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sleeplessnights
| 17-11-2007 01:10 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | Hi I am very nervous writing on a forum but I am so desperate for some advice from people who have been through this process.. I have spoken to Payplan who tell me that as my husband has just been made redundant and I have only started a new job this week they can do nothing regarding a DMP at the moment, I am serioulsy considering bankruptcy. I will do a SOA later today but in brief I owe over 90k of unsecured of debt. A joint mortgage with Husband of 180k + with little equity. This has all been brought on by the fact I left a well paid job 12 months ago and have lived on credit since whilst hoping to get another job. I have eventually done this but the salary is half what I used to be earning. I have read so much info that I am so confused and feel very alone although sense tells me I know there are others like this but 90k+ is an awful lot of debt and do not see an end to this. I have to go out now but will come back on here later and will show my SOA, I just wanted to make the first step in communicating with people who may be able to give me some proper advice. I have so many questions which I will ask later such as one of the debts is an overdraft which is joint will my hubby also have to declare bankrupt. Thanks for reading my ramblings I am not having a good day. |
| View My SOA | |
| helpmenow | 17-11-2007 02:32 PM |
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Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 30 My Profile | Welcome to the forum. I was in similar situation as yourself, with sleepless nights but now I have managed to put in place a solution which has meant that I can sleep and be more at ease with myself and my friends and family. You have taken the first step to finding a solution to your debt problem. What I found helped me the most was knowing that somewhere down the line was resolution. I have just recently signed an IVA and I know that within 4 and a half years or so i will be debt free. Although I am no expert I can certainly back up the advice you'll receive for the experts that you must have a plan of attack. So post your SOA and we will see what we can do. HMN |
| paladin | 17-11-2007 02:51 PM |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 55 My Profile | Hi sleepnessnights No matter how big you consider your debt problem to be there is always a solution. We can help you through he decision making process explaining the options, and pros and cons of each. There is generally no one solution to your problem, the final decision will be down to you. As helpmenow said post your SOA and we'll see what we can do. P |
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sleeplessnights
| 17-11-2007 09:12 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | Thank you both for your replies, I just went on to complete SOA and realised that as husband lost job last week I can not enter income from him so maybe better fill this out after he gets another job.. As SOA is going to show a - 1k a month on priority bills.. council tax etc.. This is really my dilemma until her gets a job Idont feel like I can get this sorted. We have his salary this month coming in so shall I do SOA using this figure so you guys can get some idea. I am familiar with it all as I have been reading reading and reading on line for months.. like I said I have also spoken to Payplan but like I said I can not do anything until husband finds another job as my SOA shows a very large - figure on essential bills..(we are surviving on some money that was given to us by our parents and we have a mortgage holiday until March which should help us over the next couple of months until hubby finds work) This is where I am having a crisis until he starts new job I really do not know what to do with the creditors November will be the second time we have defaulted on these unsecured debts. One default notice has been served. I wrote to all 7 of the creditors and my bank Lloyds are banging on £20 a day interest for going over overdraft. I wrote to all creditors explaining honestly the situation and asked for them to accept £5.00 goodwill payments ( That my son has offered to pay, and I even explained this) whilst I was attempting to sort out. I also asked them to hold interest payments but they have not and only two have answered basically saying no sorry wont do and one even said they wont accept because my Income and expenditure shows I can not meet essential bills which was not true.. I had £3.00 left!! Anyway after all that really what I am attempting to do is try and work out what I do from here.. sit back and do nothing until husband has a job, use his current salary as a guide considering this will be paid at the end of November so not entirely untrue, infact its only because we know his boss very well that we know he will be made redundant after the end of this month.. right now today I guess he is still employed he was told in advance that it appears the company will go under or the company may be bought and he will then be made redundant. He will not be entitled to any redundancy.. you can probably see why I am so muddled I want to get whatever I do moving and face this but I seem unable to. This has been already going on for over two months as I was waiting to start a new job that required a criminal check and this took ages so my new job has only just started. I do apologise this is so long I feel there is so much to explain in order to receive advice on what to do next. Thanks for reading. |
| View My SOA | |
| DW George | 17-11-2007 10:36 PM |
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Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 148 My Profile | Sleeplessnight Don't appoligise for getting things off your chest (although paragraphs would be good :) ) To find a way forward we need to know your current situation and how things may change in the future so don't worry about the length of the post. Some questions have popped into my head as I was reading your post Do have an account with any of the banks you have a loan with? How quickly do you think your husband will get a new job? Will he retain a similar salary? Post your SOA and we'll get started. Sleep tight George |
