| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| rv02 |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 12:06:33
Hi All
I am new to this forum and will try to explain my situation:
Myself and my wife are thinking of declaring bankrupcy as my outgoings are much more than my income. We have one child aged 2 1/2.
I have seeked advise and the company I approacged is really putting pressure on me to go the BR route. He keeps phoning me up even on Sundays. He is going to charge me about 8k to do all the procedures for me. Is this normal?
Also I am really worried and stressed as to whether BR is the right move for me.I really dont know what to do. I have asked for 2 months payment holiday on my mortgage to have time to think about this.
I do need some advise reageding my home and other stuff:
Currently our house is worth in the region of 230-240k and we are in negetive equity.
We have a mortgage of 262k and a secure loan of 80k. We also have in the region of 55k unsecired loans and credit cards debts. This is all as a result of my wife being on maternity leave (unpaid) for a long while and obviously cost of the having a new child.
I have read in this forum that ther is a possibility we may be able to stay in the house if we declare BR for a period of one year until we found a suitable accomodation. is this true. Also m not clear about what it means by some one can buy the house for £1 plus fees.
Another question is we are currently paying £1005 nursery fees per month , will we need to stop this if we declare BR?
Between us we eran about 4400 per month take home.
There are loads more question that I need to ask but we can do that later.
Any help or advise will be much appreciated as the stress of debts are taking their toll on me and my wife
Thanks in advance
|
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Helen030166 |
Posted - 02 August 2008 : 17:18:50
Hi we have just declared ourselves bankrupt and the company that helped us charged us £250!!! (thats for the both of us)they do my partners accounts as he is self employed so we needed help in that department for the BR forms, having said that they were only able to put down what information we gave them and we had to sign a declaration to the fact that they held no responsibility for anything that was incorrect on the final draft as we had to do a draft copy first and alter anything that needed it. However, they were very helpful, gave us lots of advice and we were able to phone them anytime if we werent sure of anything, so i felt it was worth the money! £8K seems an awful lot of money to me!!!
Thanks for your Help,Helen x |
| Helpful Advice |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 22:41:50
Evening All,
Coming at this from a Bankruptcy Specialist point of view there are many pitfalls with declaring ones Bankruptcy and although the OR & Trustee can be very helpful do not loose sight of the fact they are licensed to work in the creditors best interests not yours!!!
That being said £8000 seems high, but I guess it would depend on the intricacies of your case weighed against the potential savings.
There are many and varied rules and regulations with insolvency a great deal of them aimed at the protection of the creditors therefore not widely publicized as the same rules can be reversed in favor of the Bankrupt.
It would be interesting to see a case study of two similar cases on the forum one paying for an assisted Bankruptcy and one handling the case themselves comparing both cases after discharge.
Kind Regards,
Brett England
Bankruptcy Specialist
England,Jackman & Spacey
WebSite www.ejands.co.uk
View my personal story & blogs at:
http://brettengland.blogs.bankruptcyhelp.org.uk/ |
| scared |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 20:06:32
Hi rv02 - I am not an expert but personally think that unless you have a complicated financial history, I wouldn't pay to go BR. Your situation sounds v similar to ours. My husband and I went BR last Thursday. The forms were simple to use and we did them on line on the Insolvency website. We got advice from this forum and the experts are really helpful. We are also in negative equity with a secured loan and high unsecured debt. As we cannot afford to pay the mortgage and secured loan any more, the house will be repossessed at some point and any shortfall will be included in BR. However, if you want to keep your house and can afford the payments, then there should be no problem with this.
We will hopefully find a property to rent from the small ads as they don't always do credit checks.
We have a twelve year old daughter. The only repercussion I can see our BR will have on her is an appreciation of where money comes from, which she didn't have before! We are looking forward to budgeting and living within our means.
Bankruptcy is not the easy option, but for some people it is the only option, as in our case (my husband took voluntary redundancy in December thinking he could just walk into a job, but unfortunately this was not to be). If my husband had found a job, we would have looked at an IVA at some point.
We have our interview with the OR next week and will keep everyone posted.
P.S. - I agree with the previous post about talking to someone re an IVA. Melanie Giles could help you with this. |
| rollercoaster |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 17:36:31
rv02. have you discussed the possibility of an IVA with anybody? |
| zoe |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 17:01:19
This is something that the OR and if appointed a trustee do after BR so there is no need for this company.
