Hi, i hope someone can help with info I am preparing to go bankrupt, but just concerned what and where or looks, do they search into all my private life, do they have access to data protection, eg credit files. do they have access to dvla records, (am i wrong to want a little privacy.) Or do they just ask for you to declare everything

Hi, Please can someone help me, I really cannot cope anymore and if I don't get help soon I think I'll have a nervous breakdown but I don't know which way to go or who to turn to for advice. Here's a quick idea of my situation. I'm married with 3 kids, both myself and husband work, my job is not very well paid though as I have no qualifications to get a decent paid job. My husband and I have unsecured debts of £41K between us. We also have a mortgage for £118K and a secured loan on top of that which was for £46K. Total debts around £200K. We are paying all our unsecured debts off very slowly. The interest is frozen on them but as it's such a huge amount the balance isn't going down very quickly. Just this alone stresses me out, I know it's being paid but I can't see any end to it and that makes me feel ill. I don't want to live the rest of my life in so much debt. My other worry is the mortgage of £118K and secured loan of £46K that we took out for refurb in 2005. The loan was for double glazing, loft conversion and drive. The secured loan is basically like a second mortgage and it is crippling us. So far I have paid them £38K in repayments over the 7 years but my balance is still £43K. I've basicall paid £35K in interest. I can't ever see this going down or being paid off ??? I just don't understand why the balance won't go down. I had my house valued yesterday, I was hoping that we could sell, pay off mortgage and secured loan and then either one fo these two options: a) be mortgage and secured loan free and rent somewhere saving us a few hundred pounds per month and not having to worry about property maintenance (things like heating, plumbing, roof tiles etc) b) pay off secured loan and buy a small 1 bed flat as rental property to keep us on property ladder and rent somewhere for our family to live. The risk here being that we would need to ensure the flat was rented 12/12 to cover mortgage payments and also costs to maintain a rental investment. c) see if any lender would be foolish enough to give us a higher mortgage to pay of secured loan and buy another house (I really can't stay in this house anymore so would definately need to move instead of remortgaging this one - I am too unhappy here. The area is getting rougher and rougher. We have prostitutes and drug addicts using the woodland area to do their deeds and there is nowhere safe for my kids to play, there aren't een any other children around for them to play with anymore) I was devastated to be told that my house is worth £145K so I can't even sell up and pay off the mortgage and secured loan! I really don't know what to do. I just feel like I want to let them take the lot from me and go bankrupt becasue I see no toher way out! Please someone can you advise me how I can get out of this mess? If I didn't have the secured loan I could pay more off my unsecured debts to lower them. The secured loan is hundreds of puonds a month of pure interest! at least my unsecured creditors have all frozen interest so my balance does go down (although it is slow at moment) I know I need to take responsibility for my debt but I feel like debt is ruining my life and I just wish I had been more aware of how quickly interest and charges can accumulate. I really feel like there is no way out of this mess. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

My local council has served a bankruptcy petition against me for a business rate debt of a limited company i used to run, which has since been wound up by companies house for not filling annual return. How do I defend against this. I f they are successful I will loose my job, home and everthing

I am presently in arrears of £2057 council tax due to loss of job and business, I had spoken to the officials in charge and asked me to filled a form indicating how much I can afford. I offered £10 weekly payment pending when I can sort things out or find a job but the only letter I received from them was a bankruptcy proceeding letter against me which after reading indicating that they are taking over all my possessions once such judgement is passed by the court. My house is presently mortgaged and also in arrears but I am scared of losing everything and rendering me homeless. Please help. How can I deal with this issue.

I watched rip off britain last night and was surprised to hear that insurance companies credit check you when they provide quotes for insurance for cars and other things. They quote you according to your credit check, someone bankrupt or who is in any kind of financial agreement with creditors will pay more for their car insurance. Reason given, they are only left with a set amount of money to live on (the rest is taken for the OR or creditors) leaving little or no extras for non essentials like servicing your car and car maintenance and are more likely to just have the MOT done with no service etc so are more likely to have an accident due to poorly maintained cars. I hadn't really prepared myself for this and wonder what the effect will be when my insurance is due to renewal in September. Anyone else aware of this?

