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Is Bankruptcy right for me? Please help!
Hi everyone,
I hope you’re all well. So I need some help and advice please on what I should do about my debt situation. Here is my story:
I have debt amounting to almost £25k from mainly credit cards, store cards and a hire purchase that I had to terminate early. My husbands work situation was really bad even before covid and we were in a debt management plan with StepChange paying just a token payment of £1 every month which we have been doing now for almost 2 years. When covid hit, things just got even worse and we feel as though bankruptcy is our only option to be able to start fresh as I don’t know when our situation will change to be able to get the debts paid off.
Here are some key points that may help:
I am 30 years old
I have 2 children under the age of 5
I was born and reside in the UK
We currently rent privately with no rent arrears
We own nothing! No car or house or any assets
I completed a monthly budget with StepChange just last week which leaves me with 0.17p left per month to pay non- priority debts
My only income is child benefit, child tax credit and housing benefit
My husband too has debts of roughly the same amount and he was thinking bankruptcy also but we were told that doing a joint IVA together would be better?
I don’t know what to do! I can’t talk too much to my husband about it as he gets so stressed and I’m trying to deal with it myself. Also, the bankruptcy fee is so high! We cannot afford to pay that and installments just delays everything. If it’s the best option though then we will of course. I just want to take back control now as having the children and being solely responsible for them has meant I couldn’t be fully on top of everything but now they are attending nursery for a few hours a day, I have a bit more time. I also hope that starting now will mean I have many years to be able to sort my credit score out and build it back up again after 6 years and I’ll still be only 36.
And finally, would our landlord be made aware of my bankruptcy? We have been here for 6 years with no issues but I don’t want to get them worried.
Thank you in advance for your help and taking the time to respond
I hope you’re all well. So I need some help and advice please on what I should do about my debt situation. Here is my story:
I have debt amounting to almost £25k from mainly credit cards, store cards and a hire purchase that I had to terminate early. My husbands work situation was really bad even before covid and we were in a debt management plan with StepChange paying just a token payment of £1 every month which we have been doing now for almost 2 years. When covid hit, things just got even worse and we feel as though bankruptcy is our only option to be able to start fresh as I don’t know when our situation will change to be able to get the debts paid off.
Here are some key points that may help:
I am 30 years old
I have 2 children under the age of 5
I was born and reside in the UK
We currently rent privately with no rent arrears
We own nothing! No car or house or any assets
I completed a monthly budget with StepChange just last week which leaves me with 0.17p left per month to pay non- priority debts
My only income is child benefit, child tax credit and housing benefit
My husband too has debts of roughly the same amount and he was thinking bankruptcy also but we were told that doing a joint IVA together would be better?
I don’t know what to do! I can’t talk too much to my husband about it as he gets so stressed and I’m trying to deal with it myself. Also, the bankruptcy fee is so high! We cannot afford to pay that and installments just delays everything. If it’s the best option though then we will of course. I just want to take back control now as having the children and being solely responsible for them has meant I couldn’t be fully on top of everything but now they are attending nursery for a few hours a day, I have a bit more time. I also hope that starting now will mean I have many years to be able to sort my credit score out and build it back up again after 6 years and I’ll still be only 36.
And finally, would our landlord be made aware of my bankruptcy? We have been here for 6 years with no issues but I don’t want to get them worried.
Thank you in advance for your help and taking the time to respond
