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Original poster

Bankruptcy

31 replies

pansydansy · 07/04/2019 17:22

25 grand debt.

After bills and costs we're left with nothing to go towards debt. Life is so stressful and we're talking about going down the bankruptcy route.

Anyone been through this and can say wether they regretted it or not.

OP posts:
Original poster
pansydansy · 07/04/2019 22:19

Anyone?

OP posts:
NeverTwerkNaked · 07/04/2019 22:20

Hopefully someone will be able to advise soon. Have you spoken to a charity like stepchange?

Original poster
pansydansy · 07/04/2019 22:23

Thank you.Step change cant help because he's self employed 🙄 I've got to send my expenditure forms into cab tomorrow but dh says he'd rather just go bankrupt and start from fresh and will never get credit again.

OP posts:
Parky04 · 07/04/2019 22:27

My BIL went bankrupt with similar debts to you. He said it was definitely the correct decision. This was around 7 years ago and now has a mortgage but has no credit cards!

pennysays · 07/04/2019 22:28

I haven't been through this but almost did. I read this article and it gave me loads of peace on the issue. It's American so not all applicable to a uk context but a good perspective on the issue.

Original poster
pansydansy · 08/04/2019 08:26

Thank you

OP posts:
bloodywhitecat · 08/04/2019 08:36

My ex husband was declared bankrupt back in the day when it was less kind to the debtor than it is now, he was also self employed. It was tough for the three years of the bankruptcy order and it was tough for a good few years afterwards but it was back in the days when bankrupts couldn't have bank accounts or credit of any kind so everything was transferred on to my shoulders but it was for the best in the long run. He is now back on his feet and has a good credit rating again.

BlueberryFool123 · 08/04/2019 08:42

I’m surprised at response from stepchange. Martin Lewis also recommends Christians Against Poverty. My concern is your husband seems to think bankruptcy is the easy option. It may be the right option, but I would want a lot more advice before I went down that route.

continuallychargingmyphone · 08/04/2019 08:43

I can understand that re step change, actually. One of my friends was on a 0 hour contract and she couldn’t get them to help either.

BlueberryFool123 · 08/04/2019 08:49

Just been on CAP website. They say they will struggle to help with self-employed people, but advise people to contact PayPlan who specialise in IVAs for self-employed people.

Nu2u · 08/04/2019 09:08

I hope this is encouraging.

You can apply for credit after 6 years. The only personal debt/loan I have ever taken was a small mortgage. My business crashed due to the recession; I was self employed with few creditors. I was setting up an IVA but one creditor refused. I tried to return all unopened stock, worth 20% more than the debt and he refused. He wanted to draw the funds by forcing me to sell my property, which he was entitled to do. He was so happy once he forced the bankruptcy procedure (bastard, there was no good reason for him to do this and I was trying my hardest and was not shirking responsibility). He was not quite so happy when the insolvency service told him my property was in NEGATIVE EQUITY and he got fuck all. My Experian score is 990, quite proud of that. I hope you manage to sort it out.

Isleepinahedgefund · 08/04/2019 09:14

I have a lot of professional experience dealing with bankruptcy. I read your post about this situation the other day

The thing is, if you own less than you owe AND you have no money to pay your debts, you are insolvent and you need seriously look at bankruptcy. A debt management plan relies on you being able to repay within a reasonable timeframe and having spare income, which you say you don't have, to repay regularly ie a set amount every month.

Bankruptcy is not a joint endeavour, you each go bankrupt. You need to consider if it is right for each of you separately, or maybe a Debt Relief Order. Whose debts are whose? Are they all joint , or do you own some each?

I think it is worth approaching CPAG as suggested above to see what they suggest.

BarbaraofSevillle · 08/04/2019 09:27

Step Change only help with personal debt, if the debt is business related, you need business debtline if they still exist.

Or you could post on the Bankruptcy and living with it section of the Moneysavingexpert forum.

Original poster
pansydansy · 08/04/2019 10:15

Thank you all.

Our out goings is more than what we've got coming in. And none of the debt is being touched. I don't mind going bankrupt too. I have nothing and am a sahp. Neither of us care about are credit rating because we both won't need it again. Tbh the stress and are mental health is more important to us. Both of us are on antidepressants and it's affecting are relationship. We have 5 children so money's really tight and we both just want to put an end to it.

OP posts:
Original poster
pansydansy · 08/04/2019 10:16

@BarbaraofSevillle all the debts personal. But they don't deal with self employed people.

OP posts:
Rockchick1984 · 08/04/2019 22:41

Pansy I was declared bankrupt a number of years ago, and for me it was the best decision I could have made. I had no spare income so a year after the bankruptcy had been filed, it was discharged. I can now apply for credit without any issues although I choose to only have sensible credit now - one credit card for emergencies, and a mobile phone contract.

The only thing I will warn you about is that if your outgoings are exceeding your income even without taking the debts into consideration, they can refuse to grant the bankruptcy as you will be no better off.

I’m happy to have a look at your income and outgoings if you like, I have since volunteered at a service to help people in financial difficulties as I went through it personally.

Petitprince · 09/04/2019 04:00

Will your credit score affect your potential to rent in future? When I rented we had to have credit checks every time. I wasn't planning on moving but landlords sold the property so we had to find somewhere else.

Petitprince · 09/04/2019 04:01

Will your credit score affect your potential to rent in future? When I rented we had to have credit checks every time. I wasn't planning on moving but landlords sold the property so we had to find somewhere else.

Goingwiththeflow2019 · 09/04/2019 07:47

My debts are similar OP and I’ve been considering the same thing

Amongstthetallgrass · 09/04/2019 07:54

Bankruptcy last 12 month and you will walk away debt free.

The CAB are useless at debt solutions call step change.

It’s not as savage as people think and is a good solution in your situation. You will have to get rid of any credit based contracts such as sky and mobile phones contracts. You will have to hand over all your bank accounts to they can see what’s coming in

You will have to pay a fee to apply for it which is about £600-£700 each

Good luck

Amongstthetallgrass · 09/04/2019 07:55

It will also stop any debt collectors coming to your house but there are certain debts you can not include such as fines, CSA ect..

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 09/04/2019 07:56

Our out goings is more than what we've got coming in.

That may very well stop you from being a candidate for bankruptcy. Is it fixable? What are you using to pay for the excess at the moment, an overdraft?

FoxMuldersSunflowerSeed · 09/04/2019 08:02

@petiteprince this is my biggest fear.

I did a Debt Relief Order in October. After 12 months it is complete and my debts are written off. But the fact that I've had a dro will be on my credit report for 6 years.

I'm not planning on moving and really hope that plan doesn't change for 6 years. It does make me worry, but I guess we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/04/2019 08:05

Our out goings is more than what we've got coming in

Have you thoroughly reviewed your finances, to check you aren't entitled to benefits, or if there are any costs you can cut down or cut out completely? If you have a low income and 5 DC, you should get quite a reasonable amount of tax credits/universal credit. But are you meeting the income/work requirements?

If your DH isn't earning the equivalent of NMW due to his self employment, and there isn't any chance of that in the near future, he may be better off looking for paid work instead. What does he do?

Is there any chance of you working when he is at home to look after DC?

Go through the Moneysavingexpert money makeover.

If neither of you have more than £20k in debt, and you have no assets or surplus income, a Debt Relief Order might be appropriate, which is like a simpler, cheaper form of bankruptcy, and you won't ever have to admit being bankrupt, because it's not actual bankruptcy. It will ruin your credit rating though, but that's not a consideration at the moment, and getting rid of the debt is the main priority.

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