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Hi all

 

We have finally reached the point where we can go bankrupt, just about sold everything we can to get the money for my husband and I to go bankrupt so just trawling through all the forms on the insolvency website.

 

Just a few questions:

 

The things that we have sold to get the money to go bankrupt i assume is a good enough reason for selling them i.e my husbands work van?

 

What is classed as an asset? I can't see anywhere on the forms where it suggests what kind of value you consider something an asset - not that we have a lot i just dont want to get into trouble?

 

Part of the reason we have reached this point is because my husbands property maintenance business has died a death and he has taken a job for now working nights in a hotel until things may pick up again. Do we need to list his tools as assets and how do we do it ie just an average value for the whole lot or individually?

 

Any advice for form filling would be greatly appreciated

Thankyou

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

 

I have just been declared bankrupt (after a long time putting it off) and completed the forms online so I hope I can help. I have also had a lot of advice from the CCCS and best of all the Official Receiver's helpline - they are very good and very helpful, better than the CCCS. The court where you would file for BR should give you the number, or the number they gave me was 0845 602 9848.

 

The things that we have sold to get the money to go bankrupt i assume is a good enough reason for selling them i.e my husbands work van?

 

 

From the advice I was given it's absolutely fine to do this. The CCCS even said I could use any excess money towards essential items for the home, e.g. new washing machine, carpets etc. as long as it's sensible, reasonable expenses and justifiable towards general living costs. However, you may need to check the details with the OR Helpline if the van is an asset of the business. Should still be okay but it's worth checking, especially if it's a limited company?

 

As far as personal assets go they are really only interested in anything of significant value, fancy car, expensive jewellery (not a £100 watch). They are not interested in furniture, clothing, books, or indeed anything in your house unless it's very valuable. They also don't come to your house and take your possessions any more.

 

As a mater of fact the whole thing is very straightforward and very civilised. When I went to court I didn't even see a Judge. Paid my fee, waited a couple of hours and was eventually given the BR form and 1 copy of the paperwork. That was it. The next stage is an interview with the receiver and that's usually done by phone if the debt is under £60k or face-to-face if more than £60k.

 

As far as listing tools of your trade, you would need to speak to the OR helpline about that. Normally you'd be allowed to keep them, however you say your husband is working in a job where the tools are not required, so I couldn't advise on that.

 

When filling out the forms online make sure your monthly expenditure is a reasonably accurate account of what you actually spend, or need to spend. However they don't expect it to be 100% exact. Also you can use estimated figures for some things, like say road tax - divide the annual cost by 12 and put that down. Same goes for car maintenance etc.

 

Overall the best advice will be from the OR helpline but I hope this has helped too.

 

Personally I found the whole process very straightforward, a lot less stressful than I thought it would be, and the best thing I've done in a long time. Plus I'm completely debt free for the first time since I started working. Then again I don't own my house or have a mortgage, and Black Horse have already taken the fancy car away, so I'd nothing left to lose - except a load of debt! :)

 

Good luck!

Edited by GottaDoit
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  • 2 months later...

HI I know it was a while ago you posted your reply but hope you still get told if people have replied to it!

Anyway my husband and I are currently saving our money to get the fees for bankruptcy. We are nearly there. However we are concerned and confused as to what to do next. We have had companies who are willing to do the paperwork for us but charge up to £500! We want to know if this is needed.

I'm sure we could manage the forms but I am really worried about the bank account and things like that. Gas and electric and my husbands work etc. How did you get help with things like that? I'm worried that we will get in a mess with things like our direct debits and rent standing order plus my husbands wages paid into our account etc.

I would appreciate all help you have. We have enough saved £1100, but wonder if we need to save the extra £500 for someone to do it all for us.

Also I am worried sick about the court thing. I suffer from anxiety as it is and worry too much anyway so the day in court terrifies me!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Charlotte xx

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Have a read through this,

 

What is bankruptcy

 

It should answer most of the questions you have about BR.

You can even practise filling in the forms online. I dont think you need to pay anybody to do it. Have a read for a couple of days and come back with anything you are not sure about.

