Help Concerning War Pension for BR

rfdebt

Hi all,

This is just a moan! Hope you don’t mind.

After writing to Lloyds TSB on December the 10th advising them of my inability to meet the loan payment, today I actually received a reply. They won’t agree to the token payment offered, or freeze any interest; they say they will carry on taking payments out (no money in there!), and want me to phone them.

They also had the cheek to suggest contacting one of the debt charities and went on to list them. I had put in my original letter to them that after taking advice from The National Debtline etc. Don’t these people read letters properly??

I will write back to them and politely inform them that I have taken advice, I have no intention of phoning them. I don’t think that they can phone me on my landline as when we moved coming up a year ago now; they only had my mobile phone number as we were not connected telephone wise (this house was refurbished and empty for a few years before that). I don’t think I ever wrote and gave them the landline number (fingers crossed anyway!).

The Co-Operative bank has rung my mob twice, son answered it the first time last night and said I was out, ignored it this afternoon. I have just acquired a cheap as chips pay as you go mobile and will be turning the old mobile off permanently the minute the new one has charged!:D

I have been trying to get through to the business debtline to clarify a few things before declaring personal BR, but they are extremely busy. I really want to move forward now before my creditors turn really nasty!

Sorry for rambling on, but it helps!!

tigerfeet2006

It's great having this forum to rant on isn't it. Done it a few times myself.

Unfortunatly the debt lines are very busy at this time of year. I found yesterday I had to sit for an half an hour yesterday doing redial /hang up, then waited goodness knows how long for them to answer the phone.

Hope you get through soon.

rfdebt

Hi tigerfeet thanks for your reply.

Just managed to get through to the business Debtline this morning and got answers to the queries concerning my ltd company. They have said it’s best to get the business shut down before we both go personal BR, it is theoretically possible to do so afterwards but apparently it gets more complicated. The adviser says it should be completed in about four weeks.

I have a feeling that those four weeks will seem an awfully long time! Our creditors are getting testy and want to get them off our backs asap! We had a letter from American Express today, here’s what they had to say:

Further to our letter advising you of the next step regarding your financial situation, we note that you have not yet called our dedicated team to take up the free financial help and advice that we are offering to you, subject to acceptance.

Please note that your American Express debt is now overdue and should you choose not to be considered for this specialist programme and provide full co-operation and financial disclosure, then we will be forced to consider alternative options open to us in order to recover our loss and protect our position.

I hope that you will enable us to help you further by calling our team on their dedicated freephone number ….

We look forward to their confirmation that you have been in contact with them.

In our last letter to them we included a statement of out income and expenditure as well as a list of our other creditor’s details. Also that we were advised by the National Debtline to deal with all communication in writing and that we would not deal with anything over the phone. What more do they need? It’s so patently obvious that they want us to phone them so they can verbally threaten us with the consequences if we don’t pay!

I know there are template letters available to send them if they keep harassing us by telephone, but will have to think of something to write back to them regarding their “veiled” threats if we don’t ring them and insist on all communication in writing. Anybody have any ideas? Any input gratefully received!

rfdebt

Hi all,

My mortgage payments are up to date at present, but should I not be able to secure a well enough paid job – I may have to admit defeat as far as my house is concerned. Alternatively, the OR may consider mortgage repayments almost a grand too much anyway and say I should go into rented accommodation.


I am looking at the worst case scenario here, but should this happen I would like to be prepared.

Has anyone any experience of defaulting payments on a Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage? If so, how quickly do they start repossession procedures?

Is it a case of missing one payment, two or more?

Any help much appreciated, thanks.

rfdebt

Hi all,

Well I’m in shock! Instead of the usual creditor nasty letters, we have received one from Citi Bank re our credit card debt with them. They have accepted our token offer of £1 per month for at least two months – when they will review our account again with the possibility of all charges and interest being stopped – subject to being accepted onto the “reduced payment programme” of course.

At least that is one off our backs for now, hopefully, our ltd business being struck off will have been all done and dusted by then and our petitions for BR will have been submitted.

So I will be writing out my £1 cheque and will be posting it off to them today as they require payment immediately!!

It does tend to restore your faith in human nature doesn’t it?

fiveyearplan

1 down... That's good news re Citibank. How did you go about having your business struck off? I need to do that myself.

rfdebt

Hi fiveyearplan, thanks for your reply,


In order to get a business “struck off " and this applies to a Limited company only, you must have NOT traded at all in the last three months. Please note that this can only be achieved through the steps mentioned below if the ltd company has NO debts.

1. If your company is VAT registered, you’ll need to de-register this first.

2. Draw out all monies from company bank account (failure to do this means that the “Crown” will receive your money instead of you).

3. Write to your business bank and close the account (this speeds the process).

4. Complete form 652a and send to Companies House with a cheque for £10.

5. Make several copies of the 652a forms and send one to everyone that has dealings with your company (i. e. VAT controller, P.A.Y.E. etc, etc).

6. Complete forms P45 (1) for each director (this is to notify Inland Revenue that you are no longer employed by your company).

7. Complete form P38 end of year employer records.

8. Ensure all your final company accounts are complete, then complete and send off CT600 for your Corporation Tax.

9. Complete final Company minutes and report for Companies house.

I have not received any acknowledgements as yet, but we have been advised by all the appropriate departments (when I telephoned them) that providing I have done everything above in the correct order, there should be no problems.

The Business Debtline believes that the whole process will take around 4 weeks.

A word of caution (in case you are not already aware of) – Because it is a Limited Company, any assets belonging to the Company after it has been “struck off” will become the property of the “Crown”. I have been advised by the Business Debtline that providing your assets are less than £1000.00 they won’t be interested.

Do bear in mind that computers can depreciate by between 25% and 33% per year, so, if your computer system belonging to your Company is over three years old, it can be written off and no longer considered as a company asset.

Hope this helps, if we come across any problems when dealing with our company being “struck off" we’ll let you know. Though we will be keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly - naturally!

rfdebt

By the way fiveyearplan, should have said in the first para in my last post, there must be no bank borrowings against the ltd company also.

fiveyearplan

Thanks anyway - I've got debts though!

rfdebt

Hi all, after a little bit of advice if pos, my situation (recap) so far.

At present my income is 675 per month in pension, closed business after several years, so now looking for employment – should get job, but unsure how long this will take and how much I will earn. I am hoping for 15000 PA which would bring home £1000 per month.

My mortgage is £1000 per month.

The Limbo bit. I cannot make a decision on whether to dump the house and rent, or keep house and struggle until I get a job, because: a. I won’t know my income levels b. I cannot rent until proof of employment (most landlords insist on prof working couples only).

I have not missed a payment on mortgage as yet (and have put aside a small amount to cover mortgage for next 2 months). Problem is if I pay the mortgage then decide to rent, I would have spent my stash which is either for mortgage or rent deposit etc.
I think I need to wait to go BR until I have obtained a job, that way I will know if I can afford to keep the house, or if I can’t, I can rent prior to BR to keep things simple.

My task therefore is to try and delay my creditors from biting my ankle until I can achieve this aim. Does anyone know of any stalling tactics which might give me a little time?

Creditors are already starting their major letter and telephone campaign, Smile even insisting that I send them a copy of my mortgage agreement, even though it is a non secured loan, I have a feeling they may to try and put a charge on my property.

Any tips would be appreciated, and I will keep you all informed of my progress.