Been advised to go bankrupt

JCH

I feel I have nearly made my decision to go bankrupt! After much research it does seem like the best option for me.

However, I have a couple of last questions...mainly practical ones, if anyone has any thoughts it would be appreciated.

1) When you are declared bankrupt, what is the process with your bank account - do you have to stop any activity with it then and there? What happens if Direct Debits are due to go out the next day or whatever? And what happens if you are made bankrupt at the beggining of the month after just being paid...all that money would be siezed wouldn't it, making it hard to survive until next pay day! I am also concerned about making sure all my bills are paid as I don't want to miss a payment to a Utility company etc.
2) How often is a personal bankruptcy petition rejected? I have horrible visions of the judge telling me I wasn't in enough debt or it was my own
stupid fault...or I shouldn't have gone to Uni when I had existing debts etc
3) What is the exact order to do things in? I had the court send me my papers the other day in case I made the decision to go BR. Do I complete the forms and then send them at which point they give me a court date, or do I call them and arrange a date then complete the forms? Also, once a date has been set - I presume the people I owe money to can still do whatever they want until I am declared bankrupt...I.E send a Baliff round or whatever?

Think thats the lot! So much to think about...but feel relief at actually tackling it.

Nothing like the cliche of New Year to make you sort your life out

betterlatethannever

JCH wrote: »

I feel I have nearly made my decision to go bankrupt! After much research it does seem like the best option for me.

However, I have a couple of last questions...mainly practical ones, if anyone has any thoughts it would be appreciated.

1) When you are declared bankrupt, what is the process with your bank account - do you have to stop any activity with it then and there? What happens if Direct Debits are due to go out the next day or whatever? And what happens if you are made bankrupt at the beggining of the month after just being paid...all that money would be siezed wouldn't it, making it hard to survive until next pay day! I am also concerned about making sure all my bills are paid as I don't want to miss a payment to a Utility company etc. Always a tough one. Personally i had my wages paid into my daughters account(do you have a friend/family member who will let you use their account?) I cancelled ALL DD's and went back to old fashioned way of cash over the counter till i had my new account up and running. If this is a problem with the likes of LL's then tell them your switching banks (which is true) and to ensure they get the payment due you'll be cancelling your DD for one month only to them) The money you have in your account isn't actually seized, but frozen, one call to the Or explaining that the money is needed for essential living expenses gets the account unfrozen and allows you to empty your account. This may then be closed by the bank-and usually is, unless you have a basic barclays/co-op account.
2) How often is a personal bankruptcy petition rejected? I have horrible visions of the judge telling me I wasn't in enough debt or it was my own
stupid fault...or I shouldn't have gone to Uni when I had existing debts etc highly unlikely, the whole point of BR is to help people like you, so there unlikely to refuse.
3) What is the exact order to do things in? I had the court send me my papers the other day in case I made the decision to go BR. Do I complete the forms and then send them at which point they give me a court date, or do I call them and arrange a date then complete the forms? Also, once a date has been set - I presume the people I owe money to can still do whatever they want until I am declared bankrupt...I.E send a Baliff round or whatever?
Get the forms and ask for a date at the same time, but allow yourself time to complete the forms, it can be a lengthy process taking about a full day. Baliffs are highly unlikely to call, and if they do, don't let them in. The companies will just bombared you with calls and letters. Baliffs really do not come knocking at your day 2 weeks after a missed payment! - i missed 7 and never even had a threat of a baliff...
Think thats the lot! So much to think about...but feel relief at actually tackling it.

Nothing like the cliche of New Year to make you sort your life out

I hope that helps you a little, anymore questions, please ask away

tigerfeet2006

I second what BLTN says. Though you can empty your account of any money left in it before you go BR. You need living expenses until your new account is open.

Ref. savings if I remember rightly most won't open you an account. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

You could always open a savings account with a credit union. Google credit union and your county/town.

JCH

Blimey...started to complete the online form today so I can get a court date and get everything moving!

