debt question

I am in deep credit card debt due to failed business enterprises. I joint own a house, mortgaged at about 60%.

In addition to the credit card debt, I signed a personal guarantee for 12K.

Besides the house I own nothing else of any value. I have 3 children and a spouse living in our house. I now have a minimum wage job.

last year, I lost my job since the company that employed me ceased trading due to losses. (It was my company but I understand that not to be relevant - I was an employee).

I have been robbing peter to pay paul and now it has caught up with me.

I know I can write to creditors and ask them to agree to my paying lower monthly payments than the 5% originally agreed. Even a 'token' payment if thats all I can afford.

I understand I should offer a pro rata payment based on whats left, if any of my new, lower income after basic living expenses are accounted for.

I understand I can ask for interest to be frozen to enable me to chip away at the debt..

AND THE QUESTION....

My question is, what, why, when, how will any of the creditors petition for my bankruptcy. As I understand even if you have a spouse and children the bankruptcy body can force you to sell your house to pay the debts. (I don't have a big house, just a normal terrace.)

Thank You.

Reply to
<me
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they will apply of the courts on the basis you have failed to repay the debt incurred or meet the agreed repayment schedule, yes they can apply for your bankruptcy and they will include within your assets any equity you have within your home (that's usually 50% of the total equity of the property )

much depends on the chances of you meeting the repayments and the timescale in which this is likely to take and the fact the official receiver will grab a large chunk of any funds you have and of course the size of the debts and how many there are outstanding and if any of these are secured upon your assets

Reply to
Steve Robinson

I know exactly how you are feeling. Letterbox going, doorbell or phone ringing, filled me with dread and I felt physically sick. Although you may not feel it, there is hope and a light. I found the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) to be superb. They are a registered charity and are very efficient. It took about 4 months for me to finally get sorted financially. I didn't lose my house, we had a great Christmas, and I'm now stress free, (Much delight to my kids, wife and friends) It almost sounds clich from my posts and like spam, but they turned my life around. Literally! Have a look

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I'm no way affiliated, just a very happy customer Hope things work out for you.

Reply to
Matt Smith

I know given time I could pay them back just need to get back on my

Have you considered a debt management plan?

Reply to
Matt Smith

Thanks Steve,

Are you saying bankruptcy petition by the creditor is less likely because official receiver takes such a big chunk?

do you know which factors affect whether they accept an offer from me of a reduced monthly payment or whether they try to bankrupt me?

none of my debts are secured, if that makes a difference.

I have read that in bankruptcy my share of my house will definately be taken into consideration and we definately could be forced to sell it to pay my debts. I know given time I could pay them back just need to get back on my feet.

When would one generally play the IVA card? Is it if/when they threaten bankruptcy?

thanks for your help.

Reply to
<me

Matt, thanks for your kind words, I am sincerely glad things turned out well for you to. I will check out your link.

Reply to
<me

I only read about one of those this evening. I am going to get all my paperwork out tommorow and fill in the debtcheck on

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I will read more about DMP as it is not clear in my head.

Reply to
<me

You described it in your earlier post, pretty much perfectly.

If you ring them (Far easier than online and quicker IMO), they set it all up, you just complete your expenditure / income sections. Sign a few forms and they do the rest. You may get a few shitty creditors (Direct Line was terrible) who threaten you and make daft suggestions (Like pay 10 grand instead of the 14 you owe and we will cancel the account). . Ignore them!. They will then pass it on to the debt collection agencies. I found the Debt collection agencies to be far more understanding and patient, and will accept your offer that the CCCS has made on your behalf. Again Good luck.

Reply to
Matt Smith

Jeremy Vine had the Moneysavingexpert guy on his show this week (Friday) talking about debt and had someone such as yourself as a caller.

You can re-listen to the show

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The expert comes on at 1pm so fast forward the first hour.

Reply to
Janet Stone

In message , snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net writes

I wouldn't worry about bankruptcy. Credit Card issuers simply don't generally use this as a debt collection method (although the tax man and many councils do).

If you are determined to keep your house then speak with an Insolvency Practitioner about the possibility of an IVA. If that isn't a goer then get onto a debt management plan. I would recommend you take a look at

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Reply to
Mike_B

you need to contact all your creditors ASAP and explain the situation again and offer up a clear repayment plan that you can afford , they may accept this It needs to be reasonable though, offering them a 5.00 a week on a 12000 debt will do little to impress them . What action they take will usually depend how desperate they need the money themselves , if its impinged heavily on the cash flow or forced them into an overdraught situation they are likely to push either for bankruptcy or a charge on your property (in effect securing it on your home) , they will take into account the following when making the decision

Your assets pretty self explanatory

how much you owe all unsecured debt you owe , all secured debt you owe this will give the true value of assets worth chasing

working on the basis that the receiver will take about 50% of the realised assets will there be enough to pay out all the creditors or give them a large proportion of the debt owed or are the debts such that they will receive very little after the receiver has been paid , if the latter is the case then the larger creditors will go for a charging order against the property this secures the debt against the home as i said earlier this action is usually done very quickly almost first come first served basis This can be helpful if you only have a couple of large creditors whose outstanding accounts are less than the value of your assets in your home however if that's not the case then its unlikely to help you .

how many debtors are involved do you have several very small debts owed to a large number of people/companies or just a few large debts or a mixture of both

Often with very small debts companies will right them off as not worth collecting so it leaves more money in the pot for the bigger debts

Who do you owe money too Some companies are slow to start action others are not

You need to go down the IVA path before proceedings start , do not expect all to accept your offers though , especially if you have collateral within your home

Reply to
Steve Robinson

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