very unpleasant experiance with a baliff last week

[kateb2]

Thank you so much Lily for your incredible words. I dont want my rent arrears to be written of . My Housing Association have been fantastic and my 40 pound on top of my rent has never seemed unreasonable and they dont want me to lose my tenancy. I have really negative feelings towards my council tax though. Its been fairly horrendous. I dont think I have been through such a horrendous time in my life and facing a hysterectomy in three weeks also. I cannot even describe the impact it has had upon me and my direct relationship with my partner. We dont live together, but the impact has been dreadful and not by her lack of understanding. She has been hugely supportive but my self esteem and pride is non existent. I keep trying to convince myself there is light at the end of the tunnel, but at the moment I cant seem to see much light. Thank God for a website like this to be truthful.

[lily]

I agree about the rent thing, I paid all mine back. The council tax people did get very heavy handed with me too. I didnt know it but I was entitled to a rebate as this house was adapted for a disability and to cut a long story short they took the debt from the baliffs and sorted it all out, well almost.

What you really need to do is speak to someone, perhaps a third party to arrange a manageable repayment skedule, its all too easy to agree to anything when youre shaking like a leaf and your cant believe youre in this situation with a baliff at the door. Its very scary and I remember crying like a baby when he had gone, wondering how on earth I ended up like this.

Firstly though, it seems that youre in a very dark place right now, you really need to take one thing at a time. You do have time to sort out the financial mess later. Concentrate on you, its far more important that youre well enough mentally and physically to be able to make the right decision.

With the operation and its associated feelings hanging over you and the Big fat B word its just too much. It may help to tell your Doctor just what is going on in your life right now.

Its too easy to feel like a failure when in debt but we all make mistakes and most people have credit, ours got out of hand but we are dealing with it. That is not the action of a failure.

You will get through this, there are people who understand, care and will want to help.

Even though you cant see the light, its a few dark hours away.

[kateb2]

Well taken first step. Rang my CCto ask when I could come in and collect a BK pack. She was really pleasant and said dont worry I will send it out to you. She said would you like to book an appointment now , I was a bit overwhelmed and didnt know what the appointment was for. She said it was okay , just receive the pack and then make appointment and if I had any problems with the pack to ring and ask. I was so grateful for a pleasant voice at the end of the phone. I dont expect tea and sympathy in this process but fairly fragile so I dont think it would take much if I have a negative experience.

[chris.g]

If you phone the court they should be able to send you the forms out, they did for us. They are pretty straight forward just long winded, but if you get stuck you could always ask here for help, The beauty with downloading them is you can print a couple off and do a 'rough' one then copy it up properly.
xx

[lily]

Glad your feeling a little bit better Kate. Just fill in the forms and take it from there as Chris said they are long winded. You will be treated fairly and with respect, just be honest about everything.

We are always here to offer support and many people here have been through it.

Good luck and take care.

[kateb2]

With the form do I have to list all my creditors. Its going to take some time. Without going into details but my debt was incurred when i lived with my previous partner, when i could afford credit. Some of those credit card companies have not located me yet, but I want a line drawn under everything. If i do have to list them all in the paperwork can someone advise me how I obtain all the information and could someone give me a ballpark length of time when the whole process will be over with. I am aware of my time in hospital and recuperation also. Also I am so terrified of laying all my hope in this process and it being rejected. I have been told that I am unsuitable for an IVA by a couple of organisations and individuals so I cant see any resolution coming from anywhere else !!!!

[chris.g]

All your creditors need to be listed but they do give around 20 spaces and if you need more spaces you could always put in 2 creditor sheets in the petition. The OR will need to contact them to inform them that you have declared bankruptcy and they are now dealing with your debt and creditors. Could you remember all of your creditors and account numbers? If you can you could write to them requesting an upto date outstanding balance.
Personally, I think the build up to our bankruptcy was the worst, the what-ifs and what will happen to this that and the other. Once we had the cash together and everything else in order it moved pretty quickly. We filed on the 13th feb, hubby had OR phone meeting on 20th and mine was 21st. Filled in the forms we received from the OR and sent them back. We are still waiting to hear back from her regarding a few things but we are hoping that things will all be sorted by 3 months. Discharge from bankruptcy is usually after 12mths and if you are paying anything into a IPA/IPO this will usually last 3 yrs.

[lily]

Once you have all the information you need you just phone and make an appointment with the county court in your area. I cant see them refusing you if you have tried the IVA route. It is far better to list everything now, however small than to be worrying later on when something might turn up. I didnt go BR as my circumstances changed, literally a week before my date. I did fill all of the forms in and found it quite nerve racking. I phoned the companies for an update and told them the reason why I needed it all, a couple of them went around the houses trying to talk me out of it, but I knew I had to plough ahead. I was able to write the amounts in.

The best way to approach it in my case was to just plough ahead, I was scared, I cried a lot, I have to admit but I knew that I had no other choice at the time.

Youre heading in the right direction now, there will be a new start on the other side of this.

Good luck.

[go_4_broke]

Fear not - your chances of being 'rejected' for Bankruptcy are virtually nil. It's not like an IVA where creditors have to be cajoled into accepting a proposal. It's more the opposite, ie by default they will make you bankrupt unless they find an exceptionally good reason not to, and as they don't seem to have more than a cursory look at the forms I'm not sure how they would spot one anyway!

Best Regards, Simon

[Reviva UK]

Hi Go 4 broke

are you now fully in the debt industry or are you still looking?

[chris.g]

When we were in front of the judge mu hubby likened it to being infront of the headteacher when he was young....think he got the cane a few times!!!! The Judge asked us what other routes we had tried, we explained that Token payments were unrealistic, DMP & IVA weren't possible as we didn't have any disposable income, that there was little bit of equity in the house, He just looked, nodded and signed.
I'm not trying to minimise br as it is huge and impacts your life enormously but the courts, judges and everyone else in the business see it everyday, it's nothing knew to them, only to us...
Don't worry Kate, you'll be fine.
xx