Mobile Phone Contracts 12 May 2020 at 1:40PM in Bankruptcy & living with it 10 replies 253 views

Flora_McDora

Yet another question I'm afraid !!
About 18 months ago I took out a contract for a mobile with data/mins with Vodafone for my daughter and a device contract with O2 for my son. I personally have a mobile which I bought from eBay around the same time and have SIM contracts for myself and my son with O2.
The children's father (my ex-husband) has offered to help with these costs as he knows I'm considering bankrupcy.
The Vodafone contract ends in Dec this year, when I will then get a SIM only to replace it. He has offered to have the d/d taken from his bank account for the remainder of the contract.
He has also offered to pay the balance owing on my son's device (which is in my name) approx £400 so he will not lose the phone 
I will continue to pay mine and my son's monthly contracts (which are obviously in my name) approx £55 - in Oct my son will leave for Uni and change the d/d for his SIM to his bank (but it will still be in my name until Dec 2021 end of contract).
Will any of these actions be a problem??
Many thanks
Flora x

ToxtethO'Grady

He has also offered to pay the balance owing on my son's device (which is in my name) approx £400 so he will not lose the phone

Your son won't lose the phone, you can cancel the contract now and the bill for the rest of the contract can be included in the bankruptcy. The phone belongs to you as your name is on the contract it would only be repossessed if the contract was hire purchase.

As your children are under 18 you would be expected to pay for the contracts for them and the OR will only query it if the contracts are quite high.

On your SOA you had £60pcm and that is within what would be expected, is that for all 3 contracts?

Flora_McDora

Thanks. The £60pcm is for myself and my son but I am looking to end the contracts early and find cheaper SIM contracts.

ToxtethO'Grady

That amount for 2 phones would not raise any eyebrows at the insolvency service.

You can end them early, cancel the direct debits and they will send you bills covering the rest of the term of the contract. Any bill from them would be included in your bankruptcy.

Be careful if the phones are locked to the carrier as you want to get them unlocked before you end the contract. With O2 Pay Monthly contracts you can unlock the phone at any point in the contract and there may be a wait of 72 hours if bought before June 2018. Vodafone make you wait 10 days to unlock a phone but there is no charge for either when doing it.

If you do it through a shop your insurer/ mobile phone manufacturer may say its invalidated your warranty by not doing it through the network.

Hope this helps ;-)

Flora_McDora

ToxtethO'Grady said:

That amount for 2 phones would not raise any eyebrows at the insolvency service.

You can end them early, cancel the direct debits and they will send you bills covering the rest of the term of the contract. Any bill from them would be included in your bankruptcy.

Be careful if the phones are locked to the carrier as you want to get them unlocked before you end the contract. With O2 Pay Monthly contracts you can unlock the phone at any point in the contract and there may be a wait of 72 hours if bought before June 2018. Vodafone make you wait 10 days to unlock a phone but there is no charge for either when doing it.

If you do it through a shop your insurer/ mobile phone manufacturer may say its invalidated your warranty by not doing it through the network.

Hope this helps ;-)

The only problem with doing what you suggested is that I wouldn't be able to keep my mobile number and as I've had it for over 10 years it would be a bit of a nightmare

mwarby

you can end the contract by simply getting a PAC code and using it, you'll get a final bill but that can be included in bankruptcy. That way you keep your number and get bill written off

Flora_McDora

Thank you so much for answering all my questions - I just feel so ‘at sea’ at the moment that I’m finding it difficult to work out the most obvious things !!

Flora_McDora

mwarby said:

you can end the contract by simply getting a PAC code and using it, you'll get a final bill but that can be included in bankruptcy. That way you keep your number and get bill written off

If I did this and then took another sim only contract out, wouldn’t I be in trouble as I’ve knowingly made another debt just before going bankrupt and taken out another contract?
Thanks
Flora x

mwarby

You already have the debt in a way, you have already committed to the monthly repayments

TBH I’d look to keep the contract going (it keeps expenses up, helping avoid an IPA) and only cancel it if it’s not deemed an allowable expense.

 I believe in early stages you can  ask OR to include it as a debt, they are normally happy to as it leaves more money for an IPA, or it releases you from an unaffordable expense

MinuteNoodles

Flora_McDora said:

If I did this and then took another sim only contract out, wouldn’t I be in trouble as I’ve knowingly made another debt just before going bankrupt and taken out another contract?
Thanks
Flora x

If it concerns you get a pay as you go SIM. You can still port a number over to it and then port that number to a mobile phone contract once this is all over and done with.

In regards to the kids mobiles their dad is obviously willing to ensure they still have one so he could take out contracts in his name and port their numbers to those.

mwarby

Sim only plans like smarty and voxi are cheap and pay as you go, they are cheaper than many sim only contracts