Hi Peeps Long story but i will try and keep it short and sweet, I used to own a house a couple of years ago and since my parents are not well i decided to stay with them at their house with my wife so we can look after them. The house that i owned was vacant so i let my sister move in their until she found her own place to live. My sister was responsible for all the bills etc at the property and i don't know how she managed to rack up a big bill with E.ON regarding the gas. I was not aware of this until i got a statutory demand for the out standing amount sent to my own house were my sister was living. I confronted my sister about this and told her to get it sorted and she managed to make an arrangement plan with E.ON to pay the debt off. Just recently to my surprise i had a letter posted through my parents house this time and it was another statuary demand from E.ON! I consulted my sister and asked what was going on and she had told me she has been paying them the debt off. I immediately sent a letter to Parry & Co solicitors who were dealing with the matter on behalf of E.ON and told them the situation that the house is on my name but my sister was living there and she is getting this sorted out with E.ON direct. I didn't hear anything on this matter for over year and thought this was the end of it and since then have sold the property. Last week i was at my parent and heard a knock on the door.. opened the door and it was a lady with a letter in her hand and she asked me if i was so and so and i confirmed yes i am and she gave me the letter and said "I have come to serve you with a petition for Bankruptcy"! I was shocked and confused at the same time and decided to open the post we received on the day and was faced with a letter from the Land Registry office informing me of the same thing! The letter was addressed to my Father who shares the same first and surname as me and when i got down to half way of the letter it was actually for me as they used my full name including my middle name. The thing is i don't own my parents house which what i assume E.ON are thinking hence they have sent the bankruptcy petition. The property is solely owned by my father and as stated i am just living there to take care of them and have nothing to do with the property. My father rang the land registry office explaining that he is not the person named on the petition and that its actually been sent for his son (me) ,they wanted this is writing which he has done and they have now cancelled the petition. What i would like to know is what going to happen now? i have a court date set for 21.06.12 and i have sent form 6.19 to the court and to Parry & co via special delivery today stating to oppose the application on the grounds of I have no Knowledge of the debt. The Bankruptcy petition has been cancelled by the Land Registry Office due to the fact it has been served on my father’s property at (parents address) who is NOT the person named on the petition and is the sole owner of the addressed property. In the letter received from the court is states in section number 3 the debt is in relation to gas supplied at -(parents address), Which is a FALSE claim as i (my full name) have nothing to do with the bills at the above property and my father namely(fathers name) who is the sole Proprietor of the above addressed property has never used the Claimants company for any Gas supply at the property. Since the petition for bankruptcy was cancelled by the land registry office due to my father not being the person named on the petition have i done the right thing by sending the courts and the solicitors involved form 6.19 ? or should this have not been necessary as it already been cancelled? will i still have to attend court on the day? any advice will be helpful Thanks in advance

