a bit of advice please....

december

Hi,
I currently owe £24,000 and have been making token payments of £1 a month for the past 9 months. I'm thinking of going bankrupt as I can't stand the persistent letters and debt collectors visiting and to be honest I can't see us being able to pay the debt off anytime soon. My concern (apart from the stress of going bankrupt) is that I will end up with a BRU. I ended up in this much debt through student living (not down the pub every night but on my year abroad being paid £300 a month to cover all outgoings), my partner being unemployed, finding work and then being made redundant and finally him having a suspected stroke and being unable to work as he was housebound and unwell. (This happened last April) I had kept up to date with all payments until this happened but with not enough money to spend on day to day living I ended up with a monthly deficit. I'm really worried that I will end up with a BRU as I honestly can't remember what I have spent the money on. The debt was accumulated over the last 5 years and I'm so worried that when the OR asks what the money was spent on I won't be able to tell them. In addition to this my grandmother passed away a couple of months ago and I'm really getting stressed out about everything.

I'm sorry this is so long but I'm really at the end of my tether. Any advice would be welcomed and thank you for reading

Thanks

December

tigerfeet2006

Just seems like most bankruptcies to me. You will find a lot of people have got to this point through similar reasons so don't panic.

You really need to contact one of the debt agencies though to go through your options with you. If they suggest bankruptcy then we can help and support you through it all.

Welcome to the board btw.

skylight

A BRU is nothing terrible really and tbh we cannot all remember what we spent the money on. I personally found that embarrassing during my OR interview - yet another credit card for household expenditure - I could not account for what I had spent. £24k gone on nothing (or so it seems)

Student loans are not included in BR at all, so it depends on any of those that you have and the percentage of that debt if it is in your interests to go BR.

I hope that things are getting better after your Nan passed away - that can be devastating and you had a lot on your plate with OH already.

Have you spoken to CCCS or Payplan yet? The judge will ask if you have received professional advice during your court date. They will advise the best course of action for you. Have you had many debt collectors visiting then?? Well, one is more than enough!

And keep posting away - one of the ideas of this forum is to ask, ask and ask again until you feel comfortable with your decision.

december

Hi again,
Thanks for the advice and the welcome ) I have had a lot of contact since last May with the Teacher Support Network who have a CAB trained advisor as have Debt Free Direct (though the advisor there falsified the figures on the income and expenditure sheet, including my rent, to make sure there was spare money for creditors, even though there was a deficit :rolleyes: ).

The TSN advisor has advised me that my best course of action would be to go bankrupt but since last May I have been thinking about it and trying to reach another conclusion. I've finally decided that enough is enough to be honest. I know that my student loan won't be included (I do a fair bit of lurking on the board in all honesty ) and have also done a fair bit of research.) (though it would be nice if my student loan was included as it's about another £20,000 eek!)

Thanks again,

December

So_Sad_Angel

december wrote: »

Hi,
I currently owe £24,000 and have been making token payments of £1 a month for the past 9 months. I'm thinking of going bankrupt as I can't stand the persistent letters and debt collectors visiting and to be honest I can't see us being able to pay the debt off anytime soon. My concern (apart from the stress of going bankrupt) is that I will end up with a BRU. I ended up in this much debt through student living (not down the pub every night but on my year abroad being paid £300 a month to cover all outgoings), my partner being unemployed, finding work and then being made redundant and finally him having a suspected stroke and being unable to work as he was housebound and unwell. (This happened last April) I had kept up to date with all payments until this happened but with not enough money to spend on day to day living I ended up with a monthly deficit. I'm really worried that I will end up with a BRU as I honestly can't remember what I have spent the money on. The debt was accumulated over the last 5 years and I'm so worried that when the OR asks what the money was spent on I won't be able to tell them. In addition to this my grandmother passed away a couple of months ago and I'm really getting stressed out about everything.

I'm sorry this is so long but I'm really at the end of my tether. Any advice would be welcomed and thank you for reading

Thanks

December

Hi December,

Welcome & well done for posting your situation & sorry to hear about your gran. It takes guts to be honest with yourself let alone share will others. Lurking is good as allows you to see that others are in same boat & worry just as much as you are at the moment.

I agree with Skylight here & suggest 2nd opinion from the debt charites such as CCCS (you will need to make appt first). You have had some advice already so you can ask relevant questions. Or do their Debt Remedy online before you call.

I am still deciding also & currently having to deal with the creditor calls etc but take as long as you need...the decision has to be the right one. The OR will need you to evidence that you have taken advice so research is good & will help your case.

Keep in touch, Angelx

skylight

Debt Free Direct!! ARGH!! NO RUN AWAY!!!

Glad you can make use of the CAB and the Teacher Support Network look after their guys! (And Gals) At least with the student loans you dont pay until you reach a certain income (is my understanding, not having had one!)

fermi

skylight wrote: »

Debt Free Direct!! ARGH!! NO RUN AWAY!!!

Couldn't agree more. :eek::eek::eek:

The only thing DFD care about is how high they can get their own fee's and profits!

As the others have said, go to CCCS or the other free advice services that are in some of our signatures.

december

I did make a complaint about DFD to a team leader but I'm sure it wasn't noted. They reduced every figure I gave them by about 20% and then the team leader wanted to make sure I wanted to have everything administered by them....erm no :rolleyes:

December

So_Sad_Angel

december wrote: »

I did make a complaint about DFD to a team leader but I'm sure it wasn't noted. They reduced every figure I gave them by about 20% and then the team leader wanted to make sure I wanted to have everything administered by them....erm no :rolleyes:

December

Great for standing your ground..this is why you & you alone need to be informed & make the right decision. It is easy to be swayed into making wrong choice by profit making organisations.

Does anyone know if these companies are regulated? Does the FSA have any involvement in insolvency?

Angel

fermi

So_Sad_Angel wrote: »

Does anyone know if these companies are regulated? Does the FSA have any involvement in insolvency?

Not the FSA I think.

They will need a valid "Consumer Credit License" which are overseen by the Office of Fair Trading.

The individual Insolvency Practitioners (IP's) that work for the company will also need to authorised/licensed by one of the seven professional bodies that are allow to do so. So there is another avenue of complaint there if it involves the conduct of the IP themselves.

But in this case, it would have just been one of the advisers (or more accurately, sales people :rolleyes:).