Baliffs and Bankruptcy.

[Financesamess]

Today baliffs visited my home. I wasnt in. I have previously made a payment plan with them for 2 parking fines which DH did not bother to pay before he left. However the car is in my name so therefore the fines are too. Somehow these fines have increased from £160 and my baliffs bill now is £740.00. I have kept up to date with the payment plan but am apparently 2 days late with this months payment. I spoke to the baliff on the phone and he refused to allow me to make the payment and was really quite unpleasant. He says they will continue to call until they gain entry. I am at my wits end now as to what to do next. I have much other debt as well - nearly all run up by DH before he left but in joint names and am seriously considering bankrupty but I need to save the money to pay the fee. Is there any way I can put a stop to this? Do I have to allow the baliffs entry to my home? When I go out to pick my kids up from school can they force entry then as I come back?

I dont even really have anything. My car is 15 years old and they can have it if they want. All my electrical goods are old and bottom of the range. I really need some general advice. What are they allowed to take. Can they take my kids books and toys or anything like that? I know I have let it go to far because I kept telling DH and he said he would sort it out but just hasnt. He is in loads of financial trouble as well. I would be grateful for any advice.

Oh poor you. They cannot anything that belong to the kids, but can take electrical goods etc. I would contact the CAB if I were you. They are great at giving info about this kind of thing.

They can only gain peaceful entry to your home, which really means you letting them in. They cannot break in, they cannot shove past you to get in.

However, if you leave a window or door open, they can use that to gain entry. So, until you have decided what you want to do or have saved enough to file for bankruptcy, ensure that you do not let them in, nor anyone else. Do you have children old enough to open the door? If so, warn them not to open it to anyone.

Go to CAB for advice re bankruptcy.

The way I understand it, though am happy to be proven wrong is:

A bailiff can only enter your property on your's or a judge's say so.

Bottom line.

They can not take anything that considered essential to living, that includes washing machine's, clothes, beds etc.

They would only take things that they think they could actually get cash for, if, as you say, your electrical good are older and bottom end, they wouldn't take them anyway. Would you pay a decent amount for a second hand no name toaster? Neither would most people.

If you go to the CAB, they will advise if bankruptcy is the way to go, and if you already have the money saved for that, as soon as you file for it, all debtors are required to stop harrassing you until the bankruptcy has been dealt with. Besdies if they know you have filed for bankruptcy there is little point in pursuing you for the money as they know they will only get whatever is deemed to be right by a judge, if they get anything at all.

Message withdrawn

Thank you all so much. I feel loads better after reading these posts. I have thought long and hard and I honestly do feel that bankruptcy is the only step for me. At the moment I cant afford to pay ANYTHING apart from day to day bills. DH had a really well paid job and was made redundant and this is how we came to be in this mess. Admittedly a lot of it I did not know about it but I cant really hold it against him because he did think he would be able to pay it. We didnt just keep taking out credit, we were actually quite sensible but our circumstances have changed so much. I am aware of the legalities of bankrupty but if anyone has any knowledge of how much it could affect me in the future I would be grateful.

I think the government fairly recently (within the last 3/4 years) overhauled bankcruptcy in general. It isn't the shameful thing that it used to be. You can still get credit and a mortgage, and run your own business, however you should expect to pay more APR than you would have previously, and you wouldn't be able to get credit from absolutely everywhere.

Some say the chande's in the law have made it too easy to go bankcrupt and then rebuild debts and go bankcrupt again. Reality is, it isn't quite as simple as that.

Talk to CAB, there may well be other routes you can take that aren't quite as serious as bankcruptcy, an IVA for example, but it all depends on your own circumstances obviously.

Good luck with it

Oh god, look at my typo's I should learn to preview!

If you co-operate you can be discharged from bankruptcy under 12 months.

I went bankrupt It cost me £475 all of my debt vanished over night and I was discharged after 6 months. It hasnt really made any differance to my life because I dont want to get myself in that position again I dont aply for credit

If your income is under a certein level or you receive certein benefits you can get the bankruptcy fee reduced.

I would be careful with thinking about bankruptcy. I know you probably feel you would do anything to get out of debt right now, but you don't want to start something you will regret in years to come. At the very least you should have a look into some potentially better alternatives first. Ones that spring to my mind are:

Debt Consolidation
Debt Management
IVA
Trust Deed (basically an IVA for people in Scotland)
Remortgage (Similar to Debt Consolidation really)
Bankruptcy (Last resort)

A quick search on Google turned up these results:

Debt Management - Click here (looks like plenty of info on debt management. Also has a blog with related content & a great two part article on what debts you can & can't include on a debt management plan. Fairly comprehensive)
IVA - Click here (All the legal info you need to know & again there is a blog with a few different IVA articles which you may find helpful)

I'll let you search on the rest. My advice is to just take your time & really do your research. If you have looked into everything £ bankruptcy is still your best option then at least you know you won't have any regrets.

Good luck & let us know how you get on.

exdh was advised by the CAB to go bankrupt.
he was going to at the end of this month but has lost his job so he will have to wait a while longer before he can afford the fee.
like your exdh he got into difficulty over work, when dd was a small baby and was always in hospital he had to give up his well paid job and take reduced hours, then they put pressure on him and he ended up being sick for 8 months and all the debts piled up, he says that he knows its the only thing he can do now.