OR interview today and a new life begun

LesleyL_2

hi all, daily reporting is becoming an addiction :rotfl: for me anyway, when you see how long this is you will wish you hadnt clicked the thread lol

so, the dreaded OR phone interview today :eek: Ipswich OR

As with my whole process, the person I spoke to was very kind and considerate
I am self employed so he initially asked a few questions to be sure he didnt have to pass the file on to someone with deeper business experience to cover my somewhat complicated situation

when he was happy he was "the man" he told me to go and make a cuppa, get my papers together and he would phone back in 10 minutes

he spent the first few minutes explaining what we would talk about and what his job in this whole process was, making sure I understood he wouldnt be at all judgmental and wasnt looking to give me a good telling off, merely to discover the events leading to my BR decision.

Then he went through each page of my SOA.
He first asked for a brief explanation of why I thought I could not pay my creditors and how the situation arose. Brief ? :eek: I tried lol

But he seemed happy that I had thought through what had led up to the problem. It was essentially what I had put in the "reasons" section of the form but padded out a little with the emotional and personal details that contributed.

Then he moved on to my business situation, asking about the amount of income, work i had, what I was doing now, that sort of thing.

Then on to the list of creditors. We talked about why my IVA had failed and what I had tried to do to get it back on track and why I thought those things had not worked.

All the time he was reassuring and affirming he wasnt asking in order to make a judgment, simply so he could get a picture in his head of the past few years and how it all fitted together, work, credit, family, methods of repairing the problem.

After the credit we talked about whether an IPA would be appropriate (its not) and whether he would take my car (he wont) and he asked me to confirm any assets I had which were not detailed on the forms (none)

He confirmed he would close my bank account and tell my landlord (see notes below)

Then he explained the process for the next 12 months, explained about AD and ED, told me to expect the booklets and forms for declaring any upcoming changes.

My debt is very high although all now over 2 years old so he is deciding whether to look back into the pre IVA credit card statements for what I spent the money on. Most debts apparently over 2 years they would not have looked too deeply into had the overall debt not been so high so I Wait to see whether there may be a few more questions if they decide to do that

And that was more or less it
He left me saying good luck etc and I could go and put my feet up now and not worry any more I answered it with, well for a few days til you come back with all those other questions lol and his final words....will help you all....
he said, we are only looking for reasons of your situation and to ensure no fraud has taken place and nothing we can look at or ask you will compare to what you have been through in the past couple of years so I shouldnt worry.

so guys, once again - dont dread the OR, they are human, mine was exceptionally nice and I am sure most are as they are dealing with real human troubles so nothing you are going through or have been through will be new news to them and they will understand that life has difficulties we sometimes cant get over


LANDLORD
I asked if he would NOT tell the landlord and he replied that the OR is now obligated to tell. I dont know if this has changed as I see many threads here saying its discretionary but he says def not, he MUST tell even tho I have a statement from the landlord confirming no arrears and a copy of the rental agreement to pass to the OR tomorrow.

NATIONWIDE
we know from the many posts that Nationwide dont open accounts for BR but Ive banked with them a while and went in yesterday to ask if I could set up a new account based on my history with them
Was told, if the OR doesnt have an interest AND DOESNT INFORM THEM, that they would keep the account open but if the OR tells them of the BR, they will automatically close the account.
He is going to close my savings account that has nothing in it lol but was happy to leave the other one open - has £2 in it but in doing that closure, I will lose both.........
so if you only have one with Nationwide, worth asking your OR if it can be left open, Nationwide dont care about the BR as long as they dont know lol

CREDIT CARDS
OR specifially told me something valuable
I used my cards in the last 4 months they were live to pay off each other as I had no new money coming in so I was a good recycler he says this is misconduct and is considered serious
As mine was for small amounts I am hoping the wont take that further but this is the basis on which he is going to look back further than the 2 years. If I hadnt done that, I dont think he would be investigating further, so please take that on board

Good luck to anyone still with their interview ahead
best wishes
Lesley

Scarlett.1974

Hi Lesley,

Thanks for going to to trouble of posting your account of your interview.

That was quick though wasn't it? Didn't you only go BR yesterday? I've never known of anyone have their interview so soon :eek:

Some really useful information there. I admit though, the bit about your LL made my heart sink, I was really hoping I could convince the OR not to tell

Can I ask, if you don't mind, when was the last time you used your credit cards then? That bit worries me a little too

betterlatethannever

Hi Lesley.
Well, i'm glad thats over for you, but it sounds like you may have had a 'new to the job' OR, or a bit of a jobsworth.
It would be intresting to hear what A2C says, lots of people havn't had their LL told about BR.