Generally, its fairly straight forward, but a few things I would like to check if anyone can help?

1) It asks for the dates for things that seem hard to answer! E.G when you are listing your creditors and it asks for a date incurred, for an overdraft of credit card...what are you supposed to put for this? Likewise, with bank accounts and cards, it asks when they were obtained...if you don't know (in some cases accounts were originally opened years and years ago) can it be left blank, or should you guess a date?
2) The expenditure section is a bit troublesome! When it asks for monthly outgoings...do I put the household total, i.e the amount me and my other half spend on these. Or do I put my share only down? We hold no joint accounts etc and split bills half and half, but I am not sure if I should only list what my expenditure is per month...especially as there is another question where I list my girlfriend as living in the same property and it asks what she conributes to household expenses.

Any ideas???

tigerfeet2006

Just put a ball park date as far as you remember with a question mark.

I would put the full amount down as you say it asks what she contributes.

JCH

Following on from my last post, I think I have calculated my expenditure and thought I would pop it up here in case anyone had any comments about obvious errors I may have made!

MONTHLY OUTGOINGS:

Rent - £605 (My share £302.50)
Council Tax - £75 (partner exempt so I pay all of this)
Electric - £24.50 (my share £12.25)
Gas - £30 (my share £15)
Water - £45 (my share £22.50)
Landline phone - £49 (my share £24.50)
Housekeeping - £300 (my share £150)
Travel/Petrol - £40 (my costs only)
TV Licence - £11.76 (My share £5.88)
Pension conts - £20 (my cost only)
Car maintainance/tax/insurace/mot etc - £50 (my costs only)
Mobile phone - £15 (my cost only)
Dog - £30 (My share £15)
Repair/Maint - £30 (My share £15)
Haircuts - £7 (my cost only)
Birthdays/Xmas - £20 (my cost only)
Holiday savings etc - £20 (my cost only)
Dry cleaning - £10 (my cost only)
Clothing - £20 (my cost only)
Contingency amount - £20 (my cost only)

Total for household - £1,125.26
Total for my share - £859.88
Total for partners contribution - £562.88

This is how I was going to present in on the forms. I will give the total cost for joint expenditure like rent and then just my expenditure for things that are just my responsibility like pension conts, mobile phone etc. This will show that the monthly outgoings are £1,125.26 take away my partners contribution for her share of them leaves me having to find £859.88. My income is £947.90 which leaves me with £88.02 after monthly outgoings.

Any thoughts on this...does it look ok? I am still also confused about how to enter it on the forms as to me, it makes more sense to only put my share of the bills etc and not put anything in for how much my partner contributes to things as we have no shared bank accounts etc and split joint costs 50/50.

Thanks....and happy Monday morning by the way

fiveyearplan

Hi JCH, it looks good to me but I would change contingency to personal expenses. If it was my SOA I think I would like to 'find' a few more expenses in case the OR doesn't allow something - you've got £88 surplus at the moment so are sailing very close to an IPA if the smallest thing wasn't allowed. This, of course, is my opinion only. There will be others with more experience in this area to comment. Also, I think you round things up ie tv licence becomes £6.00 - that will make a very slight difference.

fiveyearplan

What about prescriptions, dental, opticians?

tigerfeet2006

Do you use the computer for work or study?

JCH

Thanks for the replies.

So do they not like the word contingency? What are personal expenses meant to cover...just things that crop up you can't plan for?

Good advice about being a bit close to the 100 mark...I will have a look at some of the figures again.

As for prescriptions, dental and opticians...none really apply. Although I haven't been to the dentist in a decade! (partly due to money) so perhaps I should allow something for that.

I use my computer for a mixture of things really - I had it when I was studying but that has now finished. I don't work from home but I do do research etc for work at home. Other than that it is for personal use mainly. Although I am a trained photographer (but that isn't my profession) so I need it to create a website to try and get some freelance work. Why do you ask? Do I have to declare my computer as an assett? I wasn't sure how that bit worked on the form and if I had to declare anything or only things worth a decent amount!