Hi Everyone, I am representing a close friend (really!) at a bankrupcy hearing in early Feb and would appreciate some advice. This will be the resumption of a twice-adjourned hearing after the judge allowed a period for the claimant (DCA) and their solicitor to 'get their act together' with regards to paperwork because, having become involved only a couple of weeks before the previous court date, I discovered that: The alleged bank overdraft debt stretched back to the late nineties When the DCA started chasing in 2003, the debt was queried in writing by the defendant who stated that they believed the debt was not correct and asked for full details The DCA replied a month later saying that they could not find any paperwork but would forward it ASAP, but all they have since provided is a copy of a bank account statement No further paper 'evidence' has since been provided. There was some verbal to-and-froing last year (during a very stressful period in the defendent's life as their marriage was breaking up and they were receiving counselling), culminating in a Statutory Demand and subsequent petition. The petition submitted to the court referred to a debt with a credit card company totally uninvolved in these events and with whom the defendant has never had an account. From all the paperwork I have seen this debt is statute barred, so I sent in a SAR (acknowledged and the 40 days are up within a week or so) to see what the DCA can dig up and I am now preparing for the next day in court. As I see it, unless the DCA digs up any written admission or details of any payments since 2006 (I am assured there has been none), the petition should be dismissed and, based on my research, I propose to also ask for an injunction and an indemnity costs order. I have seen some useful wording hereabouts relating to legal, FSA/IFA/trade body conduct and duty of care, and citing the relevant paras of documents etc., but any specifics I should major on? Also, subject to what I find from the DCA (assuming the debt is statute barred, as I believe from all the paperwork I have seen), do you suggest contacting the other party's solicitors before the hearing to lay out my understading of the situation and seeing if they want to make a proposal to settle this issue amicably, or will it be best to see them on the day - either before or during the hearing? Thanks.

Hi there I have posted about this debt on the debt forums but now I just want to know what will happen on the 14th. I have not been served with the petition as yet - they said they were not in my area at the time I said I was available and have sent the petition back to the creditor. I have paid £600 and made a payment arrangement with the creditor and I have paid the first months payment. I can not reach the bankruptcy clerk on the phone as he is never at his desk. So what will happen on the 14th? Thanks

Hi Guys, Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I am an admin nightmare (typical salesman) Brief history is that the property was let out over 2009/10 which they are chasing the below monies for. I had tenants in at the time and have sent the tenancy agreements through.. What can I do? I have approx £750 I could lay my hands on asap.. will they accept payment plan at this stage? Further to your below email, without sight of the tenancy agreement you will remain liable for the Council Tax owing. Can you also clarify the tenancy agreement for xxx "my tenant" the property details state xxxxxxxx "tenants old address" and not xxxxx "the property let" unfortunately without the correct property address the tenancy agreement is not acceptable. Currently there is £2,324.53 owing on the account which if payment is not received, Milton Keynes Council will commence either Committal Proceedings or Bankruptcy proceedings to recover the debt owed. Both these proceedings incur significant costs of which you will be liable for. To avoid debt recovery proceedings please make a payment immediately. I await your payment Regards