Im not an expert, but i am 10 months into my BR, so i hope i can help.

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Hi. I wouldn't pay anyone to fill in the forms for you! £500 is a rip off. It's not difficult, the insolvency.gov.uk website provides the online form service for free and you can make as many changes you like before you submit it. You can also print it off, read it through, go back and edit it as many times as you like up to the point where you submit it. Even then if you've made a mistake (as I did) you can do it all again and submit a new one. Each one is given a unique ref. number and this is what you provide the court and receiver, so they use the correct one.

 

Even then if you've made a minor mistake (as I again did) you can score out the errors in pen and add the correct info. As long as you sign next to each change and make the same change to all the copies. The OR helpline is great for advice in completing the form and if you have any questions about any aspect of it please ask and I'll try to help. Don't throw away £500.

 

If you both go bankrupt at the same time it could cause problems with the gas, elec, phone and bank accounts. All your bank accounts will be closed, the gas and elec could ask for a prepay meter to be installed at the house, and the phone company could ask for their bills to be paid in advance.

 

We were advised to do it separately with a few weeks gap. Say you do it first. Phone the gas, elec and phone company and get everything put solely in your partners name. Your partner should also get or keep a bank account in their name only and everything should be paid into and out of this account. Once you've gone bankrupt go to the Co-op and open a cashminder account only in your name. You'll get a visa debit card, you can set up new standing orders, DD's etc. and even use online banking. You can then get all the income and outgoings dealt with from that account. Also phone the utility companies again and get everything put in your name only. This (seemingly) should avoid all the prepay meters etc. as they shouldn't need to be informed.

 

Note: This is only the advice I was given. I don't really know if they are informed anyway. So far we haven't had any problems, but then again I still haven't had the report from the OR (they are a bit behind) and my creditors still haven't been informed of my BR.

 

As your husband is working the OR will probably set up an Income Payment Arrangement so that any excess income is paid to your creditors for up to 3 years (or longer in some circumstances). I am on benefits and they can't touch any of that.

 

Your husband also needs to check his works policy on bankruptcy.

 

As for the day at court, I suppose each one is different, but there wasn't anything to worry about, just a lot of waiting about. From my experience it's all very civilised. Just a long boring day.

 

If your house is rented your landlord will be informed and most agreements have a clause about bankruptcy. You'd need to read it carefully and take advice on this. Is it private or via a letting agent?

 

Hope this helps. Any other questions feel free to ask.

Good luck

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Hi CHARLOTTE

 

My husband and I went bankrupt in July together. I know how you feel i was really nervous but there was absolutely nothing to worry about, everybody was really nice and sympathetic. I would advise you ring the court and make an appointment for the earliest time they have available as if you are the first on the list it saves waiting around all day. Fill in yor forms on the insolvency website and then print 3 copies off each and take them with yo to court with your fee. Just check and double check them before submitting and include every bit of money that you owe.

 

All your bank accounts will be closed and we did have trouble getting a new one and were refused by Barclays and Halifax who are supposed to help but eventually got an account with Co op. Our gas/elec providers were not one of our creditors and have been none the wiser, we just moved the dd to our new account. We were able to pay our rent by cash each month and the insolvency said they would not inform our landlord as long as we could send them proof of our tenancy - BIG RELIEF! They were really really helpful as long as you are honest with them and they can see you are a genuine case they will try and help you. My husband is employed and not on a brilliant salary so they said they have an arrangement with the inland revenue to take the tax so his take home pay is no different!

 

Hope this helps, if you have any more questions just post away. I heard court takes a dim view of you paying people to fill in your forms as this money could be paid to your creditors. Anyway it is the best thing we have ever done and we can now move on with our life

samx

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  • 3 months later...

I'd say whatever is in one partners name you should list on their forms. Anything in joint names should be listed on both sets of forms.

