Going BR but need help on loads of Questions!!!

[sally.b]

Hi my partner and i have finally decided to go BR but we have loads of questions first. Any help would be great.

1) What is the full BR process? As in you fill the forms out and submit them, then..... What happens after you have been to your court date, is it down to the OR then?

2) Does the OR give you a budget then what ever is left over you give to the OR. (like in an IVA) or is it 70% you give to the OR and you have to budget the rest yourselves? can we not spend some of our budget and try and save some for things we want??

3) Does the OR have control over our bank account? Im with Halifax will i have to close down my account with them? Am i still allowed a bank account?

4) Can someone explain more about the nil tax code, really confused?? Is it benificial to me?

5) Im due a bonus of about 1500K in Jan, if i went BR in Feb could i keep my bonus or would they ask where that money went?

6) Would i be better off selling my car before BR (worth about 9K) and getting a cheper one now so i dont have to worry about being without a car for a period of time while they sell my car?

7) After we have been dischrged we will have to try and get a mortgage somehow, if we have about 200 disposable income then will they still take half for the remaining 2 years?

In the first 12 months we will be living at home and we can expect my parents to pay for all our food and living cost so what would be acceptable to give them?

Sorry for all the questions may post more later. lol [:I] x

[pm.e]

Hello,

Welcome to the forum.

I'll try to help as follows:

1) Register and fill out the forms online. follow this link:
https://www.insolvencydirect.gov.uk/isolv/

Follow this link on BR: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/bankruptcy ... ruptcy.htm

2) You will have to provide and income and expenditure sheet. Make it realistic. Dont leave anything out.

3) During BR, your account that you have will be frozen. Get a basic bank account after BR. If you can get one, try think banking (do a search on google)

4) Nil tax code, this is where all of your tax will be collected by the Official Receiver to basically put into your Bankrupty pot of funds to pay off your creditors. Usually lasts until end of financial year or when you change jobs.

5)Dont know why you would need to mention this??

6) If you own the car outright with no finance you will probably loose this because its an asset. You will probably be allowed a car of value around £3000.

7) You will have a income payments order for 3 years if you have any disposable income.

Be careful with this, put together your income and expenditure as if you were not getting any 3rd party help. This will then reduce any disposal income you may have.

Hope this all helps,

Good luck.

[sally.b]

Thanks for your help,

sorry may of confused you on this one i put can in stead of cant. What i mean is i cant expect my parents to pay for everyhthing so what will the OR thing is an exceptable amount to give them for rent?? Will they expect family to do it for free?

6) We brought the car with our secured loan?? so we dont have HP on it or anything. Would we be better off selling the car now and buying a car of 3K so we wont have to wait for them to take it away sell it give us money to buy a new one. Would they mind if we sold it before we went BR and kept the extra money in the bank to give to the OR when we become BR?? Does that make sense?

5) Can anyone help with this question??

3) We had a bank account with Lloyds who we owe money to so we were advised to open a new basic bank account with Halifax as we were trying to apply for an IVA. Will i still have to change bank accounts agin?? Its a real basic one with halifax???

Where can i find an acceptable expenditure guide? As in what is an acceptable amount for things that the OR will except.

If we have £2000 equity in the house, would we be able to keep it? As obviously it would be better for us to live in out own house!!??

After we have been disharge (12 months) can we then TRY and get a mortgage?

Thanks again x

Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately, and it gives you a lift. The hangover comes the day after.

[pippa]

Hi Sally

I will try and abswer your questions but you should still seek assistance from CAB, they will help you fill in your forms.

If you and your partner are petitioning for BR you will both have to pay £485 each, unless you arein receipt of any benefits then this amount may be reduced.

You say you have £2000 equity in your house, you will have the opportunity to find a friend/family member etc to purchase the beneficial interest. However there are also the OR legal fees to pay. You must continue to pay your mortgage also.

If you were to move in with your parents then you would I assume pay a form of rent and something towards the bills, you need to discuss this with your parents, your I & E must be realistic, however it will be down to your OR to decide what is and isnt acceptable. If you have someone who can purchase the BI in your property then you would be able to stay in your own home.

6) each OR is different with regards to Cars, some people have lost theirs regardless of value as the OR felt it was not essential to keep it. It is up to you to sell the car before petitioning, however there is no guarantee that the OR will allow you to keep the new car, I personally was albe to keep mine but the allowance in my area is 2K. You will of course have to hand over any additional money from the sale of your existing car.