I have been reading this site for the past few days and the advice on here for other people has been great and I have learned a lot from this. I’ve been the Director of my own Ltd Company for the past 4 years after the Government legislation effectively closed down Multi Service Company schemes. I chose the Limited Company route as this was the most tax efficient route, as I am sure many others in my situation did. This had worked alright for me as I was putting money aside every week to meet my Tax payments as they became payable. But this year I don’t have enough put aside for paying the Corporation Tax because the money I normally put aside, I’ve had to use for personal purposes. My end of year accounts show that around £13K will be due to pay, I have not submitted the End of Year accounts yet. I was hoping that I would be able to come to some sort of payment plan with HMRC to pay this in instalments. The problem is HMRC recently contacted me and asked me to submit Self Assessment Tax Returns for the last 4 years. I didn’t realise that I had to do these (I know ignorance is no excuse) but after doing them it turns out I owe HMRC another £12K in tax. I have called them to try and agree a repayment plan, but they have refused and have now submitted a Notice of Distraint! I called them again to plead with them to allow me to pay it off in instalments and this debt is only there because it has built up without my knowledge. Had I known I would have budgeted to pay it off when it became due. They will not budge and have demanded full payment immediately and have threatened me with Bankruptcy!! What would happen to the Corporation Tax debt, (although accounts not filed yet) my Ltd Company and my SA Tax if they make me Bankrupt? I am still working through my Ltd Company, should I go PAYE or Umbrella, or should I open another Ltd with my wife as Director and me a shareholder? If I become Bankrupt will the OR take my wife’s income into consideration as my monthly income, she is not currently working but in case she created a Ltd? Would she become Bankrupt with me or remain unaffected? We don’t have any joint accounts.I live in a rented house and don’t really have any assets of any value, just a car worth around £1K. If I petitioned for BR myself, would that stop the Distraint? Would I get in trouble for the using the money that I should have put aside for the Corporation Tax? What will the OR ask me?Please, please, please any advice would be very much appreciated.

A really quick question for anybody in the know - I have paperwork for several loans I took out between '98-'01 (they were all churned one into the other) and I have spoken to the FOS who said I am fine to put in a claim. The car dealership who sold me the product were not regulated by the FSA at the time, however the loan underwriter / product provider was and I presume this is who the FOS will go after? I was bankrupt in 2008, discharged 2009. Loans in question were not part of BR as they were paid off in full 7-9 years prior to BR. I have several compelling reasons why I believe each policy was mis sold, so if I put a claim in and am successful would any monies be mine to keep? It seems clear where a loan forms part of the BR then any PPI monies would go straight to the estate, however all of my loans were paid off by the end of 2001, and BR was not until some 8 years later. I have had a quick look around the internet and opinion on this is varied: yes / no / don't know / definitely / definitely not! I am a bit confused, hence my post. Nothing a good lawyer won't be able to get their teeth into - if I end up needing one! I thought I would try and get a heads up on here to begin with. Many thanks

Hi Can anyone tell me what debts are not covered by BR , e.g DWP, HMRC

I had appeared in court today and lost a fast track claim, unfortunately for whatever reason a costs order was party granted to the other side. The costs order is for £13,500 - as I was leaving the court I was approached by the other sides council and was told that they will enforce it and take it all the way to bankruptcy. In terms of background I only have two assets, my home and my car, nothing else and I don't have any money to pay the claim whatsoever as I haven't paid any court fees either. I just wanted to find out what I could do? Any suggestions?

Please could someone advise me about my issues. I've already spoken to CCCS and was told that my options were either bankruptcy or token payments. Background: Currently working part time and earning just enough to cover a "low" budget according to CCCS's standards. Had health problems, including hospitalised. Now I need to get into a career which will allow me to work for the next few decades. Debt: Approx £28K over 6 credit cards (highest is £6k, lowest is £2.5K) and 1 overdraft. I was advised that I need to be in a position to pay the debt off in under 10 years so CCCS won't sort out a DMP for me.In my case, what I really need to do it pay reduced for around 4.5years. Then I'll be in a position to be making larger payments. In 6 years I need to co-sign for a re-mortgage of the family house. Currently NOT in my name in anyway. All debts are on my file with Equifax and most likely enforceable. Question: At the moment the only attraction for token/DMP is that I can keep two credit-rebuilder cards to boost my credit over the next 6 years. However if I risk getting some random default say 3 years from now if the bank sees my CR file and doesn't like me using it, then my record is tarnished for 9 years, not 6! I also wanted the option of using the credit card due to the inherent protection against fraud, purchases over £100 etc. Eventually I was planning on CCA and SAR'ing all of them as I set aside money each month for postal orders. I should have made a thread on here earlier and forgone the waiting time for CCCS appt. On the plus side, I now now for certain that I'm not eligible for any benefits or support from the State. Questions below and in earlier paragraph with “question” in bold. Do you think the creditors will accept token payments until July 2017, higher reasonable payments thereafter and consider that a DMP and not default me? CCCS said that they aren't able to negotiate that kind of variable DMP at the moment. I'd of course be frank about my health issues, how I'm studying pt time then fulltime, difficulty finding more work at present etc. However CCCS said that the banks probably won't care about my personal circumstances nor accept a DMP on such a low level of repayment (without defaults on my record and/or passing it onto an agency. Agency might accept it though...). so...DMP, bankruptcy, IVA, token payments or what? Thanks

