Feeling Down

[Misterzeus]

I hope this is ok; I don’t really have anyone I can confide in (re our financial situation) and feel that I need to un-bottle my feelings so to speak.

 

After a year of grief from Creditors and DCA‘s, Mr Z wants us to sit down on Boxing Day and have a talk about our way forward!

 

This talk will include the option of bankruptcy! Now, if I’m truthfully honest that scares the hell out of me. It’s getting to the stage where Mr Z says we are "just existing" and he gets very concerned about how it’s affecting me. He knows I want to fight it and due to him being at work, I mainly deal with the correspondence and posting on the forums. I will admit, I do want to fight for our legal rights – but there are days when I feel that I have no fight left in me!

 

We did a lot of research earlier on in the year (pre CAG) so we have a good idea of what to expect.

 

Obviously, we understand that by going down this route it could potentially be a bl**dy minefield.

 

This is how I perceive going bankrupt:

 

The pro’s being we can start afresh with a clean slate so to speak.

 

The cons:

 

Mr Z could lose his job.

 

We could lose our house due to either the OR saying renting would be a cheaper option or because Mr Z has lost his job.

 

How our credit ratings are affected by going BR doesn’t bother either of us because:

 

 

• It’s already shot through anyway
  
• We won’t ever take on credit again
  

 

 

Thanks for reading

 

Mrs Z

[Misterzeus]

Good afternoon, Mrs Z here.

 

I would like to say a great big thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you that have posted in reply to my thread. It truly has helped me to try to put things into perspective!

 

flyingdoc:

 

Thanks for your reply

 

We are in the process of trying other routes rather than bankruptcy. We have several threads on the forum concerning various creditors/DCA’s and we are currently trying to fight an impending CCJ.

 

We have 9 creditors, 1 trying to get a CCJ, 3 are given token payments, the rest have been sent CCA requests and they are at various stages. We don’t get phone calls – only letters as most didn’t have our number when we moved house (took BT a month to connect us). The one creditor that did have our number finally stopped after we had sent 3 harassment letters.

 

Yes, of course you’re right; there is the distinct possibility that one or more creditors may take the option to force bankruptcy on us. This is one of the reasons we are having the discussion on Boxing Day. Mr Z is quite methodical and worries that if we wait until that (if it) happens, we won’t have had time to save up some funds in case we need to rent etc.

 

We have seen off a few DCA’s over the past few months with the help of CAG! I guess it’s the unknown that is concerning both of us really.

 

 

hilaryfrances:

 

Thanks for your reply

 

I agree with you that bankruptcy should be a last resort really, that’s why I’m so indecisive about going down that road. Mr Z spoke to someone from the National Debtline back in January and a few times after. They were very good and when he told them about the CAG, they said that a number of people had said they got information and advice from the CAG members.

 

It’s not definite that Mr Z would lose his job through going BR, but if he did and someone on his staff reads the local paper and sees the BR notice, we think he would be asked to leave. He only started the job in July, but is responsible for large sums of money. We both expected that he would have had to be credit checked for the job but luckily only a basic criminal check was required.

 

fedup74:

 

Thanks for your reply and I will certainly try to keep my chin up!

angel 1:

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Yes, things are coming to a head I think.

 

Perhaps I should briefly explain: Some years back, Mr Z left a job he hated and we started up a business from home using equity from the house we owned at that time. Sadly it didn’t work out and around 6 months before we moved to our present abode (been here almost 2 years) I was in a very dark place for a while and I was trying to convince myself that Mr Z would be better off without me.

 

Anyway, a few weeks back we were talking and Mr Z said he couldn’t understand why people take their lives because of debt. Before I knew it, I had told him how I had felt before we moved; the look of sheer disbelief on his face will stay with me forever! He told me that he would have “followed” me by driving over a cliff! I’ve told him that I know now how irrational to think like that was, but I think that may be at the back of his mind.

 

We have been married for almost 35 years and we love each other very much – which makes it seem all the more strange how I felt at that time! Anyway, I don’t feel anywhere near that bad these days thanks to the CAG and its great members.

 

Sorry, that was a bit longer explanation than I had planned.

 

 

Personally, I think that I would like us to carry on fighting for our rights, for now at least!

 

We will have that talk on Boxing Day and try to make some decisions. At the end of the day, we need to come to some kind of solution that we are both happy with.

 

 

 

goldlady:

 

Thanks for your reply

 

I must admit, your post gives me great encouragement to carry on fighting, especially as in your case you managed to avert BR! We will stick together, no worries there, as I said in angel’s reply, we love each other very much! I often say how we “grew up” together – getting married at 17 and 18, lol!!

 

 

zooman:

 

Thanks for your reply

We will come to some kind of agreement – we have to! Mr Z has always maintained that we have each other and no one can ever take that away from us!

 

I’ve said about the worry of Mr Z’s job in hilaryfrance’s reply, so won’t bore you with it again.

 

Selling the house to rent back isn’t really an option really as typically these companies offer up to 30% lower value of the house. Sadly there is likely to be no equity, we bought 2 years ago next month (at its peak then). We would be left with a potential shortfall and could possibly (after researching) end up homeless after 6 months anyway. We would rather do a voluntary repossession than have that happen (saving the mortgage payments for rental), but thank you for your thoughtful suggestion!

 

Fortunately, all of our debt is unsecured (credit cards/loans) so owe nothing to the tax man or secured against the house.

 

I’ve said in flydocs reply about our current situation regarding creditors/DCA, so again I won’t bore you with it!!

 

Thank you all once again, it has helped me considerably to be able to say how I feel.

 

All of you have a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

 

Mrs Z

[Misterzeus]

Thank you all for your support

 

Well the talk on Boxing Day never happened as we were too busy trying to sort out an amended defence for the CCJ!

 

It won't be the end of it though and of course we will still need to have "that" talk, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we won't need to go BR!

 

Still, at the very least it helps me to post on here knowing that other people are in the same boat and can understand the feelings of apprehension.

 

So, thanks to all of you again and a Happy New Year.

 

Kind Regards

 

Mrs Z