Wishing I had found you sooner! now bankrupt

[moonpixiewitch]

Wish I had found this site a lot sooner !
I went Bankrupt 3 years ago this autumn due to two consecutive months of £800 charges on a joint current account from abbey. This resulted in no other bills not being paid and credit cards also charging for late payments that then pushed us over limit which in turn incurred yet more charges. The spiralling debt then went out of control.
Contacted consumer credit counselling service debt recovery agency who then arranged for all access to credit to be shut off to us and took payments of £750 a month to pay all our creditors for two years. We split up , and I was left with one income and £18k of sole debt to pay , went to cab , they advised only course of action was bankruptcy .
So I borrowed the £460 to go bankrupt from a relative and went bankrupt the following day.
Nearly three years later I discover your web site............if only I had known of your existence back then ........I could have challenged the excessive bank/credit card charges and might not have been bankrupted .
Rebuilding my credit history is proving impossible as
I cant even get a debit card now which is extremely inconvenient at times . I dont want a credit card or loans or even an overdraft but it seems I shall be living on a cash only basis for some years yet (10 i believe) even though I was only bankrupt for 18months.

[Karnevil]

Can you not try claiming some of these excessive charges back now - you can claim back up to 6 years ago.... I'm not sure of the rules regarding bankruptcy.....

[moonpixiewitch]

As the debts were actually incurred just over six years ago , I dont have a leg to stand on .My health was quite adversly affected by the constant stress of debt for the years leading upto my bankruptcy and I choose not to put myself through any more money stress. Also I understand from the official reciever that any charges i claim back ,my creditors could still lay claim to- hows that for unfair ?! I could go through the stress and agro of claiming it all back and they can counter claim it back again because I went bankrupt! I just hope the cab direct people to you before sending them to court to go bankrupt! If I could be paid in cash so I never had to deal with another bank / building society again I would, but life isnt that simple .
I have been looking around the various forum topics and it would seem all of them are as bad as each other , I am currently with the nationwide as they are the only ones who let me have an account with a direct debit facility to pay my bills . I have been clobbered by them recently due to an oversight on my part (I was away on honeymoon and forgot to tranfer money across in time to cover direct debits) , but I darent file for a refund of excessive charges as it seems very likely they will forcably close my account thus leaving me high and dry . I would have no way of paying my bills and no way of getting paid my wages.
So keep fighting the good fight if you can , as some of us are unable to fight any more!

[minnie]

Hi moonpixiewitch,

I just thought I would offer a bit of moral support and hopefully some useful info.

Your story sounds similar to mine and I too went bankrupt 10 years ago this August after being screwed by the RBS. The term for me was 3 years before I was discharged in '99.

During that time I managed to sneak onto my b/friends NatWest account as a joint account holder, he later removed himself from the account and opened up a new account with another bank and left me as the sole account holder. The account was and still is a standard current account with cash/chq grntee/debit card and cheque book. At the time as I was applying to be a joint holder of an existing account, NW didn't ask if I was bankrupt and as I wasn't asking for any credit I wasn't obliged to tell them. I don't know if this is still possible with any bank, maybe not but I hope someone on here may be able to tell you for sure. If you know of a willing participant with a good credit history it might be worth exploring.

Have you got recent copies of your credit files from Equifax and Experian? If not then it's definitely worth doing so as there may be lots of ways you can clean up your credit history. Also, did you get the actual notice of discharge from the OR?

Once you are discharged from bankruptcy the OR cannot make any more claims on your income/earnings etc to pay back your creditors. Only in certain circumstances (if the bankruptcy was as a result of criminal activity for instance) would the OR be able to make any further claims on your income after discharge and it would have been clearly stipulated in your bankruptcy.

As claiming back bank charges from a bank (possibly from a bankruptcy period) is a very recent development I haven't learned for sure yet whether the OR has any claims on refunds after bankruptcy discharge but I am inclined to think not. Afterall, they would have to know that you had got the charges back in the first place and if your situation is anything like mine then you won't have heard from the OR since you filed for bankruptcy. Once you are discharged from bankruptcy you are not obliged to tell the OR anything.

Although it's not proven whether it can be done yet, I am compiling all my RBS bank records from 1989 to 1996 to make a case for claiming back charges for that period. After all, it is my belief that it was the £12000 worth of charges that were levied on my account that were a major contributing factor to me going bankrupt in the first place. There's a fair bit of discussion on the forum at the moment on the subject of pre 6 year claims so it might be worth you having a browse on the subject.