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sleeplessnights
| 17-11-2007 10:54 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | Thank you! I can usually write in paragraphs :) I am sure you can tell I was tap tap tap!!! We are hoping my husband will have a new job within a month. He is very good and will do whatever to bring money in, he is able to go back to an agency and do some driving if necessary to bring in an income he has never been unemployed for very long so that is not really worrying us, we need his income in December so if nothing found by 30th November he will go back to agency on 1st December and as its xmas approaching work will be busy in this area with all the xmas deliveries around the country! I have already set up a new bank account as yes I owe loads to the bank I have a current account with, I did this before I defaulted so have a new account with just a debit card and I said NO to overdraft offered!!!! :) Although very tempting at this time of year!! I will post SOA tomorrow as I had better switch my head off now for the evening!!! Thanks again really appreciate help. I am reasonably prepared for whatever I have to do next but seem to have come up against a wall because of husband being told he is going to lose his job at the end of the month which is why I am thinking should I just use his current salary in calculations. His salary equates to the mortgae payment anyway and currently thats on a holiday break until March. Thanks again! |
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snowy
| 17-11-2007 10:56 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 1 | Hi Sleplessnight, I too have just sat here all day wondering how am I going to get out of my mess. I have never taken steps before I have always thought I will manage, but I have to face facts now as I cant go on. I even used the last of my credit card limit today to buy my daughter a dress for the school dance at Christmas. SHe doesnt ask for much but when at her age the "black number" has to be right, I couldnt let her down. Anyway, I have read as much as I can regarding IVA's and debt management programmes and am confused slightly. I dont have good credit and neither does my husband so although we do have equity in our propertty, no one will lend us the money to remortgage as our mortage was taken on as a self certified one and I just dont know if I can raise equity. I am considering selling my house paying the debts and renting, but my husband says no. I have completed my SOA and have allowed it to be viewed if you want to know that yoru not alone. Unfortunately I to am new to this and am hoping that someone has the answer and the right advise. Speak soon |
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| DW George | 17-11-2007 11:07 PM |
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Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 148 My Profile | Hi snowy Welcome to the forum. If you need some help and advice please start a new thread so that sleepless's thread doesn't lose it's focus. George |
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sleeplessnights
| 18-11-2007 12:47 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | Good afternoon!! I have attempted to do my SOA but on looking at it not sure why but my mortgage payments are not correct they are currently £1075 which is interest only. We have just come out of a fixed rate. I may be able to do something about this but not sure with default notices now arriving from other creditors. I am also worried on talking to the mortgage company at the moment as my mortgage is with the same people I have banked with for over 10 years and I owe them a lot over 30k. I am concerned they may take mortgage away from me although we have never defaulted on Mortgage. I have estimated husbands earnings for December as I have said previoulsy he is about to lose job at the end of November. Hope all this makes sense. You will probably see we are keeping head above water with priority debts and mortgage. All the debts excluding the overdraft which is listed as other on debt column are owned by me.The only debts husband and I have jointly are mortgage and overdraft. Thanks for looking any advice will be truly appreciated. Thanks Sarah |
| View My SOA | |
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sleeplessnights
| 18-11-2007 01:00 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | Hi Snowy Good luck! One of the reasons I came on here is that I have read so much about IVA's DMP and of course bankruptcy :( and do not know what step to take next. I have also looked at the option of renting but really this would be a last resort for me as the insecurity of renting concerns me greatly. If I have to do it then I will but I am determined to look for other options first. I think sometimes when we are so bogged down with this we need other people who have been through this experience to help us work out what our best options are rather than listen to our own inner thoughts and turmoil :) I am sure there is a way out for you but I will leave that advice to others as my story is so new that I dont feel confident or experienced to offer any real advice :) although always happy to listen. Its always nice to know you are not on your own! Take care! |
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Dave
| 18-11-2007 06:43 PM |
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Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 4 | Hi Sleepless and Snowy, Just wanted to say, hang in there both of you. I have been where you are now and it really is the worst thing to go through. Nothing can prepare you for being truly in the shit, no matter how you got there. You'll both face some extremely difficult decisions in the next few weeks that will probably make you cry your eyes out for hours on end but in the end, it'll all work out, you'll see. To be honest, it took me a couple of years to really get over losing everything but eventually, you do pick yourself up again and when you do, you'll feel like the weight of the world has been lifted. So chin up guys and remember this "If money can fix it, it just aint worth worrying about!" There really are bigger things to worry about - money is something you just have to deal with and the sooner you do it, the sooner you'll be happy again. Best of luck from the bottom of my heart, I really hope you get everything sorted quickly. |
