Topic: Returning to UK debts and wanting to go Bankrupt ?

[sparkle]

Please can anyone advise me.  My husband and I in the course of three years managed to get ourselves heavily in debt.  We stupidly took out a secured loan with a well known awful finance company who continued to up the interest until we couldn`t survive.  We are probably now jointly in debt of aprox 100k, owing 35k to our mortgage company, 60k to the loan company whopping us with a bill for income protection for 25k that we did not realise and small amounts to cc and car finance companys.  We stupidly left the UK leaving our house to be voluntary repossessed, our car to be repossessed and continued to pay the pound a month to all creditors that we could afford.  At this time we also had 3 ccjs which we have been unable to afford.  I desperately want to return to put this situation right and I am guessing that we will have to apply for bankruptcy but will the OR allow us to do this as we have been out of the country 18 months and the fact that we have abandoned everything ?  Whilst in the UK we strived to maintain our payments but had such difficulty providing for our three children.  I am just at a loss at this situation and don't know where to start to sort this huge mess all out. 

[Sean]

Dear Sparkle
I would say first and formost-that you may have a substantial refund of PPI due to you which I can help you with or certainly point you in the right direction. If you are able to have the £25k returned to you then you are going to be in a strong position to offer full and final settlement payments to your creditors. Obviously we have to find out if you are due this payment and would need to see a copy of your credit agreement. If you don't have this then a copy can be requested for £1.00.
Failing that if you are left with £100k liability and no where to go then Bankruptcy would be a really good option for you as you would clear all of your unsecured debt and it would allow you to effectively clear the decks and start again. Now the stipulation is that if your centre of main interests are and have been in the EU for the greater part of 6 months (3 months and 1 day) then you would have to go bankrupt from where you are. Alternatively what allot of people do who want to take advantage of the insolvency benefits of the UK are to move back to the UK for over the 3 month period and then have your bankruptcy here in the UK. There are allot of benefits to this and bankruptcy is no longer the stigmatised process that it used to be. You do not have your name appear in the paper and it lasts for a period of 12 months or less in many cases.  

[Steven Jackson]

Hi there Sparkle
 
From what you have said, I agree with Sean, bankruptcy sounds like the right solution for you. In fact, the rules are that if you are currently living outside the UK but have lived here within the last three years, you can still declare bankruptcy here no problem. You do not have to be living here to do it.
 
It sounds like both you and your husband would have to declare bankruptcy. To do so, you would have to return to the UK in person and make your application at the High Court in the Strand in London. This sounds very official but actually it is no different than going to any other local county court and in some respects even easier as they are so busy.
 
I have helped a number of people in your situation do this. I do suggest you speak to an expert to go through everything and all of the implications before you make your decision.
 
In terms of whether you have a claim for PPI misselling, I can not comment as my expertise lies solely in dealing with debts which people definitely owe. However, in my experience if you do make a claim, it could take a long time to work though. If it takes longer than another 18 months, you will miss your opportunity to declare bankruptcy. As such, my advice would be not to delay on the bankruptcy front and then make a claim later if you feel it is what you want to do.

[Sean]

Hi Sparkle

an average PPI claim shouldnt take any longer than 8-10 weeks thats how long we take to push them through but thats because we have our own legal team focussed on it and when the claims come in we smother them to make sure that everything is responded to as quickly as possible. Not only that there are alot of PPi claim companies that are out there that are only focussed on taking up front fees and don't deal with it in house. Effectively they are middle men and you should avoid these like the plague. our only admin charge is £39.99 which is for the fast track service and clients are able to view the progress of their cliam on line to see how the claim is progressing.

[Steven Jackson]

Hi Sparkle,
 
There was some interesting news about PPI claims yesterday. Lloyds TSB have just won what they are calling a ground breaking case which has overturned a claim for PPI miss selling. This situation may well make it much more difficult for PPI claims to be successful in the future. There is more information here if you want to take a look: http://www.beatmydebt.com/news-articles/lloyds-wins-landmark-case-over-PPI.htm
 
What is your view of this Sean?