 

Everything of any value will become part of your bankruptcy estate whatever happens, and will usually be taken off you. Not always though. Our car is worth about £1500 and they've never taken any interest in it because I said we need it for school runs etc. and the value is relatively low for them. They also let me keep my life insurance policy as it has no surrender value unless I snuff it. :)

 

The more straight you are with them the easier the process will be. Safer to declare things even if you later find out you didn't have to, than the other way round and risk complications.

 

I went bankrupt in June and I've just had a letter saying they are going to submit a court notice recommending early discharge, so the whole process can take less time than you think. The time since June has gone quite quickly. Hope this helps and good luck.

Edited by GottaDoit
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  • 2 years later...

Hi, I have just got the money to declare my self bankrupt at last. I have got all the forms from the website, but am a little worried about what will happen with all my bills that i pay by direct debit now. My ex husband declared himself bankrupt in January this year, which left me with the all of the shortfall of the mortgage plus a secured loan to try and pay back. I wanted to do an IVA but my debt it too high now to even consider doing that,. I am a single parent of a 16 year old, and am living in a rented property. My son is not working, and my child benefit and tax credits are due to stop as he has now finished school. I have a basic bank account with no overdraft and am paying all my bills now by direct debit or standing order, will i still be able to do this. Also i have a basic bank account with the Nat west, i do not have an overdraft or anything like that, will i still be able to use that bank account, or will i have to open another one....... My employer knows about my bankruptcy so that won't be affected, but i still need to pay my wages into somewhere...... I have a company pension, which is not worth very much, from here and have had others which i am transferring to my current one, will they want details of those. Also i am struggling with the forms.... are there any copies that i can get to help me with filling them out. Thanks very much

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Well it's been 3 years now so trying to remember everything now. :-)

 

I had (and still have) a basic account with Natwest. The OR told me it would be closed but it wasn't. I continued to have a debit card, use online banking and so on. Didn't have any direct debits as I like to be in control of what I pay and when, but I don't see why they wouldn't allow them. I also had a basic business account with Natwest and that wasn't closed down either, in fact I was allowed to keep the checkbook. The Co-op also do a basic account which I believe they also let you keep. I opened one the day of the petition. This is of course unless they have changed the rules. Best bet is to phone and ask them, Natwest were very helpful when I phoned. As far as I know all the other banks will close all your accounts no matter what.

 

Make sure you withdraw any money you need before the day. You will need the cash for the bankrputcy and you are allowed to keep what you need for reasonable living expenses. Having said that, nothing happens until the OR contacts them, or they see it in the paper.

 

Yes, they will want details of any pensions but you might be allowed to keep them, or buy them back for a nominal fee. I had a life insurance policy which they took but allowed me to buy back for about £100. These things are usually not worth anything to them so they would rather get a bit more cash out of you and allow you to keep them.

 

My bankruptcy ran the full 12 months and for most of that they showed no interest in my car, but that changed near the end. They treated it as jointly owned even though it was in my name and allowed me to buy back my share. Luckily they valued it at some ridiculously low price so I only had to pay a small amount to keep it.

 

I didn't bother to tell the gas, electric or phone company and none of that was affected - no pay-as-you-go meters. I even kept sky tv and broadband, no one was interested and I was never told to tell any of them. If I had given them up I probably wouldn't be able to get them now. If you have HP on a car they will (almost definitely) take the car away, but not if you used an unsecured personal loan and you just happend to buy a car with it. The OR may take it away anyway, or as I say, allow you to buy it back.

 

I added a post before about filling in the forms. There is help available but if you have any specific questions post them here and someone will help. I can't help with property related questions but otherwise...

 

The past 3 years has gone quickly and I believe my credit rating is slowly improving but still has a long way to go. I still can't get a mobile phone contract but apparently I can now get a credit card with capital one if I pay them a security deposit.

 

Good luck!

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Hi,

 

I went bankrupt 2 years ago and I was worried about the bank and bills side of things too. I was told the worst, like no DD, having to have pre pay leccy and gas, closing all my accounts. None of that happened. As advised we had already opened a new account ready for after the bankruptcy. It was a Cooperative one. Our existing one was a basic Natwest. The Natwest one was never closed down I discovered and I use it now for budgeting. They didn't even want the new bank account details.

