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rv02
Junior Member
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
 Posted - 29 July 2008 : 12:06:33
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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
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rollercoaster
Junior Member
United Kingdom
327 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 12:36:16
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Hello Rv02 and welcome to the forum.
Firstly 8K fees for a company to assist you in petitioning for your bankruptcy is ALOT. I do not know the full details of your circumstances but i do suggest you have a chat with some of the specialists on this forum to help you get your 'ducks in a row'. They come highly recommended and will talk you through your options.
To answer some of the questions you had, the cost of petitioning your own bankruptcy is £495 each and the forms are relatively straightforward and can be downloaded online.
from the figures you gave, your house is in negative equity to the sum of 100K, You mention about someone buying the house for £1 plus fees. This is a third party buying the beneficial interest in the property (equity) when there is no equity to release, a third party can buy this for as little as £1 + fess (approx £250) However with the high level of negative equity in your home, Is it worth staying?
I assume the nursery fees are to enable your wife to work so i believe this would be a genuine expenditure.
You are in the right place for brilliant advice and to have your many future questions answered by both people experiencing the same scenario and professionals.
An expert will be along soon to give you a hand one of whom is Paul Johns from Reviva. You can contact him yourself by going through the experts link on the left hand side of the page, to get direct advice.
good luck.
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BankruptC
Senior Member
1030 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 13:21:41
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Hi rv02,
Your situation is remarkably similar to ours in lots of ways and although we're still learning some thigs about BR we feel we're getting there in terms of what our options are and what we feel we'll do.
If you like, I'd be happy to chat to you on email about this. I think site admin can arrange for our email addresses to be swapped.
Take care and good luck,
Ian |
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zoe
Junior Member
329 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 13:44:45
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Hi there and welcome!
Just to clarify DO NOT PAY ANYONE TO DO THIS FOR YOU!
it costs just under £500 to make yourself bankrupt and is realatively easy to do - out of interest which company is it that have quoted this???
If there is negative equity in your house you can "buy" your interest back for £1 plus legal fees of £211 so you should be able to keep your house |
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John
New Member
United Kingdom
73 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 14:21:04
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Hi
I've read with interest the responses to the original post on this thread.
May I suggest that it is not productive for anyone to categorically state that professional fee charging companies should always be avoided.
In many cases this is true.
However, if you were in court accused of dropping litter (a minor / straight forward case) the risk even if found guilty is minimal so form your own defence. However, if you were having to defend a much more serious charge, would you do so without a solicitor?? Of course not, and solicitors cost money. Unfortunately Legal Aid does not extend to Insolvency but I can assure you there are many people out there with assets who are in as much difficulty as anyone financially. They may well benefit from professional help which costs.
In the more complex cases where assets and high income are evident you won't find the answers on the pages of this forum.
So be guarded if talking to an expert that wishes to charge a fee, make sure there is real benefit to be had before commiting, but the idea should not be dismissed.In IVA the court will ok one in the knowledge that the IP's fee will be in the £000's. Nor does the court condemn fee payments in bankruptcy.The fact that the court welcomes BR's that have paid for advice is surely testimony in itself.
Might I also suggest that the disclosure on this site of the particular company name proposing the fee of £8K may lead to all sorts of legal repercussions.
PS. In case anyone was curious to know, I have no connection whatsoever to the proposed fee charger or any knowledge of who they may be.
Assisting where I can. |
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John
New Member
United Kingdom
73 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 14:38:35
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Incidentally, and in addition to my previous post, a few years ago I had £100K of personal debt, a property with equity and a car on finance with no way of paying my debt as my business suffered due to new government legislation.
I paid a fee of £5000 to a professional company who shall remain anonymous as this forum is not an advertising tool.
I lost the car which had £20K of finance outstanding and eventually replaced it with a nice car paid for from my wife's equity in the property, the property has since been sold, our choice.
And of course I "lost" the £100K of debt.
The best £5000 i've ever spent!!!
Assisting where I can. |
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zoe
Junior Member
329 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 14:47:22
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Hi Assist
Surely you are not condoning £8000 to assist someone in making themselves bankrupt???? |
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rv02
Junior Member
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 14:57:57
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Thanks for all the adivises so far. Please keep them coming as Iwe need all tyhje advise we can get. On the point of Nursery fees, will they make us go to a cheaper one or we there will be a possibility of keeping the same nursury. This is one of trhe reasons I am just delaying my decisions.
Also will it be easy to find an accomodation to rent once we are declared bankrupt? and do I need to close my bank account and get a new one as I have 10k overdraft curently.
Sorry I just want to make sure we are mnaking a right decision as loosing a house I have been for 11 years is very very hard.
Also I have already downgraded my car , we have now a VW Polol 4 years old to be able to drive to work and take the baby to nursery. I had a Mercedes which I traded this in and the VW was for 7500 which is now worth about 4k i presume. Does this mean we loose our car as well and what about any possesions.
Also on the whole the advise I was given (on free session with the company) they made it look very easy to do and it will solve all our worries, i just a bit hesitatnt as to whether it is this easy and is there any thing i am not aware off.
Sorry for all the questions I just need any helop I can get as this is the most important decision of our lives which can have an affect in future for us and our baby, as someone old me the BR will always be on my recors and Mortgages in future are virtually impossibe and other credit cards and so on.
I am happy to exxhange email with anyone who want to discuss ithis via email.#
This forum looks great and extremely helpful |
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rv02
Junior Member
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:00:51
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| 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 |
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rollercoaster
Junior Member
United Kingdom
327 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:00:54
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| 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. |
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BankruptC
Senior Member
1030 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:02:05
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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 |
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John
New Member
United Kingdom
73 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:07:32
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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. |
Edited by - John on 29 July 2008 22:19:59 |
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Suzanne
Average Member
United Kingdom
869 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:17:42
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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
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rv02
Junior Member
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:26:22
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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. |
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John
New Member
United Kingdom
73 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:28:38
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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. |
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rollercoaster
Junior Member
United Kingdom
327 Posts |
Posted - 29 July 2008 : 15:32:49
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| 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) |
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Bankrupcy Advice
