help.. bankruptcy/IVA/DMP...??

[geministar2007]

Hello, i have posted this in the general debt forum also.

I am getting in a mess. I owe just over £14,000. I have sought advice and trying to sort out a debt management plan.

However as i had been laid off work and currently waiting to start new employment on 26th February, this delays the process.

I am also worried that they want proof of wages, and i think my budget sheet may be a little inaccurate as to the amount i bring home a week (it is more than likely to be this amount, but worried may fall short some weeks). so i may just fall short of the dmp criteria of £100 a month left over.

I cannot afford to go bankrupt i'm literally living off nothing. I thought about an IVA but again this requires a fee and i owe slightly under £15,000.

With regards to bankruptcy, is it really so easy and straight forward? Seems like such an easy way out, but i really do want to pay back what i owe if there is some sort of way of doing so. What happens reagrding being listed in the local paper etc? I find this embarrasing.

I have wrote to my creditors explaining i am in the process of setting up a DMP, i gave them all small token payments. I am worried that the DMP may fall through.
Does anyone know of any organisation that accepts a slightly lower monthly amount of income to arrange a DMP? ( I'm currently going via National Debt). Or any advice on any other options would be great.

I just dont know who or what to turn to lately. Can't think straight. I have been diagnosed this week with Borderline Personality Disorder. So currently getting my head around that.

[fermi]

I can see from your other threads that you are receiving expert help on the other questions you asked, so I'll stick to the bankruptcy ones.

Originally Posted by geministar2007

With regards to bankruptcy, is it really so easy and straight forward? Seems like such an easy way out, but i really do want to pay back what i owe if there is some sort of way of doing so. What happens reagrding being listed in the local paper etc? I find this embarrasing.

The people on this forum can help you explore every other possibility for dealing with your debts, so see what they come up with first.

As for bankruptcy:

It is surprisingly easy to do it in a practical sense, but it can be pretty tough psychologically and emotionally for some people. It is not something to do unless you have professional advice that it is your best option, and you have considered and accepted the consequences.

But depending on your circumstances, the consequences can be quite minimal if your credit record is already fairly poor, you don't have property to protect, and you aren't a member of one of very few professions where bankruptcy could lose you your job.

Unless it would cause you some real harm, then the bankruptcy does have to be advertised in a paper local to you. Bankruptcy is a matter of public record. I'm afraid "embarrassment" is not enough reason for the judge to make an order preventing the advertisement.

However, the advertisement is usually a very very small notice in the "notices and .........." section. I managed to miss mine, and I was looking out for it. To my knowledge, no-one I know saw it.

But as I said, with help from this site it may never come to that.

[tomterm8]

Originally Posted by geministar2007

I am getting in a mess. I owe just over £14,000. I have sought advice and trying to sort out a debt management plan.

How much of this is late payment charges / over limit charges etc? they are all recoverable.


[quote=geministar2007;1381 589]
However as i had been laid off work and currently waiting to start new employment on 26th February, this delays the process.
[/quote[
That's quick!

Originally Posted by geministar2007

I am also worried that they want proof of wages, and i think my budget sheet may be a little inaccurate as to the amount i bring home a week (it is more than likely to be this amount, but worried may fall short some weeks). so i may just fall short of the dmp criteria of £100 a month left over.

I cannot afford to go bankrupt i'm literally living off nothing. I thought about an IVA but again this requires a fee and i owe slightly under £15,000.

Right. When you get your job, what will your surplus earnings be?

Have you looked e.g. at moneysavingexpert.com to find ways to reduce your cost of living?

If you can get a second job, even for five hours a week, you can pay off £1,200 a year. Do it cleverly, with reclaiming charges, you will probably be able to do F&FS offers for 25%-50% of the full amount of your debt.

Going slowly, and knocking them off one by one, you may very well be able to be debt free for only 3,500.

iMHO, it would be daft to go bankrupt unless you have to. This would make it extremely difficult to get credit for at least 6 years, and it would take a long time before you could buy your own home etc.

[geministar2007]

thanks for all your advice.

i will only be working part time, but plan on moving into a smaller room in house which will just about half my rent. i have no other bills included, just food, phone (which has already been reduced)etc.

i will have an extra job by may but only for a few months.

what does F and FS offers mean?

[saintly_1]

F and FS offers mean Full & Final Settlement i.e. You pay £xxx as a full settlement of a debt