Things must be bad - i can't even afford to go bankrupt :o(

[OneBoyOneGirl]

I have spoken to the CAB lady on the phone again today and she has said that after looking at mine and DH finances she thinks there is no alternative than to go bankrupt, (after three years of desperately working our arses off to keep our head above water this was not the news i wanted).

Apparently we can afford nothing - which is exactly what it feels like.

But how the hell do they expect us to find £380 each to submit a bankruptcy petition?

We have no car, we sold that earlier in the year, i have ebayed absolutely everything i own almost, we have no family to help or friends and have spoken to all the suggested 'charities' who have no funds to help us either.

We are already being evicted from the house and are trying to get a council place, i counted 28 job applications between me and hubby last week (he was made redundant for the second time in 8 months.

I keep thinking something will happen, someone will give us a break, but then i get thoughts like these where i think we are doomed tbh.

So if we can't afford to go bankrupt, what can we do??

Sorry to moan, but i think that is a ridiculous amount of money when you are going bankrupt cause you have none.

Im not sure about this but doesn't the £380 get added to everything you owe when you are made bankrupt?

Then when all your assets(if any) are sold, each creditor including the £380 you owe the court are paid off pro rata from the proceeds.

Try www.nationaldebtline.co.uk they usually have lots of good advice for free.

Wel if you are going bankrupt, when you next get paid - dont pay £380s worth of bills each then you have the money.

this was in another country, but i qualified for what is legal aid to handle my bankrupcy.

hiya,

thank you for your advice )

We don't have any assets at all unfortunately, we are in rented property, have no money in the bank or anything.

things were ok until my husband had to have an operation and time off work a few years ok, he paid a substantial amount of money per week into a company sick scheme and never got paid so he took them to court, and lost the case due to a technicality, he was advised to take the matter to court again but sue the company's insurers, not them but by this time we were in debt from solicitors fees etc and couldn't do any thing else.

I have two young children and haven't worked for a year since the solicitors i worked for shut down. my husband has been in and out of work but has been made redundant twice and we're both currently looking for work, and applying for any jobs we can at all warehouse, packing even but nothing seems to be happening at the minute.

We only get benefits and these cover our basic living expenses, no wages so can't do it that way.

I am sure that there must be a scheme out there similar to legal aid or something, but the CAB lady didn't know of any.

I think im just having a low day, things will pick up i am sure - just so much to cope with at the minute its nice to have somewhere to 'moan' in confidence.

)

If you are on benefits, social loan. Say you need new beds, or fridge or something along those lines.

i've been down this road myself, One.

i'm sorry things are gong like this, but i'm here to tell you, you will get throught this.

do you have a local welfare rights or advisory centre?

you won't have to pay for your bankrupcy in your situation, IIRC.

charliecar - Never thought about the social, will definately look into it, Thank you.

expantin - Thank you, its good to hear that from someone who has been in the same situation. I honestly don't know if there is an advisory centre or anything near us, i will definately look into it, to be honest i have buried my head in the sand up until now and am trying to sort it all out in one day, which is obviously impossible.

I think with discovering that i am expecting again it has scared me into doing something quickly - but i obviously need to step back and look into things thoroughly before i do anything.

Thank you again x

the build up to it is really scary and stressful and then when it's finally gone through the feeling of relief is enormous.

I can't wait just to get a good night sleep. Every other part of our life is going really well at the minute, me and DH are happy together, and have two lovely kids, close family etc so this is the only thing stopping us enjoying our lives at the minute - definately be glad when its all over.

OneBoyOneGirl - first of all, my sympathies. I couldn't not respond. As you may have guessed by the name I have been in the same boat! Firstly, to reiterate what expat has said, it is a horrible process but you will heave a huge sigh of relief once it is over. And it will NOT be as bad as you think. For the overwhelming majority of people bankruptcy is the very last resort. Some thoughts:

1. Yes you will have to pay to go br (better start to learn the lingo!). In your case I think as you are on benefits, you will be partialy exempt from some of the charges. I went br in June 2007 at the High Court in London and as I am in receipt of tax credits, was exempt for part of the fee. I think I paid £150 or thereabouts.

2. As fiodyl said, speak to national debtline or similar. I used CCCS, they were great.

3. The best place I can recommend for advice is the bankruptcy forum at Martin Lewis's site forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?s=&daysprune=&f=136 Hope that link works ok. There is lots of advice on there and old threads to browse.

4. The run-up was awful. I dropped half a stone in a week but the relief, once it was done, was indescribable. Do not underestimate the emotional impact. I felt like I was letting my ds and my parents and siblings down in some way (am divorced).

5. You will have an interview with someone from the Official Receivers Office, most likely by phone, within a fortnight or so of doing the deed. It is not nice to have someone ask you very personal questions about your finances. I must stress however, that at all times I was treated with enormous courtesy and respect.

Good luck. You will be fine. I am really tired so have not explained as well as I would like. I am not around that much at the moment but if you have any questions, post further and I will do my best to respond.

as BRNC say's if your on benefits the fee is reduced so you only have to pay for one of teh court fee's..which is about £150.

there is a british gas charity that wuill actually pay thsi for you but i can't for the life of me find teh link...but it has been put on here many times. if your better at archiving than me you will probably find it.

good luck with it all.

namechanger speaks sense!

it's not the end of the world, but it can feel like it before it goes through.

hope you are glean some helpful advice from this thread.

like you, i had NO assets at all, had lost the lot in divorce, been made redundant and was working for a temporary agency, using a boyfriend's car which was struck by an uninsured driver.

it just seemed to go from bad to worse until there really was no other recourse.

Thank you again everyone for your support )

Its really nice to hear stories of people who have come out of the other side.

Will definately check out the sites you recommended and the helplines.

Fingers crossed. The only good thing about DH being out of work is that he is helping me deal with things.

OneBoyOneGirl, the only other thing I would say is to do it asap, although I realise this is not easy where you need to get the money together. If it is a relatively uncomplicated case you will be discharged in 6 months. Yes, your credit rating will be screwed and things will be hard at times but no more debt, no more worrying every time the phone rings that it is a creditor. Good luck.

If you look here there are some ideas of ways to get grants in order to pay the bankruptcy costs. I am surprised that your local CAB didn't point them out.

Thank you.

bankrupt - i will be definately doing it sooner rather than later, i will do anything and everything within my power to get the funds. To be honest, not really fussed about the credit rating as i really can't see me ever wanting to borrow a penny again!

Ladymuck - thanks for the link, will check them out