks so much for that. Do you think I should maybe sell the car before I declare?. Rather than them just taking it away.

KeepOnKnitting

I stopped working 60+ hour weeks when I went bankrupt, went down to a more normal amount. I was self-employed and on a 0-hour contract, alongside doing an access course, so weeks where I needed to do an essay I would reduce my work hours even further. It worked well for me.

mitchen83

Exactly what I'm thinking. I've been working from 6am until 9pm for two years. I can't wait to get back to finishing work at a normal hour. Just hope they don't put me on a plan for 3 years that makes me destitute.

terrence45

mitchen83 wrote: »

Great thanks so much for that. Do you think I should maybe sell the car before I declare?. Rather than them just taking it away.

If you sell it within a couple of years before going bankrupt, the OR will want to know what you've done with that sort of money (and if you have any left, more than your immediate living expenses, they'll take it).


So you could downgrade the car now and live on that money for a few months, working a little less, until it's run out, at which point you go bankrupt. But if you sell it immediately before going bankrupt, you're basically doing the OR's job for them and they'll take the money.

terrence45

mitchen83 wrote: »

Exactly what I'm thinking. I've been working from 6am until 9pm for two years. I can't wait to get back to finishing work at a normal hour. Just hope they don't put me on a plan for 3 years that makes me destitute.

This depends on how much you'll be earning - some people (like me) take the year out to re-train and work part-time for a bit. Was quite fun


An IPA won't leave you destitute, compared to your current situation. It'll leave you enough to live a normal life.

wandablake

Hi,
I don't know about Sweden but some countries take past bankruptcy into account when giving citizenship. The UK immigration service state that bankruptcy past or present may affect citizenship applications or sponsorship for citizenship applications. With the UK exiting the EU which Sweden is a member of, there could be an issue once we leave the EU if you need to apply to stay in Sweden. I doubt travel to other countries or short term stays will be affected by a bankruptcy status now or when we leave the EU.

wandablake

Hi,
I don't know about Sweden but some countries take past bankruptcy into account when giving citizenship. The UK immigration service state that bankruptcy past or present may affect citizenship applications or sponsorship for citizenship applications. With the UK exiting the EU which Sweden is a member of, there could be an issue once we leave the EU if you need to apply to stay in Sweden. I doubt travel to other countries or short term stays will be affected by a bankruptcy status now or when we leave the EU.