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west mids m
Starting Member
United Kingdom
5 Posts |
 Posted - 05 May 2009 : 09:44:19
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Hi firstly thanks to Melanie Nicholas for her advice on my first posting.
I guess now its time to serious look at my options. I owe around 24K (a little less than first though)
This is broken down as;
£5500 – defaulted credit card debt now held by collection agency
£1400 - AS ABOVE
£1300 – credit card frozen account. Now receiving interest charges again after 4 years of being frozen.
£1400 – outstanding overdraft
the other £14,000 and this is where my main concern lies now. Is in catalogues debt. Split between two (You know the buy now pay later mistake) This is mostly down to a 3rd party who has been paying the debt until this month. The accounts are in my name, so I assume I have total responsibility for the debt?
What concerns me most is when I fill in the bankruptcy forms it will be clear I could never have paid these, so the questions that I need answering will be;
1) Are these debts allowed to be included?
2) Would the judge allow the bankruptcy to take place in this situation?
I have no choice but to try and resolve this mess in anyway I can I am down to live on a few £’s, a week while I continue to pay off the debt. I have got agreements which I managed to put into place but they are really unworkable now. Until recently I was having help from family towards food bills etc. this has now had to stop due to the current situation they can only just afford to buy their own.
I need to understand which is my best way forwards and what I can or cannot legitimacy include in my bankruptcy. If I cannot include the catalogues debt then I could not file for bankruptcy, leaving me in a position I could not get out of.
Sorry about the long posting…..
TIA
Martin
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Suzanne
Average Member
United Kingdom
869 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2009 : 11:53:15
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Hi Martin
Yes, you can include the catalogue debt in your bankruptcy. As you said you are liable for that debt as it is in your name.
In terms of whether you could reasonably expect to repay the money would be an issue if you feel you could not have. They will want to know why it was in your name if it wasn't for you, and how likely it was that this would have been paid by the third party.
Whether the companies follow this up would depend on what the items are.
Can you let us have a bit more info in terms of the age of the debt, the items bought and from who?
Suzanne Stocker
Bankruptcy Manager
Jones Giles Ltd
www.jonesgiles.co.uk
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gettingoutofdebt
forum expert
2418 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2009 : 12:26:36
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Hi,
Are you paying the full monthly amount of each of your debts? If so you should stop that now and try to work out a temporary token amount for each creditor. Contact them and advise of your financial issues and suggest a token payment for the next 3 months while you discuss your situation with an Insolvency Practitioner (IP).
The creditors will try to push the amount you pay higher but do not be pressured into this even if it means you only pay £1 per month. You will need to treat each creditor similarly so if you only pay £1 to one creditor then you will need to do this with all of them. If are favourable to one creditor by paying them more than the others this can be frowned upon by the judge and OR but it won't stop you being declared BR.
If you do decide that BR is the best way forward (you should still speak to an IP and the CAB) then it 'may' mean that you are issued with a BRU, which would extend the time that you were declared BR but this would still be better than the position you are in now. |
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west mids m
Starting Member
United Kingdom
5 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2009 : 12:48:39
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Hi Guys, thanks for all the advice up till now.
As for the debts and repayments here is how they break down. I don’t want to name any firms involved at this stage;
£5500 – defaulted credit card debt now held by collection agency
Repayment as agreed of £14 per month only missed one payment in 4 years.
£1400 - AS ABOVE
Repayment as agreed of £39 per month no missed payments in 4 years (a few late ones)
£1300 – credit card frozen account. Now receiving interest charges again after 4 years of being frozen.
Repayment of agreed £27 per month one or two missed payments in 4 years
£1400 – outstanding overdraft
Repayment of £10 per month no missed payments in 4 years
Cat # 1 = £8000 this month is the first month 3 rd party unable to pay, reduced payment by 40% paid on time with next month also reduced by 40% which should be paid
Cat # 2 = £ 6000 as of yet no missed payments but monthly installments set to rise and will be unable to be met.
Reason for large debts, stupidity! No excuse I was in a relationship which is now breaking down. I allowed her to use my cats as she didn’t have any of her own. She has been meeting commitments with varying degrees of hardship. Items bough consumer goods over 6 years, electrical goods, clothes etc. I suppose there is around £1000 worth of my goods in there.
I have limited income of state benefit I have managed payments by certain criteria I don’t need to quote here, plus a lot of support from family. This has now stopped I am down to living on 105£ a week.
I full expect not to get a sympathetic hearing, I am concerned that I may not be allowed to file for bankruptcy and it I can’t what other options are available to me. As I’m sure you all know, life is on hold… no excuses I just want a fresh start if there is one available to me? I have paid back maybe 3000£ in 4 years and I know how stupid I have been to run up other debt. I just need a "way out" if there is one......
Any help is a life saver right now
Martin
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gettingoutofdebt
forum expert
2418 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2009 : 13:33:00
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Hi Martin,
You won't be stopped declaring BR provided you have the money to pay the fee and you have sought advice from Professional Agencies. If you have this then the judge cannot stop you.
You are on benefits so you also won't be liable for an IPA so BR is probably the best, and maybe only, option for you.
You will still need to speak to the CAB, CCCS or National Debtline to confirm that your best option is BR but once you have their professional guidance then your only other problem is getting the BR fee (about £350 for someone on benefits) together. Even if these agencies advise you to do something other than declare yourself BR you can ignore their advice and there is little that the judge can do about it.
Your best bet is to call the CAB, CCCS or National Debtline and explain your situation. After you have done this you then know exactly where you stand and can decide on your best way out. Don't worry or be embarrassed about the amount of debt you have or the catalogue issue as they have heard it all before. You have also agreed repayment amounts for all of your debts and this will show that you are trying to get out of your situation so will be seen as a big plus by the judge/OR.
If you do decide to declare yourself BR then you may as well stop paying your creditors and save the money for the BR fees. If you decide this then it's always worth keeping your creditors updated so send them a quick letter or give them a call.
Once you have stopped the repayments and advised the creditors that you are going BR they will try to put pressure on you to get their money back. You can either ignore their calls or just answer them and re-iterate that you are not paying them anymore. The worst they can do is declare you BR themselves and pay the BR fee for you!
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3rd party debt in my name - advice please
