Bankruptcy worked for me

PabloDiablo

Bankruptcy worked for me
Hi all,

12 months ago I was going down the road of IVA until I saw sense and realised that it just isn't a good solution at all. The amount I would have ended up paying to the IVA would have been completely unrealistic, although it seemed reasonable at the time....probably because I was that desperate to find a way out.

Anyway, I eventually decided that Bankruptcy was the best thing to do and boy oh boy am I pleased that is what I did!!

I'm now 10 months in and, to date, have paid nothing back to any creditors since the bankruptcy hearing. The process was simple enough:

1. Go to your local court and pick up the necessary form(s)
2. Arrange a date/time with the court to go back to hand over your completed forms (when I did this, I waited 20 mins then was taken to see a magistrate who took 2 mins to review the situation, and signed the bankruptcy order). It was as easy as that!

From that point on, no more payments have been made to creditors, and any calls/letters I received I was able to tell them that I now had a bankruptcy case. They noted the case number and the calls stopped coming. It was fantastic.

I did have to visit the Insolvency Practioner assigned to my case to go through the details of the creditors so that they could write to them etc. Other than that, the only "battle" I've had is with KPMG who are now trustees of my estate. They wanted me to agree to an "Attachment of Earnings". This aims to look at your income and expenditure and to agree a surplus amount that can be paid back to creditors. This looked like it was going to be in place in November, but every month since I have been able to argue that I cannot afford the payment, and argued that the amount they suggested was unaffordable.

We have sold our house now which meant that my partner could take 50% of the equity (approx £10k), but we were given the opportunity for my partner to buy out my share of the house, which would have allowed us to keep it. We have never had a visit from bailifs or the insolvency practitioner, although we did fear this for sometime before and after the bankruptcy was granted. Consequently, we have not had any posessions taken away for sale. They would have been interested in a car if we'd had an expensive one that we actually owned, or if we had some expensive artworks etc. In reality, posessions have very little second-hand value so there is little point in them trying to realise any money that way.

My experience of bankruptcy has left me debt free and stress free and I would urge anyone with debt problems to consider it as an option. Certainly consider it if you are thinking of an IVA.

Take charge of your situation - you will feel so much better for it. As I've been a "good boy" since March 07, I should be discharged from Bankruptcy in March 08.

Good luck - let me know if you have questions.

PabloDiablo:j

maxmycardagain

you are my inspiration........

lucielle

If you don't mind me asking, how much were you in debt for? You don't have to answer.

PabloDiablo

Hi Lucielle,

I don't mind at all. It feels better to talk about it!!

My business had gone bust and I owed £132k on loans, credit cards etc...money I'd used to try to keep the business going

lucielle

We are 57k in the red and looking at a DMP.

G-G_4

Good post.. i'm glad i'm not the only one that never wants to pay anything back to the creditors! Good for you!

I'm glad it went ok for you.

I have just gone bankrupt for 50k, business failure, living beyond my means etc, the usual story really. Can't wait for automatic release in early December, that will be my xmas present.. lol

henkent

After you are dischargd from Bankruptcy what happens? Can you get mortgages etc? I am in about £100k of debt on loans and cc's with a high income but really starting to struggle so I'm looking at my options. I want to be debt free in 2008!!

ClaireLR

I think you can get mortgages but at a higher interest rate

Have you spoken to any of the debt charities, CCCS, payplan, national debtline etc??

henkent

Not yet no. Trying to get all info together.

tigerfeet2006

If you chat to one of the debt charities they will take you through all your options.

If you look at the National Debtline site there is a good basic guide to BR.

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=01_bankruptcy

NekoZombie

Hi Pablo!

At exactly the same time last year (i.e. March 2007) I too made the decision to go BR instead of pursuing an IVA. At the time it was a difficult decision, but I (like you) just couldn't see the long term sense of an IVA. Just wanted to say congratulations on making it this far: the end of the road is in sight!