I have been declared bankrupt and have had my interview with the OR - they said I should be discharged in 12 months. They didn't want to go through my income and expenditure yet, as I've only been self employed for a few months before declaring bankruptcy, and they wanted to review my I&E in three months. I am aware that an IPA will be put in force for three years if I have surplus income during the 12 months, and I want to avoid this. As I am self employed, I can 'throttle' my income for 12 months and just take it a little easy, take on a few less jobs until discharge, thus avoiding an IPA. I just want this over and done with ASAP, not to drag on for three years when I can be 'out' in one. I wanted to clarify one thing: When I declare gross income to the OR, do they take into account the tax and NI that will be payable when I eventually do my tax return? Do they have a formula for that calculation? I don't want any surprises. I'll will eventually make a post about my bankruptcy experience as it may prove useful to people here. Thanks.

I have debts totalling in the region of 4,000 approx. I am not currently working, and I do not claim benefits as my husband works full time. The debts are non priority debts, mainly catalogues. I fell behind with the repayments following redundancy, the minimum payments kept increasing and it spiralled. The debts are solely in my name and were accrued before I met my husband. Is bankruptcy the most suitable course of action? I am getting increasingly threatening letters from Westcot et al and I am starting to panic. I can't afford the repayments they are insisting on. ETA: I am in Scotland.

Hi there, I have been reading similar posts to this from people in a similar situation but wanted to ask advice please. On the 5th November we returned home to a calling card left by a collector that had visited to discuss a lowells debt in my husbands name. My husband as supposed to ring him to ask what it was about but he never got around to it. Yesterday we had a letter in the post from the same collector stating that he had visited twice and he will be calling again next Monday to issue a statutory demand for a debt my husband has with lowell. From experience we have had in the past with creditors we knew to request a copy of a credit agreement before we agree to any repayment etc so my husband called the collector to ask what the debt was for (we had thought all bad credit we had was sorted as we had sorted a lot of these things in 2006-2007 and have not really heard anything since). He told us the debt was with the Royal Bank of Scotland and was for the amount of £10,700. My husband told him he would be requesting a copy of the credit agreement but we had no reference number or address for the creditor. The guy told us the information would be on the SD and if we wait until that arrives we can request the information then. We had a telephone call tonight from a woman from Hamptons who asked us to make a payment of the full amount and when we stated this was not possible she asked for a deposit of 35% of the full amount which obviously we could not do either. She then asked what we could get together and said she would phone us back. My husband at that point requested a copy of the original credit agreement which she eventually agreed to but asked us why we wanted it!! She then proceeded to explain the full implications of bankruptcy which was the route they plan to pursue if the payment requested was not made and she would be phoning us back on Monday. This really is the first correspondence we have had on this matter although the woman stated that they have been sending us 40 letters per year since 2007 when they bought the debt. My husband said he may have seen a couple of the usual type of letters these companies send but no way was there 40 per year!! We did seek advice from CAB in 2006-2007 about our debts and it is possible we acknowledged this debt back then and paid the nominal £1 fee. I can't remember when we would have last paid anything though. From what I have read in other posts I see that we need to officially request a copy of the original credit agreement for £1 and a copy of other paperwork that costs £10 (can't remember the name). Is there anything else we should be doing and can we avoid the bankruptcy route? If they can prove the debt is ours and we must pay will we have an opportunity to make a payment arrangement with them before they start bankruptcy proceedings? We have our own home (mortgaged) and my husband has his own building business (which is quite new so doesn't really earn us any money). We are quite worried at the prospect of loosing our home - can they do that with the debt being in his name only as our mortgage is in joint names. We also have children - can they make them homeless?? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer us on this.