Hi Folks. My wife and I both declared ourselves bankrupt in Dec 2009 in the face of insurmountable financial problems arising from the credit crunch and subsequent downturn. My wife has an IPA in place which should expire in early 2013. I was not given an IPA as I have insufficient earnings. Although I am self-employed and earn very little, my wife is a senior teacher and earns >£50k. She would like a credit card with a low limit just to be able to charge things then repay the card in full each month. It's very difficult to hire a car abroad with a debit card, for instance - she has found one firm that will do it, but they will take a €600 deposit from her debit card when she collects the car. If she'd had a credit card it would just be a case of taking the card details. So that's a lot of money tied up in the deposit that cannot be used for the holiday - or anything else- and there's the risk of spurious charges being made to it on returning the car. Even the very bottom end of the credit card market won't touch her - I don't even bother asking. I know our credit files look a mess because we recently had them all sent to us. As a result we posted notices of correction on all of them to explain our circumstances. We also wrote to all creditors asking them to mark our accounts as 'satisfied' wef the date of our discharge, June 2010. We asked them to confirm that this had been done. Some replied and said they had done so. One, a former secured lender, said they could only mark the account as partially satisfied as they hadn't got all their money back and some (including some big names) have not replied at all. Since our bankruptcy we haven't missed a payment on any service from utilities, rent etc. In fact before we were made bankrupt our records were squeaky clean for years, but this seems to count for nothing, as do the notices of correction. So I'd like to ask: 1. Where is it set in stone that credit records are kept for six years? I cannot see what useful purpose it serves, as by keeping bankrupts and thousands of others in purgatory it effectively removes them as contributing consumers, which must have an impact on the economic recovery, especially the housing market. I wrote in this vein to Vince Cable but was effectively fobbed off with the reply that it was up to the finance industry to decide to whom they wished to lend money. We are in our mid-50s and having lost our home will probably not be eligible for mortgage finance until 2015, by which time we will be too old to be able to afford the repay a mortgage before retirement (ha ha - what retirement?). 2. Where can we get impartial advice that will include looking at our credit files to check that all entries are legitimate and fair? 3. Should we have the notices of correction removed from our credit files as they don't seem to be doing any good? 4. Is anyone running a campaign to get the law changed so that credit file entries are removed in a more sensible time-frame - say three years, rather than six? 5. Why do credit files not contain positive information from utilities, local authorities, insurers, landlords etc so lenders can see that you are currently up to date with all accounts? They only seem to contain bad news. 6. The credit reference agencies insist they are just impartial recorders of information and that there is no such thing as credit blacklists, but plainly this is not true as a) they can give you a credit score and b) if your credit file looks bad then blacklisted you definitely are, because all lenders use the agencies and base their decisions on the information they hold and your credit scores. Thoughts, suggestions gratefully received. Thanks very much for reading this lengthy post.

Hi some advice needed i purchased a van of a friend in January this yr and gave him the prcodes of 750 pounds of my old van ..and also 250 pounds more in cash.as he said the vehicle was thousand pounds...i went bankrupt at the end of Jan.on Sunday he has taken the van while i was away on holiday and has locked it in his unit and is now demanding 1500 pounds for it...and all my tools are in the back so i can now not work without my tools so won't be able to pay to my bankruptcy what i pay every mth as impact not working .. i phoned the police who have said it is a civil matter even though he has no proof of ownership of the van or theamand is refusing to give back i cannot also afford to keep paying the insurance payments on it as im not working so would just like to no what i can do as dnt pay him instead of my other creditors and also dnt get my van and tools for work .....help needed

Just want to say "Hi!" to everyone in the forum. I'm new in the forum.

hi all just a quick one, it seems inevitable i will loose my home soon and would like to ask if all debts including county court judgements will be wiped off... Enough money in home to pay off mortgage and debts secured on it and i just wanted to make sure anything else would be written off after sale. Thanks Eggy12

I'm not sure if I am using the right forum for my problem. I need some advice with regards to my divorce settlement and whether I need to go bankrupt or not. When I was married to my ex-husband in 2002 we signed a contract for our son to attend a private school. In 2008 we divorced and in that settlement my ex was ordered by the judge to pay all future school fees. I found out in 2010, when my son had left the school, that he had not paid the last term. I had been contacted by the school through their solicitor that I was liable for the debt. I sent them a copy of my divorce settlement and they have responded saying that although they agree that my ex-husband should pay the costs, I am have a joint and several obligation to pay it all. If I don't they will either collect the debt via bailiffs or by filing an application for my bankruptcy. My ex has ignored all their correspondence. I'm unaware if he is currently bankrupt or whether he plans to let this bankrupt him. He hasn't honoured any of our divorce settlement or child maintenance in the past. I need to know if it is correct as to whether I am still liable for the debt even though He was ordered by the courts to be fully responsible for the fees. If I am, as I don't earn a high income, I can't afford to pay back the £3048. Would it be best to go bankrupt? If he doesn't respond to the school letters and I do, does that make me solely responsible? I hope someone can advise me as I have only 3 days to respond to the most recent letter. Many thanks

