Few questions re BH, Council tax and bankruptcy

[B..]

Hi All,

 

I've been searching on the web for this information and also phoned a few places to ask them but nobody is clear.

 

If i start from the beginning....

 

Im on a low income and have high outgoings.

 

I worked out my debts to be a little over 10k for which im not proud of!

 

My issues lie with my council tax and brighthouse (for which i have read some VERY interesting threads on here!!)

 

Im considering going bankrupt or using a debt relief order, i've been in touch with CCCS who i have a phone counselling session with in 2 weeks time.

 

For the bankruptcy, all debts are in my name except for my council tax which is joint. I have been informed by the council that if i declare bankruptcy then the debt will be transferred to my partner. This creates a problem that the debt will still be there for me as i work and he is a stay at home dad and isn't in receipt of any income or benefits. So how will the council get the money from him if there is none to be had?

 

The question regarding Brighthouse:

 

I have 3 things with them 2 will be done in 52 weeks one i still have a massive 130weeks to go with them! Now the next few weeks i have no income. It is all going on paying what council tax i can. The CCCS have advised me to pay half my payment to them and to go to the store and pay it. When he told me this my partner decided to research BH and see what everyone else has done and the stories, particularly on here, are worrying. Why on earth did i get in with them?! So i was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what i should do about them. Do i go in and pay half my payment or wait until CCCS advise me on whether i should go bankrupt, have a payment plan or use DRO? Oh and i'll be asking them to remove the 'optional' service cover aswell, after reading about that on here.

 

any advice appreciated!

 

B

[dx100uk]

TBH, i would not even consider going bankrupt for £10k, not worth the aggro it causes.

 

as for brighthouse, well your here now and learning!, i'd pers do it all yourself!

 

now cccs, to be honest i'd go with payplan, they are a true charity and give impartial advice & assistance.

 

CCCs were set up by the banks & ultimately, have the banks interests at heart.

 

dx

[B..]

I dont have much of a choice going bankrupt. It might only be 10k and there are people in worse situations than me but if i dont do it the council will.

CAB also cant make a pay scheme for me as there is no income spare after the council have finished with me. I dont see there to be much of an alternative.

 

Have you got any reasons for going with payplan? I dont see how the banks will benefit from me? I did try them but they couldnt call me at times when i could answer all the questions i need to.

[cerberusalert]

Have a read of Debt Relief Order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which costs £90 compared to £750 for bankruptcy.

[dx100uk]

listen, forget brighthouse and all the other debtors, you primary concern is dealing with the council tax.

 

what do you owe them & how far has this gone?

 

liabilty orders/bailiffs etc.

 

have cca'ed all the others?

have you looked at reclaiming CC/loan charges?

 

ultimately, they can all be sent a letter telling them they will get £X for Xmts. even if it is £1, but you MUST do it & keep paying it every month REGARDLESS to whatever they write about.

 

all they can do is send threat-o-gram letters, they have NO LEGAL POWERS.

 

 

if and a very big IF, any of the debts ever got to court, the judge would just laugh them out the door and prob set repayment at a level far lower than what you make if you sent the above letters.

 

it YOUR money, you control it NOT them.

 

dx

[B..]

The problem is that i don't even have £1 spare at the end of the month. If i were to offer all the creditors £1 per month i'd have to stop paying something like TV License, to be able to pay it. I have no uncessary outgoings at the present time, all bills which need to be paid.

 

I recently offered the council £60 a month for the arrears ontop of this years, however i've not yet been able to commit to paying this years so i'm not in arrears with that, i've just been paying the £60. Including this years we owe around £2500

 

We've been in arrears with council tax for about 2 years now and we've not had any bailiffs come around, which must be lucky because a friend of mine had bailiffs visit him after he was only two months behind with his council tax!

 

For the past year or so we've been sent expenditure sheets etc, filled them in and offered what we can realistically afford but it's been refused every single time.

 

Now the issue i have is if i go Bankrupt or get a DRO, if i qualify for one (thanks for the link cerberusalert), what will the council be able to do regarding the debt? Will they bankrupt my partner with him not having any income? Or would they be more likely to accept a reasonable payment from him?