Recently managed to get an an Adjournment of a Bankruptcy Petition but need to prepare for my next hearing. The judge mentioned Abuse of Procedure Law Lords Part 7 and referenced a particular case to consider for the next hearing, she mentioned 'Durant' or the likes, but I can not find details of this case anywhere. It is possible I have not written the name down correctly. But basically between being harassed by Arrow while suffering depression, husband having major heart surgery and off ill for months and Arrow refusing part payments. I believe she said that by taking such a small sum through the Bankruptcy Courts rather than doing a CCJ was the key reason. A sledgehammer to crack a nut as such! Any help appreciated, Many thanks

I received a Statutory Demand last June for just under £3000 . I thought it was just another frightening tactic and stupidly ignored it. It relates to a Capitol One credit card debt from at least 2007, maybe earlier. I do have other creditors too amounting to a total of around £20,000, all from around the same period. I lost my job in 2004 and ended up using credit cards to survive. Its taken a while but this year I have managed to pay all my priority debts off including mortgage arrears. Just have these not priority debts to deal with! I did speak to a debt management Company after I received the SD and they told me not to worry as it was just probably only a threat as it would cost them more than the debt was worth to take it bankruptcy. They did send me a proposal for a debt management plan but I decided not to go ahead with it as they were wanting £150 a month (which isn't a problem ) out of which they would take the first two payments as an admin fee and charge £25 a month. I thought it a bit much taking money which could otherwise have been put towards paying the debts off. I have now received a letter from Land Registry Bankruptcy Unit, Enquiry 10A, which implies that papers have been submitted to court for a Bankruptcy petition. I have also spoken to National Debtline who weren't very helpful about the bankruptcy petition and didn't know what the enquiry B10a from land registry was. Postman has just delivered a package from National Debtline with loads of info that I'll have to have a read through! I phoned the court and they said a hearing date had been set for early January next year. I haven't had any papers served to me as yet (thought the package from National Debtline might have been them as it was in a large brown envelope!). At present i am working on a temp to perm basis, presently through an agency but have been giving a permanent start date of January 2013. I am also self employed but don't earn much through self employment as work reduced due to the recession. I have also lost out on self employment work due to switching the phone off because of the continued harassment from Hamptons (up to 20 calls a day) Average net income per month is around £1000. I work long hours (leave home at 5am get home at 5.30pm) and live alone so not been home when the man from Hamptons has tried to visit. Also means that I permanently tired and makes dealing with these types of issues more difficult. There is around £100,000 equity in my home so I really don't want to go bankrupt. I am 51 yrs old and will be able to start taking money from my pension fund in 4 years (original plan was to pay the creditors off with cash from my pension but the age was changed from 50 to 55 before you can start drawing a pension which stuffed me on that one). So not sure what to do now. I don't have any spare cash as it has all been used paying things off but was considering trying to get a loan to pay Hamptons off as its hassle I could just do without at the moment. At this stage would there be additional fees (court fees) on top of the original debt? Chances of getting a loan at a descent rate with my credit history are pretty remote I think though. Is it worth trying to negotiate a payment plan with Hamptons at this stage? Although I can afford a reasonable monthly payment, my worry is that they will demand an unreasonable amount that I don't have at the moment and will affect my ability to formulate a debt management plan with my other creditors. I haven't done a CCA or SARS request yet. Is it too late to do one? Can I get the petition withdrawn at this stage? Any suggestions for my best course of action?

Hi, everyone. New to forum and first post! I had this problem with Travis Perkins recently, they petitioned for bankruptcy and it was dismissed at the hearing. Hope this gives hope to anyone else!

