Gambling addiction

Scaredidiot

Hi, I'm hoping someone can answer a question I'm too ashamed to ask face to face. When filing for bankruptcy, will having a gambling addiction mean they will still treat you as any other debt you can not pay? 

debt_doctor

Hi,
Your gambling debt will be part of your bankruptcy as would any other provable debt. Gambling is a behaviour that is looked at in BR which might result in a restriction. A restriction means that the things you cannot do whilst you are BR (cant be company director, trustee or borrow more than £500 without disclosing status) you wont be able to do for a longer period of time. Gambling, like any other addiction, is an awful thing to be controlled by and I hope you have managed to break free from it.
DD

mwarby

it's very possible you will end up with a BRU or BRO(Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking or Order), which will mean for number of years you will need to inform any creditor of the fact you were bankrupt when borrowing more than £500.  Of course for 6 years your bankruptcy is on your credit history anyway, which achieves much the same thing, you might just have the restrictions for 10 years

During your bankruptcy there won't be many differences, your gambling issues will be discussed, and you will of course need to abide by bankruptcy restrictions around taking on new credit and paying any IPA or IPO (gambling away such money will cause issues)

Of course your not the only one who has gone/is going bankrupt due to gambling issues, your OR isn't there to judge you, but to administer your bankruptcy, if you cooperate and control your gambling I'm sure you'll  be fine

luvchocolate

Bankruptcy stays on your credit file for 6 years.

mwarby

your sister would be very much the exception, and perhaps the result of an error. I'd wager that it doesn't appear for 6 years in perhaps less than 1% of cases(and in many of those it would only be missing from 1 of the 3 credit reference agencies)

Bankruptcy should appear on your credit history from the adjudication date(within days of submitting the form. For the first year it will show undischarged, the at the 1 year point it would be discharged, and at 6 year point it would be removed

For a DRO it would be reported in almost the same way, although I'm not sure what terms are used

Your insolvency is also shown in the insolvency registers online, although this is only shown for 1 year and 3 months

IrishSean

Out of interest: does it depend on the type of debts owed in the case of BR due to gambling?
I read once that if you owed an actual bookmaker I.e. had a line of credit you were unable to pay that it was treated differently and in some cases BR wasn't even an option. 
I know few if any gambling firms offer credit as up until 10 years ago gambling debts weren't enforceable.
Again though, if someone accrued gambling debts on credit cards (again, now not possible from 01/04) or more likely loans they can't pay, what compels the person to list gambling as reason for BR? I had a gambling addiction but was fortunate never to be in serious enough debt to require BR or other forms of debt relief. I am interested in answers to the above; they might be useful to the OP as well.
What I would say to the OP is that there is most definitely life after this addiction, however you have to stop AND get help, not just deal with financial implications or relapse is likely. I can recommend a few books on the topic too that really helped.
GL on the journey m8

mwarby

There are some debts such as student loans which are not included in bankruptcy, but these are mostly times and court charges. Gambling debts would be included, although I believe the gambling regulators wouldn't allow a bookie to grant credit, there were moves about a year ago to ban the use of credit cards for gambling.

MEM62

OP, Just a thought.  You word your question will 'having' a gambling addiction.  I would strongly suggest that you get help to address your addiction before declaring BR.  There is little point in a clean slate and fresh start if you are just going to run up debts again to feed your addiction.  

Minkym00

mwarby said:

There are some debts such as student loans which are not included in bankruptcy, but these are mostly times and court charges. Gambling debts would be included, although I believe the gambling regulators wouldn't allow a bookie to grant credit, there were moves about a year ago to ban the use of credit cards for gambling.

The use of credit cards for gambling was banned last week actually.  https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2020/Gambling-on-credit-cards-to-be-banned-from-April-2020.aspx

laytrapstter

luvchocolate said:

Bankruptcy stays on your credit file for 6 years.

This is what i know too. Just for  years. I'm just not sure if this is universal, global i mean.

mwarby

Different countries have different rules around data retention for credit reference purposes. While I don’t believe they are explicitly told, they could find this from public sources such as the insolvency register or gazette