Hi Everyone
Thank you for the continued and increasing interest in my case and, in view of that, I feel I should elaborate on the details of it. I suppose my circumstances are a little unusual and, by the end, you will all advise me to go bankrupt anyway and you’re probably right!
I live with my parents and Uncle who are all pensioners and are in no way connected to my debts. I really don’t know the exact details of their incomes and they probably wouldn’t tell me even if I asked them, they are a bit old fashioned about that sort of thing.
Now, to the history of how my debts occurred and got out of hand. Ever since I started work, at age seventeen, I was bombarded by the credit industry to have credit cards and loans and still am today, surprisingly enough. I accepted the offer of certain credit cards and stayed in control of the situation in the early years, but, at the age of 24, I became self-employed with the video business that I still run today, which involves filming live stage events such as dance shows, school plays and fringe theatre and selling the copies to the performers or their families. From time to time I would have to use credit to pay unexpected bills or, sometimes, to finance the travelling that doing video jobs all over the country entailed. Over the years, the debts mounted up on a variety of cards, but I managed to keep on top of the payments, just! I was still being offered higher credit on a regular basis. My credit card limits would be increased without me asking, I would be offered loans, with no questions asked, just tick the “yes” box, supply my bank details and the money would appear in my account. I had a loan for £3000 that way, which I paid back in the allotted time, and, was subsequently offered a loan for £4000 which I also accepted and paid off. Then, in 2003, my existing super VHS video equipment was worn out. I had resisted attempting to upgrade to the new digital format because I couldn’t afford it, so I continued to use the old kit for as long as I could, but two camcorders developed faults almost simultaneously and I could no longer do jobs without renting camcorders, which, obviously, put a severe dent in my already strained profit margins. Out of the blue, I received a phone call one day from Egg, with whom I already had a credit card, asking me if I would like a loan for £15000. Well, actually, yes I would, it was perfect timing, I used the money to buy the new digital camcorders and computers for editing and any money left over I used to pay off some of the other credit cards.
The problem is, however, that editing on computer, which is the accepted professional way to do it, is much more time consuming than my old method with the super VHS equipment had been. Add to that, the problem that has always existed with this business which is that it tends to be seasonal, with many shows being performed towards the end of a school term, which creates a lot of shows to edit, one at a time, forming a bottleneck effect and I found that because of the long delays caused by the editing process, a lot of customers were tired of waiting and lost interest in buying copies of the shows that I had filmed. As my income dropped, I struggled to keep up with the credit payments. I started incurring late payment charges, £20, and if that put me over the credit limit then I would get hit with over the limit charges, £20, too. The debts spiralled out of control and eventually a stage was reached where it was impossible to ever catch up. The credit industry had fallen over themselves to get me into debt and then. when I was down and struggling, they tried to milk me for every penny they could get with charges that are extortionate and out of proportion. I never used the loans and credit cards to pay for a good time or buy myself luxuries and the debts had built up, in total, over a period of nearly 30 years and, by this time, were about £30,000.
Finally, I turned to First Debt Rescue, now called Moneysolve, to intervene on my behalf. The person I spoke to on the phone was clearly a “salesman” who assured me I would get an IVA based on the monthly sum that I could afford which was £225. However, he said I needed to build up a record of regular payments first for about six months to verify my reliability. So in April of 2006, this payment plan was implemented and the letters and phonecalls from the creditors ceased. After the six months were up, I contacted the same person at Moneysolve and asked about the IVA but was told that £225 a month was not quite enough to secure an IVA and to carry on until such time as I could afford to increase the payment amount. With no real alternative, except bankruptcy, I did so.
Then, after two years of unmissed payments, I get a phonecall from Moneysolve, suggesting I go for an IVA! Hang on, I thought I wasn’t paying enough to get one and I couldn’t afford to pay any extra. Oh no, apparently, £225 per month is enough after all. Well, okay then, I would be paying the same amount for five more years and then that would be an end to it. Great!
I continue paying the £225 a month but it now goes towards the administration costs for setting up the IVA. I know that is standard practice but I only found that out when the creditors started contacting me wanting to know why they were no longer receiving any payments. There were forms to complete, details to send and I had to get my business accounts up to date and submitted to them.
At this point, I should explain a few personal circumstances. I had run the video business for 22 years, it’s what I know how to do and I am damn good at it. It’s like running a little movie factory where I do everything myself, filming the shows, multi-camera editing, running off the copies, designing and printing the covers, delivery, the lot! Most of these productions are feature film length and in order to watch everything I have produced over the years would take about one calendar month, of 24 hour days, watching one after another, non-stop. That’s a pretty prolific output for one person, believe me! It requires an inordinate amount of patience and consumed most of my time. Consequently, I became used to living simply, with little spare time or money to do much else.
I also have a condition called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) which involves complex, time-consuming ritualised behaviour. I have had it since I was 11, but didn’t realise exactly what it was until it was diagnosed in 2003. I was given medication, which helped reduce the effects of it, but found it made me sluggish and apathetic which didn’t help the business troubles and I eventually came off it myself about 18 months ago. The OCD has increased back up again but not as bad as it used to be.
I still lived with my parents and never having been particularly sociable or outgoing I didn’t really require much to live on anyway. I liked the comparative freedom of my self-employment and despite my financial limitations I enjoyed my inexpensive hobbies, cycling, running, tennis and associating with a few close friends. My parents and Uncle are all in their eighties and, as none of them drive, need me for transport and helping out with other chores. Hence, they allow me to live rent free and as they particularly don’t like the idea of me going bankrupt, had let me go without paying
my share of the household bills in order for me to afford to maintain the monthly payment plan and would have continued to do so if I had secured the IVA.
I know this is a weird set of circumstances and an unusual lifestyle which has it’s advantages and disadvantages. It all depends what you value the most, in my case, it’s personal freedom, compounded by a need to be self-employed due to the OCD making it impossible to do a normal job and the need to be there to help my parents.
Back to the IVA proposal, my case was handled by Beesleys Nominee Services, which is still the same firm as Moneysolve. The lady handling my case advised me to go bankrupt! It was good advice but two and a half years late. I could have gone bankrupt in the first place and saved over £6000 paid out on the DMP building up my record of reliability. I asked if she thought I would land the IVA, bearing in mind, my profit for 2007 was only £3825, but my expenses incredibly low. She was sure that the creditors, faced with the fact that since I had no property, savings or investments, would receive next to nothing if I went bankrupt, would accept it gladly.
So what to do? Pay £225 for 60 months, totalling £13500, but avoid bankruptcy which neither my parents or myself wanted and justify the £6000 already spent, or go bankrupt with nothing much to lose and save £13500. I chose to proceed with the IVA and then Egg Banking turned it down on the grounds that they didn’t believe that “voluntary contributions for five years were sustainable given the financial support you receive from your family”. I still can’t decide who is the craziest, me, for even considering an IVA when I have nothing to lose by going bankrupt, or, them, for saying no! They had nothing to gain by rejecting it and nothing to lose by giving it a try. Then, within weeks, they are demanding the full amount in a lump sum and I’m the one who’s mentally ill? Beesleys assure me that they presented all the facts of my case in full, but the woman handling the case on behalf of Egg and her immediate superior both rejected it.
Well, there you have it. I apologise for the alarming length of this post. I knew it would turn into a brief autobiography which was why I tried to keep my original post simple. At least I left out the funny bits, a close friend, who is a filmmaker, states that my life is gold dust to a comedy writer. Bet you’re all sorry you asked for further details now, aren’t you? It’s my obsessive compulsive nature to blather on.
