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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jayne h |
Posted - 21 August 2008 : 09:28:47
Good Morning Everyone,
Finding this forum has been a blessing. After many years of being in debt and, like many other people on here, using credit cards and loans to exist, my husband and I have made the difficult decision to go bankrupt. We wanted to go down the IVA route as we did not want to run away completely from paying what we owe but did not have enough disposable income to do this realistically (advice taken from an IP regarding this).
We have a caravan which is two years old which obviously will be an asset which will be taken by the OR and we also have a 4 x 4 vehicle to tow this which also will be an asset.
We had a very old 4 x 4 which we had towed our caravan with for quite a few years and which we were more than happy with. Then, at Christmas time the cylinder head gasket and then the gearbox respectively went and, despite the advice of friends to get rid of it, we spent almost £3,000 in getting it fixed. When it developed a radiator leak, we sold it for £1,000. In March of this year, we took out a loan with Lloyds TSB for £11k which paid off a credit card and which we, stupidly, put towards buying a more decent towing vehicle. If you ask me now the mentality of doing this I really could not tell you, however, the light has finally been switched on.
For the last month we have lived on a budget and do you know what, it has been a joy knowing that the money we are spending is "legitimate" and I wish we had done it a long, long time ago.
Like everyone, I have a few questions (more of which will follow) and the obvious one is, how badly will the OR look on taking a loan out only in March of this year. We have used some of the credit on the card that was paid off but only half of what is on the limit. Also, we are declaring the car as an asset, however, that does not make me feel any better. I made 5 payments towards the loan.
We always paid our bills in full (mortgage, secured loan, utility bills, loans etc) and the credit cards we have juggled around. Last month was the first payment that we have missed to unsecured creditors and we are looking to go BR in October. I have asked for the forms from the Court which should be with us by today or tomorrow.
Also, the creditors are now phoning and writing constantly so another question is, what has everyone out there told their creditors. The CCCS advised us not to say we were going BR as they would be relentless in trying to get you to make a payment. Either way, they are relentless anyway as everyone will know.
The ironic thing about all this is that myself and my husband are professional, hard working people honestly (and naively) thinking there would be some miracle that would solve our problems. However, the only "miracle" so far has been yet another credit card company willing to push you further and further into debt.
I was reading a post which Josilverplayboybunnie replied to which said that before she did everything for the creditors, now its for her family. I wholeheartedly agree with that as I have a 5 year old daughter who sometimes, undeservedly, bears the brunt of my low points. I also am waiting for the day, well night, that I can sleep properly again in a debt free world. Before going down this route, I honestly thought that BR was the "easy option" - I now know differently.
I look forward to speaking with you all and learning from your experiences.
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| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| BankruptC |
Posted - 21 August 2008 : 14:11:11
Bless you Jayne. We're all here, going through the same thing. Luckily I'm at home so no worries about the mascara, but hubbymay notice thatquite often at the moment I 'seem to have something in my eye!' 
Take care and chin up,
CG. x |
| JAH |
Posted - 21 August 2008 : 12:42:27
Oh no CG - I've got tears in my eyes!
Not good when my mascara isn't waterproof and I'm in an open plan office!
Thank you so much. I really think I'm going to need the support of this forum!
Jayne x |
| BankruptC |
Posted - 21 August 2008 : 12:31:03
You're welcome Jayne. It is good to be able to give a little back, after all the help we've received (and are continuing to receive!) from this site.
I agree it is a worry how the OR may view things, but the worst we could be hit with is a BRU and having read up about it, I don';t think that's too scary really. An extra couple of years of not being able to get credit, which we in all reality won't be able to get anyway because of our credit rating is fine by me! I for one don't want to see another credit card or loan agreement as long as I live!
Keep posting hon, we'll all get through this. 
CG. x |
| JAH |
Posted - 21 August 2008 : 12:24:04
Hi CG
Thank you so much for replying to me. I shall print off any replies I have to take home to my husband as he has the majority of the creditors and therefore the majority of the calls! My daughter asked us last night why we always went into the kitchen when the phone rung which brought a tear to my eye.
That is a big worry for me, the fact that we only took out the loan in March. I can honestly say that we did not think, even only then, that we would be in this position. Sounds stupid I know but we are where we are and we have to deal with the consequences and face up to them.
We have had the paperwork through last night but I had already pretty much decided to do it online as everyone mentions the numerous changes that have to be made before petition.
It means so much that people who are going through their own trauma can find the time to help others and I cannot wait until the day that I can be of help to someone starting out on this route.
Thanks again, CG - I hope we can become "buddies".
Jayne |
| BankruptC |
Posted - 21 August 2008 : 11:45:07
Hi Jayne and welcome to the forum! I absolutely agree that the forum is a blessing and I have been pestering the poor experts on here since the day my husband found it! 
Our story is similar to yours in the timings of it all-down to the fact that we too took out a loan in March. We really did expect to be able to repay it and that is what the OR will look at. It will be viewed dimly if we took out the extra credit with no real prospect of paying it back. The truth is, for us, we honestly thought we would be able to pay it back but circumstances changed (me having to go part-time, unexpected childcare costs etc etc) making it impossible. We feel (or hope!) that the OR will understand this and not take such a dim view.
With regards to the creditors, I can only tell you our experience. We chose to tell them our intentions to go BR from the day we made our decision and I have to say I feel it was the right decision for us. Most of them told us they would put the calls on hold for a few weeks or a month and some were even sympathetic! Only one or two said they would have to keep calling until we could give them our BR reference number. I told them this was fair enough, but that it may waste everyone's time as I would tell them the same thing over and over again! The calls did keep coming from time to time, but I feel the fact they had been told made it easier to deal with. We just said it should be in their notes we were going BR and they tended to apologise for calling and end the call quite quickly! We may have been lucky with our creditors, but this was our experience.
Finally, with regards to the BR forms, you can fill them in online, which you may find easier than doing it by hand (especially if you make a mistake, which I have several times!). The site is www.insolvency.gov.uk
Hope that's been some help.
Keep posting and bugging the experts like I do (teehee) with lots of questions and you'll get there.
Take care,
CG (ian's other half) x |
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