hi, not good on pc and spent 2 days trying to post on here so please forgive if its in wrong place. im part disabled and like lots of people badly in debt. i have a main mortgage with abbey, this is paid via dwp and is in fact in front with payments due to the interest rate. i have a 2nd charge on the house with future mortgages, yes not good. the house is valued at around 80k. i owe abbey 75k and furure 55k. so i have negative equity for around 48k. every month is a struggle and health food and everything is really bad as its so difficult paying future there 450 per month.. if i was to look at bankrupcy what would happen i dont want to loose the house. there would only be about 7k left for future morgages if the house sold for 80k. im not trying to default as if i was i would have walked away from the house a long tim ago. can any one offer some advice thank you

Right I have a debt of about £4000, I know it doesn't sound an awful lot but it's causing me a great deal of hassle. The debt is made up of things like my mobile phone bill which has accumulated since xmas - I haven't been able to pay it, my bank account is past its overdraft - I'm being charged monthly and they're requesting that I pay back the student overdraft which they lent to me several years ago. I am unemployed, I am a part time student, I'm not eligible for any benefits as my gf earns an amount which is deemed to be over the threshold and as such I don't have an income. My gf doesn't have much of a disposable income and is only able to offer my debtors one-off token payments. I've been thinking about filing for bankruptcy - would that help? Or would that be ridiculous as the debt is only £4,000? If I was to file for bankruptcy would my girlfriends assets be taken from her? Would it affect her credit rating or hinder her in any way, shape or form? The reason I ask is because we live together and she owns lots of expensive things and as I've been in university for almost 7 years, I don't own that many expensive things. Bankruptcy aside, are there any ways that I can make the debtors stop pestering me until I am able to find a job? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

or anything for that matter... I had a business for 4 years which was failing for 2. I have a total of around 50k debt on credit cards and also approx 15k to HMRC (VAT and PAYE) The business was/is not a ltd company and was a sole trader. I have had people at the door for 2 debts - the HMRC one and a credit card. The HMRC have informed me by letter that they will force involuntary bankruptcy, which I have been advised (just by a friend) to accept as I can't afford the 700 pounds bankruptcy fee otherwise. I am pretty employable, and if I weren't in this horrible stressful mess I think I'd be able to find decent work but I am now in this awful limbo. I have zero income, can't claim anything as I'm waiting for them to force bankruptcy and am living by borrowed (very meagre) funds from family and even friends (shamefully) I'm at the point where I'd be happier if they would just make me bankrupt so at least i have an end point, even if it is financially rock-bottom, from which I can begin to rebuild. Can anyone help me?

Dear All, Firstly, this is my first post so my apologies if it's in the wrong part of the site. A quick question..... I used to own a pub, it folded, and I went bankrupt (due to be discharged in Nov 2012). When I completed my bankruptcy form I included every single creditor I knew I had. However, due to the stress at the time etc, it appears I missed two creditors off the list. They have since gone to court and issued CCJ's against me (I had no knowledge of this, probably because they didn't have my new address when I had to leave the pub). My question is, as I am still an undischarged bankrupt, can I get them Set Aside (if that's the correct term) and get them removed from my file as surely these should come under my bankruptcy and be dealt with through my Official Recieiver? All help much appreciated! :???:

Hi everyone, Bit of a different one this, but looking to see what should be done. My father declared himself bankrupt a few years ago, and having no assets or anything was discharged with nothing to pay. However before his bankruptcy, he had credit cards, store cards, loans etc all with PPI on them. He felt he was mis-sold the PPI. Now heres the twist... He feels that because he was mis-sold the PPI he was then unable to keep up the repayments, which eventually lead to his bankruptcy. Had he not been paying this PPI then he might not have had to go bankrupt. Went and saw citizens advice today, they were useless.... So im suggesting should he go see a solicitor or is there a helpline he could call who could make the arrangements. He is on very low income and now retired so wouldnt be able to afford solicitors fees etc. Any info would be much appreciated, Many thanks, Rich.

