Urgent Guidance Please

britcan

Morning,

I have just been declared bankrupt.

I and my wife each have state pension as only income. I also have a small military pension of £222 per month. I had a call from the OR office going through my expense sheet and in the end she said that there was about £239 surplus so would like to set in place IPA for the next 3 years. Is this correct? I noted on .gov that if only source of income is state pension then no IPA should be sought. Has she done this because I have a military pension?

Also do they take into account that things like water and gas and electric cost are not set in stone each month.

To be honest I doubt I will out live the IPA due to serious heart condition as well as cancer.

I have been in a panic since the call yesterday.

thanks.

Ayr_Rage

Why do you think that your state pension is your only income when you have another pension?

sourcrates

Ideally you should have double checked your budget prior to the call, to make certain you were not showing a surplus, its up to you to tell them what your spend is, and to allow for prices going up, it seems you didn`t do that.

They simply work on the figures they are given, its not their job to budget for you.

You should get back in touch, and quickly, to update the figures if you think they were wrong.

Grumpelstiltskin

If you have a military pension did you not think to approach one of the military charities to see if they could advise you before the bankruptcy?

prettyandfluffy

Just an observation: if your military pension is paid every 4 weeks, that approximates to £240 per calendar month which may be where the £239 figure comes from.  In other words, they may be saying that you have that much income in addition to your state pension.

ManyWays

Official receivers are usually reasonable, they are unlikely to want to squeeze every last penny from a pensioner with health problems, but at the moment, all they have to go on are the numbers you told them.

Because of your health condition, the figures allowed for heating should be generous; you may have tried to keep it low this last winter because of your financial problems, but the amount on your budget now should be what you need to keep warm.

And there should also be enough costs allowed for transport to hospital and a healthy diet. If you put the figures you gave the Insolvency Service on your bankruptcy form into here https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php then we might be able to suggest other areas where what you put in was too tight. 

You should also look at whether you qualify for Attendance Allowance. 

Or talk to the RBL, who have a great money team and will help you with liaising with the OR and benefit applications. https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-support/how-we-help/financial-support/benefits-debt-money-advice-service

Grumpelstiltskin

Looking back this has been going on a long time.

Health,Debts and DRO or Bankruptcy — MoneySavingExpert Forum