Done it - Judge didn't want to see me so waiting for the OR to get in touch now. Will let you know progress Thanks for advice

Hi Jon,

The Bankruptcy is now behind us both,(we filed two weeks apart). We had two completely different experiences in court as I didn't have to go in to see the judge but DH did. The judge was very kind to him and said, yes you need a new fresh start.

First of all my case was passed to an OR outside of our area who was very helpful and not at all difficult about anything really and gave me some really useful advice regarding life insurance (for a one off cost of £50 each, another person can take the interest in our life insurance policies so that if anything were to happen to either of us in the bankruptcy period the other party would get the money so that it doesn't go into the BR estate). She also suggested that we send a covering letter with my DH papers to request that she deal with his also as it was nearly a mirror image. This we did and today, DH had his telephone interview with the same OR.

We have been allowed to keep our cars (not worth much and had them for years anyway) and the OR also requested that the bank allow us to keep our accounts (which the bank did not allow - Barclays - the bank have also taken away our rights to telephone and online banking and did tell us some things which are not actually correct - we will take those up at a later date) We have also been allowed to keep our pensions.

So - all in all so far quite a relief and not nearly as bad as we had anticipated and been told (CCCS said that we would not be allowed bankruptcy as we earned too much and that the OR would tell us that our outgoings were too high and to tighten our belts but National Debtline said we would be granted it due to our circumstances and outgoings).

Apparently we could be discharged in 6 - 8 months, so hopefully dealing in cash will then be a thing of the past.

On a positive note, we have both signed up for a payasyougo card called Mastercard Cashplus that allows you to make payments online etc - there is a charge of £4.95 a month for this but still cheaper than the £17.99 we were paying to Barclays.

We have both been told that we will receive an NT code so that any tax that we pay (well over £700 a month) will now be paid into our pay and must be paid to Moon Beaver until the end of the tax year.

No monthly payments other than that from us.

Thanks all of you who sent advice - it is now behind us and if we can help anyone else in any way, please let me know.

Carptree

Glad to hear it all went smoothly for you.

The Cashplus is an absolutly superb card. It is the only pre pay card that will protect you as well.

Ring the Co-op and open a Cashminder account. 08457 212 212. You get a Visa Debit card, DD's and SO's, Telephone and internet banking, money/cheques can be paid in at any Post Office and withdrawn from any Link cash machine and 99% of them can be opened over the phone if you are on the electrol roll and are searchable.

What a brilliant tip regarding the Co-Op - rang them and opened a joint account (Barclays would'nt let us keep our joint account as it was a Premier account! LOL) and we will again have telephone and internet banking in a week to 10 days time - will also be able to tell Barclays where to put their cardcash account minus the internet and telephone banking!

Thanks so much.

Kind regards,
Carptree

No problem at all.

The only thing I find with the Co-op account is the online banking does not show any items that are coming out of the bank, so it says available balance but this is not a true figure if there is stuff that hasn't come through yet. I keep all reciepts and throw them as they appear on my online banking. I understand that they are dealing with this and will soon have a better system.

Also there is strong rumours that Barclays is going to include internet and telephone banking for bankrupts but nothing concrete as yet.