Hello, Any advice gratefully received please: I was made bankrupt in Oct 2012. I only included debt that belonged to me in order to avoid the wife becoming embroiled in the bankruptcy and to keep her credit clean. Unfortunately I received some duff advice and a loan in joint names with Abbey that wasn't included in the bankruptcy now has a default registered against it. This loan wasn't included in the bankruptcy but (and I've now checked the c/a small print to confirm this) because I was declared insolvent the T&Cs of the original c/c weren't adhered to and Santander automatically defaulted the account. We attempted on three occasions to have the d/d set up to pay the account and I have spoken to people in Santander collections a few times and argued that we are more than happy to continue servicing the loan. Unfortunately it is out of 'normal processing' and is a 'dead debt'. I was discharged from bankruptcy in Oct 2011 and have still yet to be contacted by anyone at Santander or any debt recovery agencies in an attempt to recover the loan balance. It is all quiet on the Western Front!! I have 2 choices to make, do I: 1) Go through the process of getting default removed as they have never once sent me or the missus a notice of default and therefore was registered incorrectly. 2) Keep my head down for a number of years and hope the debt goes away. If I choose option 1, will this also clear the debt balance or will we have to start a new agreement or continue the old one? If I choose option 2, will the debt ever just disappear? I assume 6yrs from default notice date it will drop off the credit file but surely the debt won't just disappear will it? Basically do I stick my head above the parapet to fight this or stick my head further in the sand in the hope it just goes away. Thanks in advance for your help, Ben

can anyone give advice?i've been struggling with debt and we are going bankrupt. i had put an arrangement in place with cash genie for £20 per month and they took my card details to process these payments. i did this so no further action would be taken until i had a date for court and they were aware of my intentions to pay until i rang with a these details.last month they took an extra payment in error so i rang them on 02/12/11 to complain and they accepted the error and refunded the money. they asked if i could make any other payment, which i said no, so they said i would have to ring in on the 12/12/11 to confirm i still wanted the arrangement and avoid them pursuing for the full amount. I rang them on the 12th to say i had a date set for january but no reference yet so would continue to pay £20 until then and i thought all was fine until today. On checking my account i have had three unautorised amounts taken using my card details from my bank for £645.30, £59.70 and £12.00. On speaking to the bank they said that normal card payments would decline (due to me not having the amount in my account) however if they were continuous authority arranged payments, the bank has to honour them-regardless of the amount, and cash genie would be responsible for any refund. On speaking to Ricky at cash genie today he said there was no record that a plan (or continuous autority arrangement) was in place or record of my call on the 12th, therefore the full amount was persude and the payments couldnt be refunded until they listened to the calls to prove otherwise. i was asked if i had rang in on the 12th to confirm i wanted to arrangement to continue, as it had to be rolled over each month until i had details of my bankruptcy, which i explained i had, as i was in no place to make full payment and would have to pay the reduced amounts in the mean time. I was told i would recieve a call back in the hour, which never happened, so i then rang carter forbes.i spoke to a lady at carter forbes to ask if they had record of the call on the 12th as i was unsure if i had rang them or cash genie about continuing the arrangement and she said they were still looking into the calls and assumed they would ring back but they had no record of me speaking to them either. she confirmed the arrangement was set up from them but cash genie process the payments from my card and theres nothing they can do. As i could hear a male laughing in the background that sound exactly like Ricky i asked her if they were the same department in which she said they were part of the same group but cash genie deal with payments seperately. i said i would then call cash genie instead. i then spoke to Luke at cash genie to chase up the calls. he said that as they has no record of the call the amount wouldnt be refunded and as i was going bankrupt they would refund it anyway now. I find this disgusting as i have always stated that i was going bankrupt (and have emails to prove this) and that i was only paying the £20 per month to prevent action in the mean time and try to help clear some debt as advised by the CAB Luke also said that the amounts were taken as i had failed an arrangement to pay £20 on 24/11/11 (of which they tried continuously process my card but it declined until they were successful a day later. Its weird as if what the bank says is true, the payments today would have decline also as i didnt have that money in the account. so an arrangement and continous authority must have been in place or the bank wouldnt have honoured it? How is that failing to pay? they werent even suppost to take money until the 28th of each month? i explained on the phone that it was funny how this contradicted me being in an arrangement for the £20 and not, but he said that didnt matter now i wouldnt be refunded anyway. he said the last call they had record of was me saying i wasnt paying anymore money over the phone and i would call in on the 12th to confirm, which i did and which appears to be the missing call? at no point was i ever told they would just take money off my card for any amount they pleased and on any date they choose. they say they senbt me a text and email which i never recieved. nor was anything sent by post?I have asked for transcripts of the calls under the freedom of information act of which i have been told i would be charged for so i refused. They know i have 3 dependant children and this has not only left me with no money but they appear to be lying about my last call which they say is the reason they took the money! I've emailed a letter of complaint to carter forbes and cash genie and i've told them i plan to take this to the financial obudsman and office of fair trading if i dont hear from them in response or if the matter hasnt been resolved. I've seen loads of similar posts about cash genie taking money so can anyone help?.any advise would be appreciated