| paladin | 18-11-2007 06:48 PM |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 55 My Profile | Hi sleeplessnights I have had a look at your SOA. Just to keep your house and live you are spending £2235. Your household income is only £2250 a month, which means that you can only contribute £25 a month towards your debts. There is some room to minimise your expenditure, eg £160 a month for gas and electricity could be cut down quite a lot, at least by half and smoking! However, that will not release enough money to deal with your debts. I see that you need £1794 just to service the debts and just now have only £25 a month to contribute towards it. You really don't have many options here. Bankruptcy seems your only solution. Don't freak!! It may be the best way forward for you. After 12 months or even earlier you will be debt free! :) You may not be forced to sell your house. Assuming that the all the debts are in your name, the joint ownership of the house could mean that you could hang on to your house. Your husband, friend or relative could buy your interest in the house and this money would go into the pot for the bankruptcy. I don't think that DMP is a starter. Some people use DMP as a long term solution to their debt problems but for you you would see no end and in the current economic climate your creditors would not have the patience for it anyway and start bankruptcy proceedings against you. An IVA would be suitable either since the unofficial dividend many creditors are looking for is around the 40% mark which your £25 a month doesn't come close to. Hope this helps Palaldin |
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sleeplessnights
| 20-11-2007 12:50 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | Thank you for your replies, Ok so deep breadth this is what I thought!! I have so many questions regarding Bankruptcy. I understand the beneficial interest and as we only have a small amount of equity I am sure someone in family will help us out as its a joint mortgage, however, one of the debts which is an overdraft is owned jointly can someone explain what would happen here would my husband be forced into bankruptcy too for the £7500 overdraft. All other debts are in my name only? When its mentioned about losing everything, does the Official receiver actually come into your house to see what you have and take it all.. ie. furniture tv's Sons playstation etc etc. I am sure you understand where I am coming from. What is deemed as an asset? We dont have plasma tv's as such but I guess we do have a nice home although nothing in it that has any major value but I guess if they took the lot it would add up! I also have a further dilemma, one of the loans I took out was whilst I was in between jobs. I left a very well paid job and although found another job and was waiting to start I took a loan to consolidate, as this was with an existing creditor when they got to the employment part I just had to confirm details they already held so out of convenience ( and some wrong advice I was given!)I confirmed employment details which was not true but I really believed at the time this would get us out the current situation and I was due to start new job the following month. The new job I did start but it was awful the boss was sexist and although I was salaried was expected to work over 50hrs a week. I must say previously to this I worked for a very large multinational for almost 10 years with a good work history fab bonuses etc etc so this whole episode with a local company was very alien to me and I therefore resigned. This all ended in a tribunal which I did win but it has taken me a further three months to get another job so hence consolidation did not happen and in fact we lived off that money maintaining minimum payments each months to all the creditors ( bad move I now know!!) What frightens me is will this be seen as fraud because In effect it is.. will the creditor ever know if I dont tell them. This probably scares me more than going bankrupt and the thought of losing everything! I do now have a very good job however, the salary is half but I am in a position where I get so much more job satisfaction and really enjoy what I do. I am of course worried about this job if I go bankrupt as its with local authority any advice on this would be appreciated. Finally I have received a letter from one of the creditors this morning being very helpful saying they will accept reduced token payments for 6 months. should I still be going along this line or declaring myself bankrupt. Should I still be talking to payplan (next phone call due from them on 3rd December) and following the process and if the creditors want to make me bankrupt then ok but should I be doing this myself. I am hopeful my situation will change maybe not immediately but I have worked my way up in a career before and have every intention to do it again. I would so much prefer to honour my debts although I do appreciate this could take forever under current stuation but current situation will hopefuuly change over the next couple of years where we will have more available income in the future. Sorry so many questions whilst many can be answered by reading on the internet there are some questions like those I have mentioned that even the internet does not seem to answer and I am hoping someones own experience may answer some of them. Thank you again for reading, all advice is greatly appreciated. |