I still wish the OR's would be more consistant. It makes it very hard to give advice on this site

Scarlett.1974

betterlatethannever wrote: »

Hi Lesley.
Well, i'm glad thats over for you, but it sounds like you may have had a 'new to the job' OR, or a bit of a jobsworth.
It would be intresting to hear what A2C says, lots of people havn't had their LL told about BR.

I still wish the OR's would be more consistant. It makes it very hard to give advice on this site

Me too bltn, it can be really frustrating can't it? I think they should have a list of rules actually, as in:

In x situation 'this' will happen.
In y situation 'this' will happen.
etc etc etc....

In fact, maybe I'll suggest it when I go to court..... or during my interview. What do you think?!

fermi

Wow, that was quick for that to be over with.

That's a very useful post for others.

You're OR is right. Officially they should ALWAYS contact the landlord. But it seems than some OR's will 'unofficially' bend that rule.

Also, lots of people do a bit of 'credit card juggling' before the end, and your OR's comments are a bit sterner that most I've heard I think.

I get the impression that while your examiner was very nice, they are also a big fan of doing everything 'by the book'.

EDIT: And as BTLN says, they may also be relatively new.

wobblebottom

Cor Blimey- that was quick, Bet your glad it was over so soon? anyway it's done, you can relax a little more now,I sincerely hope that everything goes ok for you now and you can continue on with your DF life and start over..all the best Lesley

betterlatethannever

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

In fact, maybe I'll suggest it when I go to court..... or during my interview. What do you think?!

Probably best not :rotfl: maybe leave it for another day..or an anonoymous letter at some point:cool:

Scarlett.1974

betterlatethannever wrote: »

Probably best not :rotfl: maybe leave it for another day..or an anonoymous letter at some point:cool:

Don't you think?

How about at the end, when (I assume?) the OR may ask "do you have any questions?", to which I could reply "no thanks, but I DO have some suggestions......"

Vici

Fantastic news, and very quick. Maybe if I can get my forms done with the CAB and get myself booked in at Ipswich, mine will be as quick

Richard_S

Hi Lesley,

:T :T That was a superb account of an O.R's interview.:T :T

At the end of our interview, which was in the O.R's office, and almost 5 hours long, the guy said that there were several areas that he wasn't happy with (only several :eek: :eek: ) and that we'd need to be interviewed again by a specialist investigator; oh joy, oh unmitigated joy.:rolleyes: Needless to say, we never heard another thing, so I wouldn't be suprised if you don't either.

As fermi said, a lot of people, if not most, are using their cards almost up to being declared bankrupt, even to the extent of withdrawing cash for the fees, and nothing is ever made of that.:D

What a difference a few days makes. :kisses3:

All the best for the future, and whenever you're not busy, there's always people on here who'll benefit from your advice and experience.

Best regards

Richard

LesleyL_2

thanks for all your lovely messages once again

I didnt realise it was quick to get my interview I have been most fortunate all the way through. Maybe living in sunny Suffolk is the reason, more sheep than people in this neck of the woods :rotfl:

Scarlett, re the LL - as others have said and threads I have been reading for ages, it must be discretionary so dont panic over that. There are def people on here who have had that request granted so you are more likely than not to be ok. Also imho dont mention the OR inconsistency, it may encourage him to get the "book" out and see what he isnt doing that he should be :eek:
you dont want him to find those little known regulations to impress his boss!
Give it a month or so and maybe apply for a job - think of all the experience you could put on your CV :rotfl:

Vici, I am sure you will be as fortunate. He really coulndt have been more helpful or less scary whilst making sure I had all the facts. PM me if you need any more info

Rich my friend I couldnt believe 5 hours :eek: mine was 90 minutes and that was bad enough. Im not worried now about any follow up. Now that I have realised the only teeth they have is a BRO for 15 years, I cant get worked up to be honest there are other things to worry about in life than whether I will be eligible for credit in the next 15 yeras and as most of us never want to go there again, its really not an issue for me.

Richard_S : What a difference a few days makes. :kisses3:

I know :rotfl: who WAS that crumbling wreck talking to you in PMs over the weekend :rolleyes: and I do hope to stick around a while to give hugs and support and bore everyone with my tales of the exciting life possible after BR and God forbid even before discharge :rotfl: Already have an interview for tomorrow and great plans for the fresh start

I am sad I cant telepathically transfer how good I feel today to all those with this in front of them. I think the biggest thing Ive learned through the process is something my Mum used to say "this too will pass" and it sure does

Lesley
xx