Loan deferment to pay bankruptcy fees

george_112

I will be submitting my bankruptcy once I get paid and my household direct debits come out at the end of the month. I can pay the fee if I don’t pay the creditors the loan payments this month. They are due out the same time as the bills though. I can defer them though due to the covid help. Would this impact my bankruptcy in anyway? Would the total loan still be included in the bankruptcy? 
Thanks I overthinking and worrying about every detail
i think 

george_112

Or am I best just making sure the money is not in the bank to cover the payments? 

mwarby

your loan would still be included. It's quite normal for people who have decided on bankruptcy to cease all debt repayments (excluding those which put their home at risk) in order to save the bankruptcy fee. It's quite likely that if you cease paying nothing much will happen as they are very busy, in normal times it takes months before they do much more than call and send letters.

mwarby

re bank accounts, get at basic one(these are designed for those having debt issues, and are less likely to be closed when you go bankrupt) at a bank unrelated to any bank that you have debts. If you have no debts with Nationwide their FlexBasic account is quite good, Barclays have also be good historically (at one point they were the only bank accepting undischarged bankrupts)

Once you have this new account move any money you need to live on (rent, council tax, utilities, food etc) and make sure any income is sent to the new account. I would NOT use the switching service, as this gives your old bank advance warning and they may withdraw your overdraft leaving you with nothing and also potentially using the right of set off for other debts you have with them, setting up new direct debits manually isn't that bad and gives you a chance to ditch any you don't need. This thread gives an example of what can go wrong when using switch service when you have debt problems https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6127265/i-am-a-keyworker-and-hsbc-have-left-me-penniless

There is a small risk that your new account will be frozen during the bankruptcy process, normally this is only for a few days. Please make sure you have enough cash on hand to last you a week or two before submitting your bankruptcy to see you through this. Your account being frozen is much less likely to happen if opened after your bankruptcy appears on the insolvency register, but delaying until then risks set off, if your account is frozen and closed(the rare worse case, with most banks, when you have a basic account) the money is still yours(well as much as any money and assets are yours in bankruptcy) and can be moved to another account