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| paladin | 21-11-2007 10:14 AM |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 55 My Profile | sleeplessnights Joint debts mean joint liability. Therefore, if you do not pay your debt the entire debt then falls to your husband. Your husband would not be forced into bankruptcy just because you are made bankrupt, but if he does not pay off the overdraft, or make arrangements to pay it then the creditors will make him bankrupt too. You asked about what would happen to your sons Playstation etc. In bankruptcy the only assets seized are houses and cars worth more than £1500 and household items which are not seen as reasonable. So your sons playstation etc are safe. Basically the law is there not to punish you but to ensure that you are not benefiting, at the creditors expense from purchases you have made with their money. An example would be if you had a top of the range plasma TV and that plasma TV could be sold a new one bought with a substantial amount of money left over that item would be classed as "unreasonable". Therefore any "unreasonable items you have will be sold. Regarding your loan using your old employers details. The loan I suppose was technically fraudulently obtained. However, it would be very unlikely that the creditors would dig deep into the circumstances surrounding the loan because it would point out that they did not verify that your salary was correct. If they did do there checks they would not have lent you the money. The creditors will have nothing to gain from establishing that you were not totally accurate about your circumstances. They may actually lose out because they will have insurance which covers them for this type of situation and that will expect them to do the proper checks in respect of accuracy of information. The creditors will be able to write off some of your debt against tax. So if you add together the money they will receive in the form of dividends from your bankruptcy with the tax write-off and insurance money your creditor will not be too worried about your address details. What you do in respect of your debt is dependent on how you think you'll be able to cope with stress associated with it. If you can get your creditors to accept token payments and get a better paid job and then pay off the debts then go down that road. It is really up to you and how well you can deal with that situation. Good luck P |
| DW George | 21-11-2007 03:43 PM |
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Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 148 My Profile | Sleeplessnights Have a look at this article for more information about bankruptcy. "...to honour my debts although I do appreciate this could take forever..." Is it very honourable to put yourself and family through pain and stress related to paying off your debts? The key to dealing with your debts is to stop digging and decide what kind of hole you are in. If it's too deep you'll need to get help quickly and bankruptcy will get you out of the hole quickly. If the hole is shallow you can get yourself out and therefore debt management would be the route. So what of honour? Were the creditors acting honourably when they allowed you to run up so much debt? Are financial institutions acting honourably when they sent you a credit card cheques through the post encouraging you to go on holiday or buy a gift for someone? Is it honourable to increase your limit when you are already in debt and you didn't ask them to? Will creditors leave you alone and not phone you at work or at home when you miss payments? Think about these questions and ask yourself what the honourable thing is. Bankruptcy 1 year IVA 5 years DMP ??? |
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sleeplessnights
| 21-11-2007 05:05 PM |
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 | :) Thank you! Thank you both very much! It looks like more and more this is the route for me to take. I have logged a call with bank today in order to sort overdraft out. This with the beneficial interest in house maybe something we can get help from family with. Certainly my beneficial interest in house is not large.. I reckon on less than 7k and thats if they would get full market price and not excluding any costs that it would incur in selling.. Can you negotiate on this figure as I guess if they were to force a sell then estate agents fees etc would have to be paid making my beneficial interest lower. Any suggestions on what I could expect from this. Currently house worth 199k (according to house price index on Internet), Mortgage £181500 however, when the interest from the payment holiday is added ( mortgage holiday 6 months interest each month is £1075, due again in March although want to pay before.. as soon as husband working will do) I assume this gets added each month whilst payment holiday being taken. So overall if I start to pay in January again this would be 4 months holiday taken add this to existing mortgage and this figure would be £185800 taken away from value leaves £13200, making my beneficial interest £6,600.... am I working these approx figures out correctly? If I am and my figure of £6600 is coprrect what would be a good figure to be offering considering estate agents fees etc do they take this into consideration when agreeing a figure. Thanks again for help and sorry I always seem to have more questions :) I am sure as time goes on I will have more and more:) PS. D W George showed my husband that stand up on you tube you posted on a different thread it gave him a laugh also what a funny guy!! But oh so true!! |
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| DW George | 21-11-2007 05:19 PM |
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Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 148 My Profile | The value of the house will be assessed by the Official Receiver. A lower market value can be argued taking into account the need for a quick sale, no estate agents or solicitors fees. If your partner provided more of the deposit for the house or he pays the mortgage or it was his money which paid for a conservatory your share of the equity may be less than 50%. Your IP will take you through all this though. What you need to do is to decided on a course of action and then take it. G Glad you like the videos ;) |