Hi I have been reading various threads on this forum with interest but need to know if anyone can clarify dates for me with regards to the limitations act and statute barred debts. I know if a County Court Claim is issued within 6 years then it is valid. However the creditor (Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd) has jumped straight to a Bankruptcy Petition. My last payment for the debt was in July or August of 2006 and since then I have not paid towards or admitted the debt. In June 2012 a Statutory Notice was served on me personally, though I was asked for no id and no signature. I did not respond. This was served it appears (though records are fuzzy going back 6 years) just within the 6 year period of when I last paid/admitted the debt. In September 2012 the petition was presented to the court which is outside of the 6 years. The hearing date is in December. National Debtline believe the 6 year limitation is from the date I last paid/admitted the debt to the date of the hearing which is outside of the 6 year period. The date the petition was presented in September was outside of the 6 years. But the date the statutory demand was personally served was within. So is the debt Statute Barred??? Interestingly the Petition itself was posted and served personally, but the Statutory Demand was only served personally, no letter.

can anyone help with this ,i was made bankrupt and i have to pay money every week for 3 years ,if i get made redundant from my job and dont tell them and just keep making my weekly payments and spend my redundancy payment then they find out ,whats the worse that can happen

Hi, im new here today as it seems very intereting place for asistance, i would like some help please on bankcruptcy if possible. I have received a Statutory demand for a debt that i was not liable for albeit the same debt was levied on some property that i co-owned and has signatory power over, the persons/Company that were liable for the repayment of the debt never paid and subsequently went bankrcrupt that then left the creditor with security charge over the property that i allowed as part of the agreement. I agreed with the creditor to repay the funds myself if they agreed to up-lift the charge and a Tomlin order was then agreed and sanctioned by the court. The creditor then failed to agree to the up-lifting of the charge and i subsequently issued a statutory demand, i responded to this and never heard anything back from the court and changed my residential address to then find that i have recieved a bankruptcy petition hand delivered to me in person outside my new address, this confirmed that the court has requested that i should have made a payment (for the court application) when i made my application against the statutory demand albeit to my old addres and when i never responded they agreed to the order and subsequently i have received the bankruptcy petition and a court date in my local court. I firstly was not liable for the debt as others were, now i have a bankruptcy order and a court date to attend, the debt is secured and i need to know if i can stop this action now being carried out. Appreciate any asistance and help. Regards Tony

A business has filed a Creditor's Bankruptcy Petition on failure to comply with Statutory Demand for a' liquidated sum payable immediately' and I am unsure what to do - I will provide some brief facts below and any help is greatly appreciated: I am Director of a Limited Company and in order to fulfil a contract which we took on, I had to open an account with some suppliers. The suppliers could not open an account with the company because of some small past problem that we had had, but agreed to open the account in my personal name (so as to get over the red tape, although both parties knew the account was for the business). Given huge losses that my company suffered on the job due to sabotage, I haven't been able to pay the suppliers for their equipment yet (the sum owed is just over £20k). I am, however, due for a tax rebate which would more than cover the amount, in the next couple of weeks (although the Inland Revenue cannot give an exact date) and also have a bond account with a bank which could also cover the amount owed (although this is not due to be paid back until next year). Around 4 months ago, the suppliers filed a statutory demand notice which I did not comply with or set aside, as I was working on getting the money from the inland revenue as soon as I could. They have now issued a Creditor's Bankruptcy Petition on failure to comply with Statutory Demand for a liquidated sum payable immediately and I am unsure what to do. Given that the account with the suppliers is in my personal name, a m I liable to lose my house (even though the account was always understood as being for business purposes)? Can they even try to make me bankrupt in this way? Is there any way that I can delay for just a few more weeks until the money from the IR comes in (I can show proof that this is on its way and would sign documents to say it will be transferred straight to the suppliers as soon as I receive it)? On what grounds can these petitions usually be appealed? The deadline for appealing the bankruptcy petition is in a couple of days and so I am really desperate to get some help. Many thanks