Please help. I got into £65,000 of debt, various reasons that are not important now, my husband also has £20,000 debt. We have our mortgaged family home and a buy to let property, both of which are in negative equity although only by about £5,000. All mortgage payments are up to date. We both applied for IVA's, mine was accepted and my husband's refused so he went into a DMP. I paid £338 per month and he pays £100 from March 2010. I am self employed, my husband is employed. Shortly before it all went through I became unwell, had an allergy to the medication, had to have radio active iodine ... all this lasted a year during which time I couldn't work very much. This, coupled with the recession, meant I couldn't keep up the payments. I am two and a half payments behind. I spoke to my IVA company and to another company and read heaps and decided fail my IVA and to go bankrupt. I filed my petition on Friday and the OR rang me today to set up a meeting. Some things I didn't know: 1) I would have to pay my half of the rent to the OR and my husband would have to pay the mortgage. My half after service charge etc is £325 2) I work for a couple of companies where I do a job over 6-8 weeks, I have to tell them I am bankrupt so they can stop the contract at the date of bankruptcy and start again after that date. If I tell them I am bankrupt they are unlikely to give me more work (purely because of the nature of my work, although it isn't financially related). They currently account for two thirds of my income. 3) As the car is registered in my name I have to prove that it is a family car and that my husband contributed to it's purchase 4 years ago. It is clear that bankruptcy is totally the wrong option for me. I have since spoken to family members who can pay the IVA arrears and will fund the next 6 months while I get back on my feet work wise. What can I do? Can I cancel the bankruptcy and go back to the IVA Any advice welcome as I am out of my mind with worry. Thank you

