23K 'wiped-off' in 6 months...drastic but quick way to get rid of debt

CTT_2

klare wrote:

well i have to say that i think you did the right thing.. and if it means her not having to worry herself to the point of illlness for the next how ever many years then i would too have take the same choice, if it wasnt for the fact that i am tied up in a mess mainly due to my OH and the fact that i am desperately fighting to keep a roof over mine and my childrens heads then i too would have got down this route... and for all those people who are on their moral high ground over this unless you can look at your own lives and find them faultless i dont think you have the right to critise other peoples actions... so long as you can answer to your own when you get into your bed at the end of the night then thats all you should be concerned about...
( okay will get off second hand soap box bought on ebay for a bargain!)

I have every sympathy for people whose not fault of there own get into financial difficulities. What I have no time for is when some with a take home pay of £750 and gets into debt to the tune of £25k. Moral ground or not am I missing something here.....

thaylock

holidayguru wrote:

why be a martyr & spend years scrimping/saving, worrying

mmmm, not having a go but that's the price people have to pay for being irresponsible. My 73 year old mum is on a measly pension & has run up £8000 of debt across 15 accounts (do I blame the banks for lending her the money - NO), guess what, it is going to take her 8 years to pay off - I have written to all credit companies on her behalf to accept pro-rata payments, your g/f is much younger, probably in a position to earn better income or even get a second job & third job (yes, work harder - whatever it takes to meet your obligations), & you take the easy option. Going bankrupt/IVA is not an option.

itsbeef

Not sure about others but I'm stuck as to which side to take on this one...

I see it like this...........

If someone accumulates debts through forced matters such as:

Looking after family
Taking on family home after seperation
Businees partners doing a runner etc etc

I can understand going through the bankruptcy system to clear debts.

However if these debts are accumulated through:

Over the top lifestyle
Luxuries
Inappropriate investments
Pure & Simple poor financial management

then paying the debt off is the only honest way of facing up to the responsibility of it.

Surely there is a knock on effect with the increrasing number of people going bankrupt?

Are innocent people paying the price for all these debts??

CTT_2

Yes it is the honest and innocent ones that pay the price for the irresponsible ones who gone a spending spree and then go bankrupt.
Oh well as one poster said if its helps you sleep at night go bankrupt.

donnalove

we got into debt to the sum of 37k, this was through mainly me suffering deppression(still am).i have not been able to work for 10 years and prospects don't look good(have other medical probs)
we are just going for settlement of iva after 41/2 years of struggling we are now going to have to live with the consequences for another 20 years. we have a two bed house with 3 children sharing a 12x12 bedroom no space in the house to escape, nowhere to sit quietly and do homework. eldest (12) really needs own space because she is dyslexic, youngest(8) has mental dissabillities it is very stressful to cope with and i am on verge of breakdown.
when we started iva our equity was 6k, now it is over 60k of which we can raise 40k and believe me the creditors will want it all. which means we can not move house, we can not improve situation and we will only be £75 a month better off.

if i was to look back then i think bankrupcty would have definately been a better option and i now wish we had.

pug_in_a_bed

Its really interesting to see people's reactions here.

Regardless, people who may 'gone on a spending spree' do not go unpunished. Such individuals may recieve an extended bankruptcy order, for example, as its very easy for the judge and OR to recognise where spending has been wreckless. I have mentioned a mutual friend on these boards who declared about 3 months ago. His spending was classed as wreckless, ignoring the problems - and yes, he was funding an extravagant lifestyle which had underlying issues in itself.

He was given a 2 to 3 year bankruptcy order, instead of the year (or less) the majority receive now.

Bankrupts do not escape punishment, its there for 6 years, and could affect credit in the long run after that, there's the stigma of feeling you have failed and so on - things like buying a car, or a house may be affected. My personal bug bear at the moment is that I cannot even open a simple instant access savings account.

From my own experience, particularly as the OP's GF was discharged after a mere six months, suggests her case was very simple and straight forward - this would indicate there was nothing amiss in the way debt had been accrued (OP - not suggesting anything like that - just making a point about your GF'S situ as we can see it).

I can see how it would make people angry to think about this situation, but I think the vast majority of people do take it very seriously and i hope its a minority who abuse the system.

OP - have PM'd you.

holidayguru

Ok......I knew the 'moral high ground' people would slate me for this.

It's all a PERSONAL CHOICE. This was the advice given-this is what she did.

The law has been changed on insolvency. Check it out.

As I said-it's her choice & I thought it would be of interest. I'm not a debt counsellor but have learnt the following..If you have no assets, & you can't afford your debt repayments...do not own a property with loads of equity & have no reasonable chance of clearing your debts within 10 years & your debt repayments blatently are higher than your earnings- then this is an option (at the individuals choice of course). Even if you have a house you can get a friend/relative to buy the 'beneficial interest' & protext your home (you do this prior to the bankruptcy being made.

If you fit the above category & can relieve yourself of the debts, worry, stress, rather than go on for years & years negotiating, haggling, full & final offers then WHY NOT??!

It's up to the individual . The morals are not what this thread/forum is about. It's about making people aware of their options & personal attacks about what shed did do not help. She's young & daft & has paid the price.

As Saskia from big brother would say.....END OF!!!!

orthopod

I wonder who funded the OP's holiday. I really have a great interest in knowing how that 24K debt was spent. Now that the OP's GF (who came here from somewhere else) has tasted the easy route to easy money what is stopping her from starting this all over again and enjoying holidays and declaring bankruptcy ? I work hard and try to pay all my bills etc and cannot afford a holiday for years now. Its ridiculous.

CTT_2

The truth is she was acting dishonestly knowing she could not possibly repay her debts. As you say she is young and daft but obviously not too daft on knowing how to amass such credit in the first place.

No doubt in 6 years she will go on another spending spree and as you say bankruptsey does not have the sigma anymore.

newfunk

CTT wrote:

Yes it is the honest and innocent ones that pay the price for the irresponsible ones who gone a spending spree and then go bankrupt.
Oh well as one poster said if its helps you sleep at night go bankrupt.

So can I take it that You assume, that I went on a spending spree and then went bankrupt? Cuz if u are assuming everyone does thatm then u are very very narrow minded!!

I had the guts to go to the bank, and borrow £250,000 to buy a business, nobody helped me, i did this off my own back, I put everything I had up for it!
I had 2 kids of school age, and did it as I believed I could give them a helping hand in their future, which most parents want to be able to do.

After 3 years, My wife went off with a mate of mine, just walked out of the business, was supposed to be paying bills, when all she did was mark them paid, when they had'nt been paid....She threatened to kill me in front of the kids, by this time we had another one! She put a knife to my throat. I moved out of MY home, which I paid for, with MY money! Had to move back to my parents....

She then went bankrupt for £14k..leaving me with every single debt to pay..I had a nervous breakdown, anti depressants and attempted suicide!! I had at the time debts totalling £350,000 My house was sold, and the business premises. Barclays wrote off 70k....I treid my best to get everyone to take an offer of payment, at which time I was not working!! I had no option but bankruptcy> I didnt want to, I held out for ages in the hope I could get them to see sense, but they just didnt listen.....

So I suggest You do not tar everyone with the same brush, there aint a day goes by that I dont wish things had been different. But at least I had the guts to try, to try and make a better future for me and my kids....How many actually try???

But hey some of you are so damn perfect aint ya!!