Hi : Please i would like some advice on outstanding Debt of £1000 which is from a private international college which is Bogus college and had ruined the future of a lot of students . I have paid £2500.00 fee to them but the total fee was £3500.00 for one year but out of 300 student only 280 student left the college and i have left it one year before because none of their previous student got any certificates from them . Now after one year i got letters from Debt Collector . I responded to them and send the report of home office about the college to them which is unsatisfactory and also told them at start we did not knew about college reputation but we went to the college it has only 2-3 rooms no library no administration . But the Debt collector just replied that i have contract with the college and i have to pay the Money which i told them i dispute . Now they post a Statutory Demand of Bankruptcy proceedings. and they said i have 18 days.

Hi guys I was just wondering if anybody knows if there is a limit for the value of your car where by the official receiver would let you keep it. Would a car worth £2500 been deemed too valuable?

Hi Useful new information resource here from Citizens Advice on bankruptcy Income Payment Agreements & Orders that includes a user friendly guide calculator. http://mymoney.nedcab.org.uk/moneyadvice/ipaipo.asp http://mymoney.nedcab.org.uk/moneyadvice/bankruptcypoc.asp

Hi This ones been doing the rounds of late Changes in the bankruptcy procedure, no longer have to go to court / see the judge? http://rnn.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/Press-Releases/Paving-the-way-to-business-freedom-6816b.aspx We will have to wait and see, but very interesting nevertheless

Dear All, I wonder if you can assist. I was inolved in a partnership that basically went south, the senior partner ended up getting the boot leaving me saddled with debts of around £24k I tried to re work these debts however a down turn in business resulted in additional debts of around £30k being incurred with HMRC for PAYE. Coupled with my personal debts I think i ower nearly £90k I do own a house with my wife however we are seperated, that said there is a secured loan on the property under my name so i know that for my part of the property there is negative equity. I currently live in a different property which is rented. I have no real concerns on the house front due to the equity minus the unsecured element still leaving the house technically in negative equity on my side. The area I am interested in is that my wife owns the Ltd company I am involved in, I used to be a director but stepped own in July and now technically just do Sales, the day to day management and running of the finances, suppliers etc falls under my wifes remit as sole director. My questions are :- should i be concerned about my PAYE role in the company? obviously my wife does not have an issue with the bankruptcy but will the official receiver? could they stop me from being involved in the company as it is a husband and (ex) wife team? Will the Official recieve visit my rented home? We have a business bank account under the company name for which i have a card (it is a ltd company) will the bank be notified? We do not have joint personal accounts so i presume it is only my account that will be frozen? Are there any areas that I should be concerned about may have been an easier question! Thanks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2215136/Wonga-targeting-Britains-bankruptcy-capital-Insolvency-industry-launches-blistering-attack-payday-lenders-sponsorship-Newcastle-United.html

Lowells are trying to extort £850 out of my wife for an old vodafone bill the actual amount she owes is £350 and its been in dispute since 2008. She out of the blue got papers through the post saying a date had been fixed for her hearing at the county court for wed 10th october 2012. we contacted them saying it was in dispute and that they had not served a statutory demand after much going back and forth they said they would adjurn the court date while they investigate I asked that they put that in writing or email which they said they would do. having not received anything I contacted them on friday to find that the court date was still going ahead. I contacted the court who told me I was now out of time to do anything and my wife must attend court I know realise lowells were just stalling. I have been in contact with national debt helpline they have advised that I get the debt below £750. and that way they cant make her bankrupt they said that buys time to then fight it via oft and offcom. With court fee's the current balance is about £1250. so I have got together about £600. to get it below the £750. threshold and today tried to pay it and they refused saying it had gon to litigation and the litigation dept was closed. so my question is if I phone up 8am monday morning to make a payment of £600 can they again refuse it forcing a court appearance?