Dear All, I am urgently looking for some help & support - I just received a notice "B10 Notice of registration of a bankruptcy notice" informing me of "(22.07.2011) BANKRUPTCY NOTICE entered under section 86(2) of the Land Registration Act 2002 in respect of a pending action..." and giving me a reference to a petition entered in the High Court!! This is the first thing I have heard from anyone and rang the court who confirmed a petition had been filed on 19/07/2011 by: Lowell Portfolio Limited Graheam Danby Solicitors Case Ref: 921286839 Tel: 0113 3086043 Litigation Dept Lowell Group 1 Apex View Leeds LS11 (BA8 (Exactly as above complete with what seems typo's). AND I AM DUE TO APPEAR IN COURT on 06/09/2011 at 10:30am....!! The court further told me they could not tell me what the amount was and the petitioner should have served documents on me and nothing would be sent by the court.... Had I not got the Land Registry letter I would have not known anything about this....??? I called the number given and the agent who answered the phone told me he did not recognise the reference number and when I asked who I should write to he gave me the following: Hamptons PO Box 173 Leeds LS11 9WR When I asked who they were as the names were different he said "we are all part of the same group" and the took my full name and address which I gave and then thought, hang on I don't know who I am actually talking too & declined to answer his further "security questions" and said I would write to them. I am now very concerned and stressed out as it would seem that someone without any communication having been sent to me has actually petitioned for my bankruptcy which if not for the Land Registry letter I would have no idea was actually happening! I suspect this may relate to an old credit card or bank O/D debt from around 2004/05 but at this stage I don't know... Question is what should I do now: a) Apply to the court to have the petition hearing stayed, struck out and/or set aside? b) Write to Lowell/Hamptons/Graheam Danby and ask them to produce all paperwork? c) Advise Land Registry that I have no proper knowledge of the debt? Please let me know what you would suggest I do - a) or a) & b) or all of the above & any template docs much appreciated. Presumably the petitioning creditor should have served a Stat Demand, identified what the debt is & how they have any rights to it - i.e. Assignment, purchased, etc. Further can I demand that they produce statements & the like because if it is the creditor I think it might be, it should now be barred by limitation as there has been no contact over the years? Any help & advice very gratefully received... Many thanks Barry PS I hope I have posted this in the right place this time!

I have several questions relating to voluntary arrangements, bankruptcy, CCJs and how I feel the system has compounded my own personal situation and has prolonged my credit issues following discharge from Bankruptcy in 2008. My first is about getting a CCJ removed from my credit history, hopefully someone here will have some experience on this and be able to advise on my chances. In Mid April 2007 we closed our business and filed for Bankruptcy after a protracted attempt to get a PVA (Partnership Voluntary Arrangement) in place and on the advice of our IP. We were given a court date of late July! During this time we were continually pursued by creditors including the Inland Revenue, who we informed of our circumstances. However on the 12th of July, 14 days before our bankruptcy court date, the inland revenue took out a CCJ against us. It is my understanding that after applying for bankruptcy we should not make any payment to a creditor as this would be seen as preferential/unequal treatment (interestingly, our initial PVA was rejected by the Inland Revenue for the very same reason!). The revenue were informed of our BR application and bankruptcy hearing date and would obviously know that we could not make a payment so I do not feel it was justified for them to take the action that they did. Also, if our hearing date had not been delayed for so long due to court backlogs in our area then this CCJ would not have been taken out at all - i.e. if our court date had been immediate or set for a week or so after our application, as one might expect(?) then a lot of anguish, complications and this CCJ could have been avoided. Instead we had to wait 99 days to have our case heard!! Would I be able to request that the CCJ be removed on these grounds? And, would anyone be able to advise on the likelyhood of the appeal succeeding?

I would like to hear from all those who have had banking fees taken from HBOS. we need to stand together and fight this

