I am a fraud

soupfreak

 Looking for some advice over the mess I have inflicted on myself.

 I had a single credit card for years and managed it well. My fixed term contract at work came to an end just before xmas 2019, me and my wife decided I could take xmas off and get a new job in feb/march. We are private renters with no assets.

 Of course covid happened, my wife got a pay rise so I ended up staying home doing home schooling with my 2 eldest and looking after our toddler whilst my wife took on the role of sole bread winner for the family. Combined with my Universal Credit we had enough.

 This balanced well at first but gradually with prices going up and trying to keep the kids sane I made my first mistake. I clicked on my Clearscore offers email and applied for a new credit card using the stored details of my previous employment.

 I did this several times. The energy cap business really made a dent Now I have about £32.000 in credit card debt (all my name) which is killing us financially. I looked into it and if I went bankrupt all said and done we would be able to live.

 Now I realise that when I start my bankruptcy all my dirty laundry is going to come out. There will be no hiding the fact that most of that debt was taken out with false information and that I am a big fat fraud.

 Does anybody have any experience of this situation? Im extremely worried that they will refuse my bankruptcy, contact police and (rightly deserved) chrges will follow. Should I contact my creditors, what would I say?

 Theres no excuse for what I did, I know it was wrong but I just wanted to help my family through 'hard times'. Now it looks like I may have in fact damaged them.

 Im speaking to debt advice tomorrow but if anybody can give me any sort of clarity what could happen then I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

grumbler

Debt-free wannabe board here is a better place for this sort of questions.
I don't think that police will show any interest, but the corresponding markers will almost definitely be placed in fraud prevention databases like CIFAS and National Hunter.

CliveOfIndia

I'm no expert, but from my limited knowledge 2 things stand out to me.

Firstly, there is need to consider bankruptcy for a credit card debt.  This is a non-priority debt, and if the worst comes to the worst just let it default.  That'll trash your credit file for 6 years, but that in itself is not the end of the world.

Secondly, which debt advisors are you talking to?  Hopefully it's a respected charity who won't charge you for their services such as StepChange or CAB?  If so, then they will be well-placed to offer you some practical advice as to your options.

As to the potential fraud issue - I don't know enough about that area, so I won't offer any advice that may turn out to be incorrect.

Well done for recognising the situation you're in.  I'm not sure if it may be worth posting over on the Debt-Free Wannabe board as well - do you think you're in a position where it may be feasible to repay the debts if you make some adjustments to your budget?  I know that's not always a realistic option - in which case, StepChange etc. are probably a very good first port of call.

soupfreak

Thanks grumbler.

soupfreak

CliveOfIndia said:

I'm no expert, but from my limited knowledge 2 things stand out to me.

Firstly, there is need to consider bankruptcy for a credit card debt.  This is a non-priority debt, and if the worst comes to the worst just let it default.  That'll trash your credit file for 6 years, but that in itself is not the end of the world.

Secondly, which debt advisors are you talking to?  Hopefully it's a respected charity who won't charge you for their services such as StepChange or CAB?  If so, then they will be well-placed to offer you some practical advice as to your options.

As to the potential fraud issue - I don't know enough about that area, so I won't offer any advice that may turn out to be incorrect.

Well done for recognising the situation you're in.  I'm not sure if it may be worth posting over on the Debt-Free Wannabe board as well - do you think you're in a position where it may be feasible to repay the debts if you make some adjustments to your budget?  I know that's not always a realistic option - in which case, StepChange etc. are probably a very good first port of call.

Yes it was through StepChange but good of you to ask.

Am I being dense, how can I default on the debt, not go bankrupt and not have years of dodging bailiffs? I dont care about my credit score but with the kids I cant go on the lamb!
 
 Going to post over on Debt-Free Wannabe. Thanks a million for your reply!