All of my other bills have never been effected. Nothing happened with that at all. We didn't notify anyone and we weren't told to either.

Since we have been bankrupt our main issue has been renting. We were renting at the time but now need to move and we cannot go with an estate/letting agent. We have to go privately which is quite difficult. You can rent through agents if you have a guarantor but they have to earn quite a bit. We recently got a low credit limit credit card to start build it back up. We pay if off on full every month, we use it for petrol.

Anyway lots and lots of luck with it all. It was the scariest thing I've done but actually there was no need to be. It's never as bad as all the people make out. Just take it one step at a time. I can't give you advice on the forms as we had someone do that for us.

Let us know how you get on xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

I also got discharged early, only 9 months after my court day but my husband went the full 12 months as he now has a IPA.

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  • 1 month later...

Re bankruptcy What if you cannot afford it is there any help out there for low income folk my wife does not work and I get working tax credit !

What happens if you go one at a time and you have joint debts ? just a little clarification we,re not going to wait until someone does it to us we,re gonna go for it !.

Scary but want all the debts out of the way ! at the same time !. What happens if you forget or miss someone ?

The statements on here from people who have done it make us think it may be worth it !

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Reading these comments we are thinking instead of waiting for debts to catch up (even if some are 6 year SB) maybe we should just go for it !

Why well example our mortgage provider who reposessed our house leaving a 98K debt has agreed for us to pay nothing but leave it sitting there ! (might be better to get rid of that !)

Is there any help for no income or low income my wife does not work and I am on working tax credit !

What happens were you have joint debts if we go one at a time !

What happens if you miss some debts can they come back later ! due to lost paperwork abroad we really could have some !.

We defaulted on a mortgage abroad they stated they would take property as full payment but keep forgetting to get back to us LOL. May be better to just leave that not sure !. Any answers experiences on the above points would help

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Is there any help for no income or low income my wife does not work and I am on working tax credit !

 

Give turn turn 2 us a call, they will go through your previous occupations, Utility providers, health etc. and will match any Charities that offer grants... http://www.turn2us.org.uk/

 

What happens were you have joint debts if we go one at a time !

 

When you are made Bankrupt, it is for you only, any debts in joint will be your other joint partners sole responsibility.

 

What happens if you miss some debts can they come back later ! due to lost paperwork abroad we really could have some !.

 

Your Bankruptcy is posted in the London Gazette for that very reason, if any Company (debt Collection or otherwise) contacts you regarding a debt which you missed off of your 6.28, then give them your Official Receiver's name, address and phone number and your Bankruptcy number, Date and Court in which you were made Bankrupt.

You can send Copies of your Bankruptcy Certificate but Copies only!

 

Stigman

NEVER telephone a DCA

If a DCA rings you, refuse to go through the security questions & hang up!

 

If I have helped you, click on the star & say thank you

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Interesting comment here in the OP regarding assets and what is and what isn't an asset.

 

I put on the forms that I had none thinking I only had normal household things and they wouldn't count. No jewellery, or antiques or anything I would consider in any way luxury, one TV in the whole house for instance but when the OR phoned me for my interview he asked me about assets and I said I had none and he said "Everyone has assets, what are you sitting on?" I was sat on my bed at the time!

 

I do think my OR was particularly harsh however in his general attitude towards me.

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The furniture is not ours nothing in the house it genuinely has been rented furnished to us we do not own anything but this lap top lol

 

You should have a copy of an inventory done by either your Landlord or a private contractor on their behalf, the Official Receiver may want a copy so dig it out ready just in-case.

 

Stigman

NEVER telephone a DCA

If a DCA rings you, refuse to go through the security questions & hang up!

 

If I have helped you, click on the star & say thank you

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  • 1 year later...

hi can you tell me if legal aid is included in a bancrupcy i was p/t and my ex partner took me to court to have contact with my son but he was not working but i have bill for £1000 now and i doesent bother with my son anymore but i still have to foot the bill.any answer i would be grateful cannont see nay thing on the web about this

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