Hi there, I'm from Northern Ireland and I expect to be made redundant in about six months time. The chances of me finding work here in my field are minimal, so my wife and I have made plans to emigrate to New Zealand, where my brother now lives, and where there is plenty of work. To that end, we have sold some assets we currently own and have realised about £28,000. We have had to use about £18,000 to repay our unsecured debts. The remaining £10,000 (and anything we can save over the next six months) will be used to pay an emigration specialist to process our residency application, pay for our flights (we have three children) and give us a deposit for a flat rental when we arrive. So when we arrive in NZ we will literally only have the clothes on our backs (and in our suitcases!). So we are currently debt free except for our house, which has an outstanding mortgage of £170,000, and therein lies the problem. The house is in serious negative equity (it would probably sell for about £110,000) and we won't be able to keep up mortgage payments on it and live in New Zealand - the interest payments are about £700 per month, and rates are about £50 - if we could rent it we would probably only get about £350 to £400 per month for it. In an ideal world we would like to do this: 1) Move to New Zealand and tell the bank that we want them to repossess our house. 2) I hold solid equity in my parents' home of about £25,000 - there is no mortgage on that property. It's a 20% share which can't be realised until my parents die and my siblings sell the house then. I would like to offer the bank that share. They obviously can't cash it in, but it is a solid asset which will grow because the market has bottomed out where my parents live. 3) I would also offer them £200 per month (about NZ$400) payable for 20 years, which would represent another £50,000 payment, bringing the total offer to the bank to £75,000 (I know there are interest and inflationary issues, but I'm just trying to work this out at the moment). I have checked the cost of living in NZ on my expected salary very carefully and it's the figure that keeps coming back. I feel really caught between a rock and a hard place. I'm worried that the bank will reject my proposal outright (it is very unorthodox) and demand that I pay up the full mortgage or they will force bankruptcy upon me. If they do that could I be open to a charge of asset disposal and fraud for spending the £10,000 on emigration advice, flights and set up costs to get to New Zealand? Do you think a UK judge would see forced bankruptcy in light of my offer to be harsh? Even if we stay in the UK we will be probably be forced to give up the house and go bankrupt eventually because if I have to sign on the dole I will barely be able to afford to pay them anything. Many thanks in advance for any help!

Hi there, I ordered some goods from a company called BabyTime in Welling, Kent who have since gone bankrupt and I only found this out at the weekend. Payment was made to them two days after I placed my order (money taken from account on 25th Jan) and the money went straight into their business account. I don't know when they went bankrupt but I only found out at the weekend, the last piece of correspondence I had from them was 3rd Feb informing me my order would be pushed through on a priority basis... I want to know how I can get back the money I paid for the goods I ordered as it was a lot of money and I have a new born baby I need to look after, I can't afford to lose over £200. I would really appreciate any help/advise anyone can give me. Thanks

Hi there. This is my first posting. I wonder if anyone can help with the following situation. I'll be as brief as possible. When I was in business I was 'encouraged' to take on the lease of a machine by a company called Belle Sante by agreeing that they would give me £350 worth of products a month which would effectively cover the cost of the lease which was for £350 a month for 36 months. I had a letter to say the lease had been assigned to Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance on the 15th September 2008. In November 2009 I received a letter from Belle Sante to say they could no longer support the deal - I just have to accept that, but it was a blow. Around 23rd November I contacted the business debt line (I have the reference) and they sent me income and expenditure forms to complete - I completed these and sent them to Bank of Scotland along with an offer of £100 per month due to the economic situation and problems with my diminishing revenue. I had no response so sent them all over again. Still no response, so I stopped my direct debit as I didn't have the funds to pay them £350plus VAT each month. In March 2010 I made a decision to close my business. I found someone to take over the lease on the premises and she continues in the same name but it's no longer anything to do with me. In June 2010 I received a letter from ASP confidential saying they had been instructed to either sort out the arrears or collect the machine. I agreed to return the machine, which I did. I was advised that as I returned the machine and had paid around 14 months off of the 36 month lease, that would probably be the end of the matter(in her experience). In November 2010 I received a letter from Crystal Collections informing me that I owed £6,138.12 for the machine. On contacting them at the beginning of January 2011 I was told they were no longer dealing with the matter. A few weeks later I received a letter from Daniels Silverman Ltd to say that I now owe £11,489.34! I am in a position where I no longer have my business, my partner and I are receiving tax credits, I have no assets and very little money in rented accomodation. We are trying to start again. I have written a letter to the company stating all of this and possibly admitting to just the 7 or 8 payments that I missed up to the point when the machine was handed back. I made them an offer of £10 per month on this amount. They have replied wanting to know every detail about us in order to assess whether this offer can be accepted(though they don't acknowledge anything under £11,489.34 in the letter). They are also talking about taking me to court/bankrupting me/seizing goods etc etc. I am stressed and worried. Is there any course of action I can take or will I have to accept the scenario as it is? Many thanks.