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phiil
Starting Member
1 Posts |
 Posted - 14 February 2010 : 21:55:46
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First of all, hi! This forum was highly recommended by a friend on another (non debt-related) forum. I had never heard of this site but from what I've seen so far it is like an oasis of sense in a big desert of muddled and conflicting advise. :)
Anyway, to the point. I have debts of £~20k. I essentially ran away from my problems at the end of 2007 - I have relatives in France and went and stayed with them to get away from creditors and other problems. Lost my job and just upped and ran away and firmly jammed my head in the sand. Have made no effort to contact creditors and kick myself frequently for my inability to deal with my problems.
I want to return to England but am petrified by the thought of putting my name/address on some form somewhere (be it council tax or utilities or something) and then the calls/visits will start again.
I left England in November 2007 and have been back 3 or 4 times since. I went into CAB in November '08 and they said they couldn't really help me because I wasn't resident in England. I really really want to return to England and try to get things back on track. While I could just stay here and carry on what I'm doing my situation in England isn't going to go away and I need to confront it at some point.
I went and spoke to CAB again a few weeks ago under the guise that I am now living in England full-time again and they basically advised bankruptcy (on the basis that I owe too much to too many creditors to qualify for a DRO and wouldn't qualify for an IVA due to lack of income). I want to wipe the slate clean and get on with my life. I've tried to get a overall picture of my debts via Experian but am unable to get anything without proving my address - which I can't do as I don't officially have an address in England. I feel like i'm in a catch-22 where I can't return to England and start working until I've resolved this problem and I can't resolve this problem until I return to England and start working.
I have no assets larger than a 4 year old laptop. No house, no car, no shares but also (on the bright side, I suppose) no dependants. I went to the court and picked up the forms, the page for detailing assets, if I have nothing to speak of is it acceptable to just put "none" in all the boxes? I don't know what else I would put but it just doesn't seem like they would accept it. I have basically been living off of friends and family for the past few years.
When I am in England I'm staying with friends of the family. I spoke to the bankruptcy clerk and wanted assurances that if I put that address on the bankruptcy form there wouldn't be any repercussions for them. She assured me that there wouldn't but she also said that I need to live there for 6 months before I can go bankrupt. I asked how I would prove that as I'm not on any bills or anything and she sort've shrugged and said it would be ok. On the form it doesn't say anything about having to live in the country for 6 months, it just asks for my address. She said it was just a jurisdiction thing (Warwick is the court).
It sounds slightly ridiculous now but I didn't want to contact the banks before for fear of them "shouting at me"!
Thank you very much for reading through this and thank you very much in advance for any helpful tips or suggestions! I'm sorry if this post jumps around a lot and is slightly incoherent, I kept going back and altering bits. :p
Phil |
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debtinfo
forum expert
2826 Posts |
Posted - 14 February 2010 : 22:07:04
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Hi phil, the clerk is correct, it is called your centre of main interest. when you move to an other european country to live your COMI moves with you and so you have to be made bankrupt in that country. Since you were in france for most of the last 6 months, france is your COMI and you would have to go bankrupt there. If you live here her more than 6 months then your COMI will move back here and you will be free to go bankrupt here.
Try to collect evidence, even if it is just bus tickets, shopping receipts etc, obviously getting on the register is better as are applications for JSA etc |
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luss
Starting Member
United Kingdom
1 Posts |
Posted - 06 April 2010 : 20:36:36
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Yes, i understand you but i want to say that you have done ok. let me know how you are now. by the way, are you living in the uk, where??
luz |
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Richard P
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1701 Posts |
Posted - 07 April 2010 : 17:47:02
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Hi Phil
welcome to the Forum.
your situation is not uncommon but well done for finally lifting your head up.
for the next 6 months you will be playing a bit of cat and mouse. yes you need to show that you live in the UK (have income and expenditure etc) but also you want to stay below the radar.
it will probably take your creditors about 3 months to start hunting, so you will only have 3 months to negotiate with them. At first the banks will be more interested in recovering some money than shouting at you.
good luck Regards Richard |
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£20k of debt, what do I do?
