Discharge of Bankruptcy - How Much!!!

[sunseeker]

Just want to know if others think I'm getting ripped off or delt with unfairly and if there is anything I can do?

 

Myself and my wife were declared bankrupt in 1993. Until 2001 heard nothing about it until I attempted to re-mortgage my house and found I could not due to a charge being against from the Official Receiver (OR). I call the OR and offered to pay the debt from the re-mortgage if they could agree and was told that our details would have to be passed to a trustee (Tenon Recovery). When I found out the trustee appointed, they stated that the wanted to resolve this a quickly as possible (this was in August 2003).

 

2 years went by with me continuing to contact them and them being vague and non commital re: possible costs etc.

 

Received a statement of bankruptcy in August 2005 requesting £45,000. Set up re-mortgage and requested final statement from Tenons solicitors (Hammonds). This then quoted £52,000. Questioned this and they have stalled up until end March 06, when they stated 2 figures of either buying out the trustees interest in our home or for a complete annullment. Just got statement through today with one figure of £55,601 and a threat that if this is not completed by 18th April they will commence repossession action for my house!!!

 

The breakdown is as follows:

 

Creditors: £11,973.

Interest: £11,814

DTI fee on sum of £55,601: £8,340.

Trustee Solicitors: £5,875.

Trustee Disbursements: £294.

Trustee Remuneration: £14,982.

Costs to petition creditors: £1,376.

OR fees: £933.

 

I have a mortgage in place ready to go with to cover this but will leave nothing. They know that their total is just short of what my re-mortgage will generate.

 

Is there nothing that can be done to sort these people out??

 

a very annoyed sunseeker.

[BankFodder]

I am afraid that this area is beyond the scope of my experience.

My only immediate comments are:-

I thought that bankruptcy was meant to end all liabilites. It makes me think that the charge went onto your property before the bankruptcy - or maybe as part of the bankruptcy.

 

Secondly, other than the charge, the lmit for the recovery of any debts is 6 years.

 

I think that you should go and get proper qualified advice.

 

However, I would be interested to know what lead to the original indebtedness? This could be relevant in reducing your original liablity

[sunseeker]

Hi Bankfodder,

 

Debt was originally to HM Customs & Excise with a few smaller debts added to. The charge to the property was put on by the initial trustee for the OR. However, we then heard nothing for years from anyone as we had close to negative equity at the time.

 

When we applied for Home Improvement Loan to Building Society they stated that there was no charge on the property and this only came to light when our solicitor had to contact the Land registery.

 

My main concern with this is that the Trustee and their solicitors are just putting numbers on a page for their costs and remuneration with no justification behind them to show what they have done to earn these. Haw can they rack up over £20,000 of costs etc when original debt only £11,000. They bear no relation at all, unless these guys charge £500 per hour!

 

Am meeting with our solicitor on Monday for hopefully a voice conference with Hammonds, then off to see MP on Thursday. However, our solicitor is not a insolvency practitioner and when we went to see one approx 2 years ago, they said their costs could be up to £2,000.

[Seminole]

I am afraid that this area is beyond the scope of my experience.

My only immediate comments are:-

I thought that bankruptcy was meant to end all liabilites. It makes me think that the charge went onto your property before the bankruptcy - or maybe as part of the bankruptcy.

 

Secondly, other than the charge, the lmit for the recovery of any debts is 6 years.

 

I think that you should go and get proper qualified advice.

 

However, I would be interested to know what lead to the original indebtedness? This could be relevant in reducing your original liablity

 

I don't know too much about this either but I do know that it would not normally be possible to make this sort of claim for a recent bankruptcy. However, I did read something that suggested that this could happen in respect of old bankruptcies and I'm sure I read about exactly the same thing heppaning to someone else. Sorry that this isn't much help but there is a legal trap here that unfortunately some people fall into.

[beenrippedoff]

It is not the discharge of bankruptcy that is expensive (£60 discharge form from the court) it is the trustee in bankruptcy who will rip you off. If you own a house, he will claim the full equity of the property is invested in him and will go to court for repossession and eviction. The total cost of the bankruptcy will cost approximately 3 times more than the original figure. You end up paying approximately £15000 to the trustee in his fees, (he can charge what he likes) and normally has a friendly solicitor who will charge top dollar for the legal work. The Department of Trade and Industry will charge a fee and the statutory interest rate accrued is quite high. Bankruptycy does mean a fresh start, but with nothing. No money, no credit, no self respect, and many a person has committed suicide because of the hounding from the legal system. The fat cat lawyers and insolvency practitioners have got the cream from peoples misery.

Any further information you require, do not hesitate to ask. I have been through this system myself.

[jumalu]

Hi

We are in exactly the same position as you. With Tenon Recovery, now waiting to go to court in April. They are demanding repossesion of our home, the original debt was now where new the amount they will eventually take from them selling our house.

How did you get on ? Would be very interested to hear.

Regards Jumalu

[Strawb]

We originally owed around £70k due to a failed business. We paid over £12k to the insolvency practitioners, Findlay James. They then forced us to sell our house and have taken all the equity - over £115,000 to pay their fees and Secretary of State fees!! There appears to be nothing we can do about it - it's sickening. We were thinking of suing the Citizens Advice Bureau who told us we had no choice but to go bankrupt for giving bad advice - any other suggestions?

[pennie100]

does anybody no how the d t i charge is worked out

[gizmo111]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/22342-bankruptcy-protracted-realisation-unit.html

[sunseeker]

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