It would appear that there is an online search available here for individuals already made bankrupt:- Individual Insolvency Register - Home I'd still be interested to know if it's possible to check if someone is being petitioned for bankruptcy though. Interesting what you say pompeyfaith about being published in the local newspaper, I can't honestly say that I have ever noticed any!

Can I ask where these public notices are published? This may seem a daft question, but how can you find out if one of your creditors has petitioned for your bankruptcy or if you have already been made bankrupt? I'm not sure if either of those are even possible, but I ask as I live overseas and I have no idea what my creditors are up to.

One last question; are there any consequences for the family living back at home in the UK? My personal problems with the family stem from this very issue, they're concerned that they will be held accountable because I used their address for my statements and correspondence. Also the fact that DCA people turned up on their doorstep didn't help matters either... The general feeling is that I have screwed up the credit history for everyone who lives at that address, is that really true?

I guess I just feel that I should deal with the issue rather than let it continue. I'm concerned that if I do manage to build myself back up that someone is going to come back and bite me later, most likely when I least want it or expect it. I have no doubt that they will probably have a very hard time finding me, I doubt that they will but you never know. I don't want people causing problems for me where I live now either, I would rather put it all behind me. My brother spoke to his Solicitor about this who said pretty much the same as what you did, which quite honestly surprised me. He pretty much said there was nothing that they could do about it and he mentioned the Statute of Limitations as well. Call me old fashioned but I feel I should also be responsible in this. I do owe them the money, I did spend it. 6 years in an awful long time, I'm not sure I want to live in fear of these people should I return, I'd rather be done with it. From my perspective (and feel free to tell me if I'm wrong here!) I am already screwed. I have a bad credit history and it's about to get a whole lot worse! Why not just throw in the towel and "draw a line in the sand"? If I declare myself bankrupt then I will have a bad credit history for 6 years right? Well I've got that already, how could it get any worse if I declare myself bankrupt? Thank you for your reply x20, I appreciate you taking the time to type a response.

I live overseas in Asia and I'm in trouble. I'll cut a long story short and tell you that my business plans have failed, I now find myself living in a foreign country with my wife (who is native to the country in question) working for a local wage. I've been over here for almost 4 years and in January this year my bank a/c back in the UK finally ran out of funds and since February all my direct debits have bounced. I don't own a house or car in the UK and neither do I here (foreigners are not permitted to own land/houses where I am). I have a few personal items in boxes at my brothers house, but nothing of any real value. I have no assets here either, what little I did have after I lost my "shirt" out here has been cashed in, it didn't amount to much and that pretty much went whilst I was out looking for work. Anyway, enough of the hard luck story! What can I realistically do about this? I've pretty much lost all contact with my family over this sorry escapade except for my brother who lives in the UK. He is prepared to help me. Friends have said to just forget about it, but I feel that somewhere along the line I'm going to have to face up to this, might as well do it now right? Who knows what will happen in the next 2 or 3 years? I could well manage to get myself on my feet again with a bit of luck and I'd like to be able to return one day to the UK without feeling like I'm some sort of criminal who will have people chasing him for money. I owe about £15,000 to the Bank and Credit card companies. In the 12 months leading up to January this year I think I added about £500 to my credit card total, I certainly haven't been reckless with my spending and for the last 15 years I have never had a black mark against my name. I have no way of paying this off on the money I earn here, hell I can't really afford to buy a ticket home at the moment. I haven't had any contact whatsoever with the debt collectors who are chasing the debt, they don't know where I live. I don't want to contact any of them until I have some idea of how I'm going to manage this. I should add that I have a CCJ against me from last year (that's another story though!) that I only found out about recently, spilt milk now as far as I am concerned. Is bankruptcy the answer? I see one firm offering to do it for overseas clients for £625, it seems ironic that it's cheaper than the flight home! One of the things that they mentioned was that you had to have been in the UK in the last 3 years, not sure why, but that doesn't really apply to me. Any advice appreciated.