Bankruptcy & IVA Information Centre – FREE National Advice UK Forum - Recent Topics

What to do?

rubles04 — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 06:36:55 +0000

Hi,

What to do if you can't afford Wescot? Can I have an agreement to talk about how I can reduce it a little? Is it possible? Please help me, my monthly bill is too high and I can't afford to pay it completely.

I need your advice Thanks,

No income, not on benefits

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:29:37 +0000

Hi, I have over £20,000 worth of credit card and catalogue debt that I just can't pay anymore. I recently stopped my part time job (which paid for my debt repayments) due to an operation and won't be able to start working again for a while.

My husband works and pays the bills. He gives me money each week for bits and bobs for the kids etc but I have no earnings as such, and no big expenses.

We don't really have much left over anyway but I just wondered if I am not earning can they take money off my husband if I go bankrupt?

How do I support my boyfriend through bankruptcy?

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:25:51 +0000

My boyfriend of eight months told me last night that he was going to go bankrupt. He is in the process of divorcing his wife (they have children) and he has recently moved into rented accommodation (after staying at his parent's house) as he signed his house over to his wife last year (he's not sure why he did this).

He's employed as a care worker earning £18,000 p.a. He hasn't told me the background behind the split, the finances or his past financial history (other than the fact that he was banished from the family home a few years ago for some kind of misjudgement) and I'm concerned now that having heard a little of what has been going on, he is incurably irresponsible with money.

He sometimes has to borrow from his parents and children to make ends meet. I want to support him and help him without being patronising as he's very proud (he's 45 btw) but I also think that he needs some kind of training or coaching to help him with his financial management in future. My background is contract law and finance so I'm very well equipped to help him with this but I don't want to appear to be laying down the law.

Has anyone been through this? Can anyone offer me any advice? I'm very worried as he is an old friend and a lovely man who would do anything for anyone but he also suffers depression and I know it's going to be a very hard time for him.

OR requesting unsustainable payment plan

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:24:01 +0000

Hi, we have been through the BR and one of us (me) has been offered early discharge with no payments. My husband has been given a telephone interview and told that we have to pay £272 per month for the next three years. We are only just surviving, our cars are on their last legs and we both work. Two children under 18 - both at school.

They have not allowed anything that is not essential therefore we cannot afford to paint our rented house (part of the terms and without which we could be in breach of the rental terms and conditions) they have not allowed us anything but essential travel so we are in trouble for getting to a funeral as we do not have any spare cash. Is this normal? If this stands we will have to severely curtail ours and our children's travel and food..............HELP please Does anyone have the allowances that they work to?

They have only allowed us £400 per month for food for example and this is not do-able. Their allowance for mileage is way out of date as we are currently paying £8.25 per gallon for fuel but the allowance for us to get to work is half this! I will stop rambling now and hope for some help! I really thought we would be coming to an end of it now and that we would get the fresh start that we so badly need.

Please help with my IPA

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:22:02 +0000

Hi
I'm new here,

Im after some help with my IPA, We are in receipt of wtc/ctc and dla, we don't pay rent or council tax, we are also self employed - although we don't earn a great deal.

Ive been asked to pay an ipa for just over £100 pm. They have gone through all the figures with me but I need a couple of questions answering.

1, Can they take into consideration my sons dla (he's at school) at present they are BUT the off shoot it straight away with travel expenses for him/us.

If they cant take it into consideration then our travel expenses should come out of the rest of our income? We dont own a car but spend alot on taxi's/public transport.

2, Can you include pet insurance as a outgoing/expense?

3, After you have agreed to the ipa can you ipa figure per month be changed? i.e lowered or going up?

Thanks for your help guys.

Credit file recording secured debt after bankrupt

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:21:04 +0000

Hi,

Hoping someone can help.

I declared myself bankrupt due to a huge change in income back in March 2011 and have since been discharged a few months ago. In order to clear up my credit file as soon as possible I've been looking at it in more detail through my credit report and monitoring a few things. Most creditors appear to have done the right thing and registered the correct information but one account concerns me.

Before my bankruptcy I had a car loan with Creation finance which got to be 6 months in arrears. Unfortunately Creation managed to get a charging order on my property before I was able to go bankrupt so this is the only debt I have outstanding. At the time I wasn't too concerned as it put my property well into negative equity and meant that the OR was unlikely to try and force sale of the property.

Once the charging order landed, Creation made clear that they would not try and force sale of my property and this was purely to secure their money. Upon looking at my credit file, they continue to register payments as 6 months late despite me now being 18 months behind, past the default and CCJ stage and the loan has now been secured.

My worry is that in 6 years time my credit file will be totally clear with the exception of creation who continue to register this loan as 6 months behind, whereas if it went to default status it would be off my file in 6 years regardless of if it has been paid up.

I intend to try and pay this back in time but cannot afford to at the moment. In future this could prevent me remortgaging or moving, at which point they would get their money, so it seems counter productive from their point of view as well.

My question is two-fold:

- Am I able to do anything about this secured loan given my bankruptcy and that it was originally unsecured, even though it was secured before my bankruptcy?
- Are Creation able to keep registering this data or should it now be at default stage on my credit file and, if so, what do I do about it?

Any advice would be much appreciated as I've tried searching everywhere but can't really get an answer and I'm trying to prevent my bankruptcy having an impact of longer than 6 years.