5) If this money is paid whilst you are undischarged then you will have to advise your OR and they will confirm if this has to be handed over. At the end of the day we still have a responsibility to pay back as much as possible into the BR estate.

3) You need to speak with the halifax, not all banks allow undischarged BR to retain an account. I am not sure of the halifaxs stance on bankruptcy, but you may well want to open a new account anyway to avoid any issues when your account is frozen. I can recommend the CO OP and alot of others will recommend thinkbanking.

I assume you had an I&E for your IVA, was this not a realistic one? If not then list what you actually spend, be very realistic, as I said before the OR will say what is and isnt acceptable. Check out some of the blogs there are lots that have listed what was allowed in theirs, however again this differs by OR, even in the same area, they seem to have individual criteria.

You will once discharged be able to apply for a mortgage, but you will be resticted to the sub prime market. I cant really give any further advice in that area,

pm.e has listed the links to the insolvency site for you, your first port of call should be to read through all the advice listed there. Then perhaps give the CAB a call.

Good luck

Pippa

[Darren]

Just recently gone BR myself...so heres a couple of answers,

(1) Re your home... You will need to get 3 valuations then they work out the average price, roughly the same you owe or maybe a little more....the more equity, the more it will cost to buy back...you will need to pay them about £450 for there fees and then pay for your own solicitors mine were about £275 they sold the house back to me as well and BR was completely removed from the Land Registry History (or something like that, they call it lol)

(2) Your NT tax code, basically you will be paid your TAX in your wages that you normally pay the taxman, then they will ask you to pay this to (i pay Clarke Wilmott)a company i suppose who act for the OR to pay to your Creditors...i never saw this money anyway so wasnt to bothered who got it Tax man or Creditors.

(3) Your Expenditure guide...i phoned the CCS who done a Bankruptcy expenditure sheet for BR which used up more than my IVA expenditure sheet...so be sure to say your after a BR expenditure assesment...from being able to pay £`s into an IVA went to having nothing available for a BR which i found more realistic! and was accepted....

(4) Your car...you will be best of selling now, but they will ask what the money was spent on...with mine i spent the money on surviving each month, Christmas, Birthdays also a car £3500 general bills, put it to keeping my house mostly...( but failed to mention the last bit kind of...)

(5) I take it you have tried to enter an IVA as they will ask this question and i felt it was one of the reasons they didnt have any concerns for me...not to sure if you need to have tried, or not though...just thought i had better mention...

Great Luck for the Future its Bright out there...lol ;0)[:D]

B word not as bad as you`d think ? (im gonna find out soon)Since found out and turned out great!!!

[Skippy]

Hi Sally, I'm just going to add a couple of things to what the others have already said:

2) You will need to make a list of your income and expenditure minus your unsecured debts. Don't put down what you think you will be allowed, put what you actually spend. Allow for things like hairdressing, opticians, dentist etc. I have a list of the things I have been allowed on my blog, but bear in mind everyone's circumstances are different. When the OR goes through the I & E they may reduce, increase and or even disallow some things. Once the figures have been agreed you will then pay them a percentage of your disposable income and the rest is your to do as you wish - the most you will pay is 70%. There is a table on my blog showing how the figures are worked out.

3) The OR doesn't freeze your bank account, it is the bank that may well do this when they are notified of your BR. In my case the OR had no interest in my account with Lloyds TSB and the bank agreed I could keep it as I didn't owe them money. I don't think Halifax allow undischarged bankrupts to hold an account with them. Once you have been made BR you will need to try and open an account with either the Co-op or Barclays.

6) Do you need a car to be able to do your job or are you looking for work? They are the main reasons that the OR will allow you to keep a car. If you do and you are planning on selling the car I would buy one for areound £2500 and put as much of the balance away as possible as you will need to give this to the OR.

7) You will pay into an IPA for 3 years, the payments don't end when you are discharged.

The OR wouldn't expect you to live for free with your parents. As I said before put down what you actually pay them.

As the others have said you do need to take advice from somewhere like the CAB.

Good luck!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[sally.b]

Thank you for all your messages really helped. I have sinse been to the CAB and they have clarified everything for me. Im sure i will have more questions at some point. Thanks again. x

Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately, and it gives you a lift. The hangover comes the day after.