 

As for BrightHouse i am told they are a priority debt and they MUST be paid - where would i stand regarding this? I have been paying them religiously for the past two years only ever missing two payments (one of which was their fault). But i just cannot afford to pay it any more. I am actually more worried about this than the council tax!! The next payment is due this saturday, so shall i pay half as advised? or just leave it completely?

 

I do understand 10k (however it will rise to about 14k with brighthouse) is a small amount to go bankrupt for and i do know the seriousness of it. this isn't something i've just thought about overnight, it's been in the back of my head for months. I would rather not have the hassle of companies constantly threatening me, refusing my offers, going to court, and struggling with money again making sure i pay them etc, and just go BR/DRO, get them off my back and start a fresh. I know it lasts for 6 years on my credit file but my credit history is in tatters anyway with defaults, ccj's etc and would take me years to get back to any sort of decent state.

Edited May 7, 2009 by B..

[diamondgirl]

I know its hard but please try to stop worrying your here now and will get lots of advice.

Are you claiming all the benefits you possibly can? there are loads that you can claim.

DG:)

[B..]

Hi, thanks

 

Yeah we're claiming for everything possible, we're not entitled to housing/council tax benefit as i earn too much apparently, and my partner isn't entitled to any benefits for the same reason.

 

So only benefits we get are Child/working tax credits and Child benefit.

[cerberusalert]

As for BrightHouse i am told they are a priority debt and they MUST be paid - where would i stand regarding this?

They are most certainly not a priority debt, no matter how much they would have you believe it.

However Council Tax is, so this must take priority over everything else. I don't want to sound harsh, but it is one of the few debts were it can lead to committal proceedings for non-payment, so it really must be sorted first.

 

Work out how much money you have left after paying your priority debts, rent, food etc. Make a list of your creditors & try to work out a pro-rata payment to each. If it's only £1 each it doesn't matter, you are still making a payment & even if a creditor decided to apply for a CCJ a judge would not make an order for you to pay more than he thought you could afford. He would look at your circumstances, I&E etc and then decide, no-one else but he can dictate what the repayments are.

 

As for the Brighthouse cowboys, they are entitled to exactly the same consideration as the others. If you can only afford to pay them a £1 then so be it. They cannot do anything about it other than use the legal route the same as any other creditor & if they get stroppy the law is actually on your side & they can be easily dealt with. Any problems come back here & we'll help.

[B..]

Okay. I know what you mean about council tax. I can't even afford to be paying BH the half that CCCS have said i should give them, so should i just stop paying altogether and offer them £1 or whatever i think i can afford?

 

My only issue is that if i offer them the £1, it will be years upon years before they're even close to being paid off, as opposed to going bankrupt where i'll only have it on my file for 6 years.

[cerberusalert]

If you start paying them £1 or whatever you can realistically afford it'll take some of the financial pressure of you now. Compare both bankruptcy & the debt relief order & see which if either is best suited to you, The DRO is the cheaper although the criteria is stricter, although there are other alternatives such as IVAs. CCCS will go through the options with you when you see them.

[B..]

Thanks i'll do that.

 

Have you any idea why CCCS would say that BH is a priority and needs to be paid? As it worried be a fair bit when they said that.

[cerberusalert]

I can't understand why they said that, it's just a normal credit agreement you have with them, much the same as if you bought something from a catalogue.

[B..]

this is what they said.

 

Hello,

 

Bright House agreements are not standard debts they are set up as hire purchase agreements. If you were to default on a HP agreement this would put the item at risk.

[cerberusalert]

I see, it's a HP agreement so in fact you are hiring the goods until your final payment which would then make them yours. They would be able to repossess them until the final payment was made.

 

Have a read through the Brighthouse forum Brighthouse - The Consumer Forums and see if there is any advice there which may be of help. I personally have little knowledge of HP so can't really help.

[B..]

Thank you, i have posted in there.

 

Teach me not to look around the forums properly! lol