It certainly didn't take me 10 years to get back on track so don't despair! I'm self employed which makes things even more difficult but I'd say it took me about 4 years from discharge in '99. I spent that time living in rented accomodation, cleaning up my credit history and working hard and I now run a successful business, own my own house and have a mortgage, a business account, a personal account, a savings account, a debit card, two credit cards, 2 cats and the same boyfriend!

I hope this has given you a bit of hope, just be patient and spend a bit of time repairing yourself and your credit and you'll get there. There's lots of good advice to be had from this forum so any questions you have just ask and I'm sure someone will have the right answer for you.

Minnie

[joneshousehold]

What a lovely thread. It warms my heart to see the help and support this forum gives to people who have difficulties. Well done for a good post Minnie and good luck to you Moonpixiewitch whatever you decide to do or not do.

[Rich44]

Surely if the OR had any interest in the money that banks potentially owed to someone going through bankruptcy it would be in their interests to secure the refund and use it to pay your creditors they have made no move to do so (for the obvious reasons) so I reckon you'd be ok if you want to claim

[gizmo111]

Surely in this case the banks are going defend by saying that bankruptcy wrote the debt off and therefore they have in a way refunded the amounts due? Would claiming in this scenario mean that the OP is making a profit from the bankruptcy? I would be very wary of trying this without further advice.


AFAIK OR involvement ends at discharge so anything OP gains now is hers to keep.

Good Luck, let us know what you decide

[comanche]

Based on what you've read here, what proportion of your total debts at the time of your bankruptcy were represented by unlawful bank charges?

[CrispDust]

Hang in there moonpixiewitch, its a long haul but you'll get there.
As was suggested earlier get Equifax and Experian credit reports - they are littered with inaccurate and out of date credit histories, usually doing you harm. I have had great fun with two said companies correcting their errors over the past 6 months ( I had an IVA from Nov 2001 to Jan 2005 and i'm still clearing up the mess).
have to say Equifax are better at correcting there errors than Experian who just don't seem bothered that they are breaching Data Protection Act all over the place. They might think twice when I issue a small claims court action for breach next week
It is tough living on a cash only basis but you get used to it and I now prefer it (although I do have a credit card and a solo card). I use the credit card on a paid in full basis each month - better to have £3000 per month in my ISA account than in someone elses pocket. When you climb out of the debt pit you realise how much EVERYONE screwed you when you were helpless, including those who "helped" you out of debt.
Now is the time to fight back - test the waters with the view to claiming back charges more than 6 years ago - after all the actions of the financial institutions more than 6 years ago are now hanging like a financial albatross around your neck.
All the best. Crispy

[rudehamster]

ah...now maybe someone can help me.
I'm about to throw in the towel, speak to CCCS and, probably declare myself bankrupt. I have little choice, thanks to the Halifax, Lloyds, a plethora of distressed credit cards and a sticky-fingered ex-boyfriend who emptied the joint bank account a few years ago and hasn't been seen since.
The total amount owed is over £60,000, so there is little chance of me ever getting free by any other route.
I want to know how difficult it really is, once you've been declared. What will I be left with?
I've just got a new job with a decent wage (at last!); live in council property; no dependants; no assets at all...apart from a huge mound of paperwork reminding me how much I owe. I have the normal household stuff, most of which actually belongs to friends and my current partner; I'm registered disabled so need to cough up money for ad-hoc taxis when I can't walk (they can't take that away, surely?).
Can someone tell me how much they take from my salary? What do they leave me with?
Any answers will be a huge help.
Hugs and Squeaks,
Rudehamster............~O '>

[amber2508]

I don't know anything about bankrupsy, but i do know nobody can take your DLA away form you. It cannot be counted towards anything, (wholly or part) that you owe. You don't even have to declare it in any situation. At the end of the day it is for your care. Hope this helps.

[bish]

I don't know to much about bankruptcy but think before doing this you should concider getting back all those charges. Just today looked at the charges on the 2 credit cards I have and one credit card with a limit of £200.00 has charges of £1152.00 and the other with a credit limit of £750.00 has charges of £720.00. As you can see succesfully claiming back these charges would pay them both off and leave me with £800.00 NOT IN THE BANK but in my pocket. So I would strongly advice you to GET THE CHARGES BACK before deceiding to go bankrupt first. Once you start on the road you will not regret it, and you always have the opption to file for bankruptcy if all else fails. Be positive and fight and that won't happen.

Regards bish