The forms itself are simple enough to do.
|
| rv02 |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:59:24
they have said they will take me through the whole process and also deal with any future communications with creditors if needed. Also I can phone them anytime if needed for advise.
I just want o make sure BR is the right way and toi find out whether it is as easy and troubled free as it was explained to me. I always belived that BR is the last resort as it will have bad consequences for my future. And also does this affect my baby when she grows up uin regards to any credirs or future employments etc etc. Sorry to ask silly questions:-) |
| zoe |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:34:43
RV02 have this company stated what you get for your £8000?? |
| rollercoaster |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:32:49
rv02. you only pay a percentage of disposable income to the receiver for 3 years (normally) For a peek at what those percentages are, have a look at 'skippys blog' (link on left hand side of page) |
| John |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:28:38
Hi
just one last comment regarding fees to professionals where appropriate, lets not forget, if the person considering paying the fee has the funds to do so, and eventually chooses not to, then the OR gets the money anyway.
Effectively, therefore, the fee to the professional has cost the person in BR nothing.
Assisting where I can. |
| rv02 |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:26:22
No the £1000 per month is for the one child (we only have 1).
The car is not on HP and we paid for it when we traded our Mercedes.
One thing I am unclear about is if they allocate reasonable expenditure for us after BR and the rest have to go back to the creditors for three years does that mean we will not have any spare money whatsoever for three years. |
| Suzanne |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:17:42
Hi
Nursery costs can be high and presumably £1000 per month is for 2 children? It is also very difficult to get good childcare, and this would be taken into consideration by the OR. They would look at whether it is excessive, and at the very worst ask you to pay any difference out of your surplus. But as childcare costs are necessary in order for your wife and you to work it should not be too much of an issue.
I know it must be difficult to anticipate losing your home of 11 years, but it is just bricks and mortar, a home is where ever your family are.
If your car is on HP and in negative equity, then the OR would disclaim it and you would come to an arrangement to continue to pay the HP company. If there is no HP and the car is worth £4K then a third party will be expected to pay the difference between what is allowable and what it is worth, which you could negotiate.
Suzanne Stocker
Bankruptcy Manager
Jones Giles Ltd
www.jonesgiles.co.uk
|
| John |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:07:32
That would depend entirely on the complexity of the case. If an individual had business interests, properties and other assets he wanted to protect as far as the law will allow, then in the right circumstances of course I would.
I have first hand knowledge of cases where fees higher than that have been paid. The alternative for the complete novice in Insolvency could easily result in custodial sentences if the individual is not aware of how to defend themselves properly.
Compared to trustee's fees such charges are often great value, but I reiterate, the fee must warrant the result.
This forum is a great tool, but if were in debt and had cash available to invest in professional support AND my circumstances required it, then I would go with the professional every time.
I should also add that Chapter 13 is very likely to become law in the UK as the Courts can't cope. It will then no longer be possible to declare yourself bankrupt. You will need to go through a fee charging company. Who will be responsible for the fee is not yet clear, certainly the Court will contribute but there may well be additional sums required from the debtor.
Assisting where I can. |
| BankruptC |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:02:05
Hi again rv02,
I'll post a new topic asking admin to exchange our email addresses. If you just add to it to say it's what you want, they should do it quickly for us.
I |
| rollercoaster |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:00:54
Hello Assist. I am sorry if i misled anyone, i was not saying 'do not use fee paying companies' just that £8k is alot of money for an assisted bankruptcy, in particular when rv02 seems to know very little about the procedure and the company are being somewhat pressurizing rather than helpful. I felt that rv02 would be better advised to seek helpful advice from one of the professionals on this site who come highly recommended in order to explore in depth the options available to him/her in this stressful time. sorry for any misunderstanding. Hope we haven't scared you off rv02. Please keep posting. |
| rv02 |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:00:51
Just to add that I don't mind at all paying as I am very inexperienced in this and Im sure there are legal things that a more experience person will be able to handle also they have said they will take me through th ewhole process and they deal with all possible communications form everyone. I just wanted to see whther others have gone through this route or not. It is just that the person made it look very easy to me as if why havnet I done this years ago, and logically I find it hard to believe if it was so easy and end result is so fantastic why more and more people do not do this. I always thought BR is an absolutely final straw ...or am i just dont know about this |