Bankruptcy and PPI Claims

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:18:45 +0000

There still seems to be a lot of questions and confusion over being bankrupt, or having a bankruptcy discharged, and being able to reclaim miss-sold PPI/Payment Protection Insurance.

I hope this below will help and much of it comes from the government's insolvency service.

Bankruptcy and PPI

I have been receiving more and more queries about people that have gone bankrupt and are looking to reclaim mis-sold PPI, or payment protection insurance.

There have been many opinions on this, one is that if the bankruptcy has been discharged, it is over and any PPI claim funds should belong to the bankrupt. However there are and have been differences on this topic.

I recently saw and read, where the government’s insolvency service have addressed this in a comment or article on their web site, and they are quite clear on the matter.

Here is basically what they have stated:

A PPI mis-selling claim: a bankruptcy asset

Following provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986, The Insolvency Service takes the view that if a PPI policy was mis-sold before the date of an individual’s bankruptcy, any claim relating to the alleged mis-selling of the policy is owned by the official receiver or trustee of the bankruptcy estate, not the individual to whom the policy was sold.

Discharge from bankruptcy does not alter the position

Discharge from bankruptcy does not alter this position. Discharge does not operate to transfer unrealised assets, including PPI mis-selling claims, back to the individual.

Considering a PPI mis-selling claim: refer to the official receiver or trustee

If a (former) bankrupt considers that a PPI policy was mis-sold, they should not attempt to pursue a mis-selling claim without reference to the official receiver or trustee.

If a claim has already been made, the official receiver or trustee should be informed of the claim and the person against whom the claim is being made should be informed of the bankruptcy

Use of claims management companies

The Insolvency Service is aware that some (former) bankrupts have used claims management companies to pursue PPI mis-selling claims for them. If these services are used after the date of the bankruptcy order, it is possible that the individual will remain responsible for all or part of the commission charged if an award is paid to the official receiver or trustee. This may be because the amount of the commission is challenged by the trustee or if the firm against which the award is made is a creditor in the bankruptcy and exercises a right to set-off the award against its claim in the bankruptcy. This could result in no payment being made from which the commission could be paid.

As such, care should be taken before acting in this way.

Best course of action: contact the official receiver or trustee

The best course of action for any individual contemplating making a PPI mis-selling claim who is or has been affected by bankruptcy is to contact the official receiver or trustee dealing with their case before proceeding further.

This is some serious stuff. It basically is stating any PPI claim belongs to the bankruptcy, and if you have a claim in, or are considering a PPI claim, you need to contact the OT or Trustee, regardless of being discharged or not.

In addition, if you use a service, you may be held liable for any fees involved as the entire claim can be taken for the bankruptcy.

Serious indeed.

What Happens If My Landlord Goes Bankrupt?

Insolvency & Liquidation — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:15:09 +0000

What Happens If My Landlord Goes Bankrupt?

I get asked this question, and it seems to be happening more and more as landlords, just like everyone else can be faced with the possibility of bankruptcy.

Much of what will occur for you the tenant, depends on what type of mortgage your landlord has. If they have a buy-to-let mortgage or if they have a standard mortgage, possibly one they took out to live at the property and then they have moved to another home and rented the property out.

Here is an article I have written on this subject a while back:

Landlord, Bankruptcy and Tenants

In these times of uncertainty and with the mortgage and housing market dropping, there are more and more repossessions of properties occurring. If you do not pay the mortgage payments each month, the bank or lender can take the property back and put you out on the street.

But what if you are a tenant in a property, you pay your rent each month and the landlord does not use it to pay the mortgage, or for whatever reason, does not pay the mortgage. As a tenant where do you stand in this?

You better be sitting down as you don’t stand too well is the answer.

It can be broken down into two categories, one is if the mortgage the landlord has is a buy-to-let mortgage, and the second category is if the mortgage the landlord has on the property is not a buy-to-let, but a standard/ordinary mortgage. But the bottom line in both of these instances is not good for the tenant.

If the mortgage the landlord has is a buy-to-let, then the mortgage company should be aware there is a tenant in the property. Once the property is repossessed the mortgage company will appoint a receiver to collect the rent from the tenant. Sounds fair enough, you are just paying rent to a different landlord. However, the mortgage company can begin the process of evicting the tenant if they choose and this can be done, in some instances, with as little as two (2) months notice.

If the mortgage the landlord has is not a buy-to-let mortgage, and if the property is repossessed, the lender can have the tenants evicted even quicker as they are not authorised to be living there by the lender.

I don’t know about you, but I have never once asked my previous landlords if the property has a buy-to-let mortgage on it or not.

One thing that makes this even more difficult for tenants is that the mortgage company will not discuss any of this with the tenant; it is none of their affairs and they are not on the mortgage. Under the Data Protection Act the lender cannot discuss this with the tenant. And a tenant may never even be aware of the pending repossession since they are not notified by the lender, the landlord may not advise them, and they may discard any post addressed to ‘occupant’ as junk.

Lastly, if a tenant wanted to purchase the property from the mortgage company after the repossession, while it may be possible, the lender is obligated to try and get the best price for the property as they can on the open market, thus making it more difficult for the tenant to purchase the property.

I think we all now will look at renting a place through different eyes and ask a few more questions besides where are the local shops and bus routes.